“Meet Kristy & Tom… Some of The Biggest Kenny Fans In The State of New York!”
I would like to say my Kenny Chesney story starts with an amazing experience and a show I’d never forget. Well, unfortunately, that is not the case. My hometown of Oswego, NY does a local festival every year called Harborfest. It is a weekend full of free concerts, food vendors, rides, fireworks, and such, kind of like a county fair in the city on the shores of Lake Ontario. Kenny Chesney played this festival in July of 1996. I am pretty sure I was there, and I’m pretty sure I don’t remember him. Sorry Kenny.
Fast forward five years later and I saw the Kenny Chesney we all know and love for the first time at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, NY. So, we’ll count this as the second show of 18 that I’ve attended over two plus decades. I’ve chased his shows all over New York State, Syracuse, Albany, Canandaigua, Darien Lake, all but the infamous horse fiasco show in Buffalo!
In 2007 my partner in crime and soon to be wife, Kristy had been dating a couple years and Kristy, being a child of the 80s and a huge fan of 80s rock had zero interest in country music. I thought with her affinity for the beach and having her toes in the sand, what better way to introduce her to Kenny than his Flip Flop Summer Tour at the Darien Lake Amphitheater. She was instantly hooked and has been riding with me ever since to 13 shows. We have seen him with family, friends, co-workers but my best times are the two of us riding in the car, whether it is 45 minutes to Syracuse or 7 hours to Pittsburgh, tailgate packed, Kenny blaring out the speakers, I would not trade those times for anything.
The weirdest show we attended, I would have to say was in August of 2015 in Ottawa, Canada. We had already seen Kenny two months earlier and I thought I would surprise Kristy with a quick 3 hour trip over the border and back to see him. I bought tickets the day before the show and scored good first level side seats. We hit the road, got there very early, had lunch then headed to the arena 3 hours before the show to tailgate. We get there and the parking lot was empty, nobody, nada. We thought we had the wrong day and quickly checked the tickets. Right day, it’s just that apparently Canadians only tailgate for hockey!
Without a doubt the craziest show we ever went to was in Pittsburgh in June of 2018. It was our first time seeing him in a stadium setting and we were blown away. It was also the first time running into the lovely Deanna Kay, more on that later. The tailgate scene on the river and in the lots was one I will never forget. The show with Old Dominion and Thomas Rhett was even better. That year he had announced the stadium shows first so we bought tickets then later he announced a show 5 days later in Syracuse at the new amphitheater so we saw him twice in 5 days. Not a bad thing!
The best show we have been to was in 2019 in Albany, NY on the Songs for the Saints Tour. We scored great lower level seats. Concert day came and we drove the 3 hours to Albany, checked into our Airbnb and walked down to the arena. We knew with the arena being in the city the tailgate scene might be iffy. In our tradition, we searched out his tour bus to get our picture with it. We found it parked in the back corner of the lot behind the arena. After taking our pictures, we were walking away from the bus when we saw Deanna Kay. Kristy knows I wanted, in the worst way, to be a member of the No Shoes Radio hat club, and proceeded to explain this to Deanna. She said ,”Hold on, I’ll be right back”. She came back with two hats and two sand bar tickets and interviewed both of us for No Shoes Radio.
The concert itself was without a doubt our best Kenny experience. The only downfall was at the end he signed my NSR hat and I was afraid to wear it again. Thankfully, Kenny put them up for sale on the website and I’ve secured a daily wear hat and keep the autographed one safe!
Driving home the next day listening to NSR our interview came on. I probably sounded somewhat dumb, but she asked what does a Kenny concert mean to you? All I remember saying was “there’s no hate here”. That sums it up. When you go to a Kenny concert, you are there with 20,000 or 55,000 of your new best friends, sharing good times and your love of music.
I know all winter on my daily walks in upstate NY I have Kenny on my AirPods, and it doesn’t seem so cold out as he brings a little summertime to our dark and dreary winters. He has introduced both of us to so many talented musicians, such as Jake Owen, Thomas Rhett, Old Dominion, Sugarland, the list is endless.
We look forward to seeing him somewhere in 2021. Because you know, summertime is not finally here until the hillbilly rock star is out of control.
Sincerely, Proud member of No Shoes Nation, Tom Salvador
