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Chesney at The Dame: A big deal for a small venue

Tickets quickly sell out

By Walter Tunis Contributing Music Writer

One of the biggest acts in country music is coming back to Lexington in a very small way.

Kenny Chesney, who received a whopping 11 Academy of Country Music Awards nominations on Tuesday, will play The Dame on Friday.

That's right, The Dame.

Tickets went on sale Wednesday morning, only a few hours after the performance was announced, and quickly sold out.

”As far as how we landed the show goes, they called us,“ Dame manager Nick Sprouse said. ”That was it. His management is setting up seven shows like this and said The Dame was one of the places they wanted to play. And, obviously, you don't say no to Kenny Chesney.“

Chesney's usual performance venue in Lexington is Rupp Arena, where he played for five straight years beginning in 2002. His attendance figures there topped out at 19,200 for a performance in April 2005. Chesney bypassed the arena in 2007.

Playing The Dame is a first for Chesney, but performing in small clubs and bars, even in his recent years as a country music superstar, is not. He has frequently played concerts at college clubs throughout the South, a trek dubbed the Keg in the Closet Tour, before gearing up for an extensive run of spring and summer shows at arenas, amphitheaters and, in some cases, stadiums. ”The idea is to let it be a surprise, to give it back to the kids on those campuses,“ Chesney told CMT recently.

It's also a safe bet that Chesney won't return to Rupp Arena this year. Carl Hall, director of arena management at Rupp and Lexington Center, said Wednesday that Chesney's touring schedule for the rest of 2008 is mostly set. He said, though, that a return to Rupp could happen in 2009.

Chesney's only other scheduled regional performance this year is July 31 at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati. Tickets for Chesney's spring and summer tour have been averaging $60 to $100 each. By comparison, tickets for the show at The Dame were $10.

Aside from hosting the performance, Sprouse said, The Dame had another key responsibility: to keep mum about it.

”We just had to make sure it was a secret until the tickets went on sale,“ he said.

A chart-topper for more than a decade thanks to hits includingHow Forever Feels, Don't Happen Twice and She's Got It All, Chesney and his fame began to skyrocket when his country-pop music began to take on a beachcombing theme for his 2002 album, No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem. The record sold more than 4 million copies. He drew 9,500 fans to Rupp that year, but by 2003, the audience figure had doubled.

Chesney also is the current Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music and American Music Awards entertainer of the year. He has been nominated for his fourth consecutive ACM title, and for 10 other awards, this year The ACM awards show is in May.