Sunday, 07/09/06

REVIEW: Headliner strong enough to hold 47,699 fanatics in the palm of his hand

Here’s doing no wrong, in front of 47,699 people:

Bring out Uncle Kracker and rap the Kid Rock hit “Cowboy”? Sure. And 47,699 people go bonkers.

Bring out RCA Label Group national promotions director Tom Baldrica to play tuba on “When The Sun Goes Down”? Sure. And they go bonkers.

Bring out Keith Urban for Urban’s first post-marriage musical appearance, on a version of Urban’s “Somebody Like You.” Well, OK, a lot of folks could pull that one off. But Chesney could have brought out Verne Troyer to mudwrestle with Muzik Mafia small guy Two Foot Fred and the place would have gone ballistic.

Chesney also shared his stage with Gretchen Wilson, inviting the reigning CMA female vocalist of the year to duet with him on John Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good.” But for the most part, Chesney kept the stage to himself and his band.

“You people are mine,” he explained early in the set to… what did we say? Oh yes, 47,699 folks.

As for the technical aspects of the thing, the sound was a little muddy at first, but it was cleaned up fairly quickly. Chesney sang like he always does: In that East Tennessee twang, with a drawl that doesn’t stun but simply communicates the storylines of songs that have become party anthems at colleges and country radio stations across the nation.

Chesney was once criticized in this newspaper for the inordinate amount of arm-muscle flexing he did in a show a few years back, but the entire LP Field show was a flexing of a different sort. He’s country’s biggest touring draw now, and he’s the only contemporary country star who could command a stadium crowd of this size and have the majority of fans standing throughout his two-hour show.

To be sure, a Chesney show probably will never draw unabashed praise from critics. He’s still closing with “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” “Young” still has that cliché about rebels without a clue (of course, critically acclaimed Tom Petty has used that one, too), and he doesn’t display the guitar chops of an Urban, a Brad Paisley or a Vince Gill.

What he does do, though, is sing songs that his fans adore and that allow his fan base to spread to a level beyond what anybody in country could dare expect.

It is what it is. And it’s working like nobody’s business.

Make that nobody else’s business.