Country's beach boy rides the wave at Gillette
FOXBOROUGH -- If further proof were necessary that the Boss and Mellencamp exert as much influence on contemporary country music as Hank and Patsy, one needed only cock an ear toward Gillette Stadium Saturday. Every act on Kenny Chesney's "Flip Flop Summer Tour" extravaganza worked from a base of power chords, arena rock guitar solos, and heartland anthems, adding mandolin, banjo, and fiddle flourishes as so much welcome C&W seasoning. But for a sold-out crowd of 50,000-plus fans who are as well, if not better, versed in the Eagles as Willie Nelson and with acts as strong as Chesney, Brooks and Dunn, and Sugarland providing the hot-weather escapism soundtrack, genre labels seemed beside the point.
For someone who cultivates a Buffett-in-training, beach-bum image, Chesney works awfully hard.
Zooming from one end of his enormous stage to the other, Chesney was sweating through his sleeveless "Boston" T-shirt before the final note of opener "Beer in Mex ico." The set was outfitted with an intricate set of more than a dozen video screens that beamed the fruits of all this labor in images of Chesney on boats and beaches and in bars in his beloved Caribbean.
That song set the summer fun template as Chesney -- supported by a crack band, including a terrific horn section that enlivened every tune on which it appeared -- toggled between his two favorite musical flavors. There were the songs about suns sinking low alongside drinks doing the same ("When the Sun Goes Down," "Summertime," "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems") and a beach bag full of wistful "good old days" tunes like "Keg in the Closet," "I Go Back," and "Young."
The crowd dug their toes deep in the imaginary sand, their voices rising and falling with the dynamic: choir-like efforts for Chesney's best song, the solo acoustic "Old Blue Chair," and the contemplative "She's From Boston" and rowdy, party-hearty chanting for closer "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy."
As much as he sings about escape, judging from the ingratiating grins he couldn't stop flashing, it's doubtful Chesney would ever trade the end zone for the shoreline.
Brooks and Dunn packed serious firepower into 70 minutes. The duo and their colossal band flowed easily and lustily from the angelic highs of Dunn's Orbison-ian "My Maria" to Brooks's devilish, uncorked honky-tonker "She Likes to Get Out of Town." Time constraints made it seem more like the Ronnie Dunn show than usual -- a curious mix also gave no special emphasis to Brooks's harmony vocals over those of the backup singers -- the boot-scootin' pair gave the headliner a run for his tiki bar money.
Sugarland vocalist Jennifer Nettles looked right at home on the big stage. She should. With her big sky voice and her band's beguiling blend of country, rock, and soul, Sugarland could easily slip into those shoes that Chesney (metaphorically) refuses to wear. Bandmate Kristian Bush capably filled in for Jon Bon Jovi on the rollicking duet "Who Says You Can't Go Home" and a tart and twangy countrified version of Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" pleasingly blurred the crossover lines.
Apparently everyone decided to arrive at the same time, causing major -- even for Gillette -- gridlock that meant missing early acts Sara Evans and Pat Green.
