Published: March 27, 2008 09:13 pm            

Tickets go on sale today for Sept. 13 Chesney, Urban show

INDIANAPOLIS — Kenny Chesney will take a page from football’s West Coast offense with his Poets & Pirates Tour, which hits the new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sept. 13.

Tickets for that downtown Indy event — which also will include fellow country singers Keith Urban, Leann Rimes, Gary Allan and Luke Bryan — go on sale today at 10 a.m.

Priced at $99.50, $79.50, $59.50 and $29.50, the tickets will be available at FYE in Honey Creek Mall, online at www.Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (812) 234-2424.

Chesney stakes a claim as the first country artist to embrace the notion of general admission pits in front of the stage.

With 14 NFL stadiums on this year’s Poets & Pirates Tour, the reigning ACM and CMA Entertainer of the Year opted for an elaborate stage configuration, at Double T.

That will allow Chesney and his band to cover twice as much ground and have four configured “sand bars” instead of two.

“Putting a show together is a lot like a puzzle,” Chesney said in a news release. “You have to take into consideration so many things: How will it look? How will it function? How hard will it be to set up? What will we have to give up to make this work? It’s not just as easy as getting a few renderings, snapping your fingers and [click] you’ve got this amazing new stage.

“When I tell people we start working on the next year’s show before the tour we’re on is over, I think they think we’re kidding… or trying to look really important,” he added. “In order for the production people to have the time to troubleshoot, know it’s safe and know it’s gonna be something that makes people feel like they’re seeing a show … it takes that much time. I’m just lucky I have some of the best people in the business working with us.”

The tour opens April 18-19 in Connecticut, anchored by his recent hits “When The Sun Goes Down,” “Never Wanted Nothin’ More,” “I Go Back,” “Shiftwork,” “Keg In The Closet” and “Don’t Blink.”

“Don’t Blink” spent five weeks atop the country charts, while “Never Wanted Nothin’ More” was No. 1 for six weeks.

Contrary to the common perception of stadium concerts, Chesney insisted he can find a closeness with the audience in those settings.

“It’s amazing to me how much intimacy you can have in a place that big,” he said. “But there’s something in those big shows you can’t get anywhere else — a whole other kind of energy. You feel those fans all the way to the top, and there’s nothing like it. And they come to have a big day with us; you can hear it when they sing ‘Back Where I Come From’ or ‘Anything But Mine.’ It’s a blast, and I can’t wait.”

        

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