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CHESNEY BREAKS
FOOT
Columbia (WLTX) -
County superstar
Kenny Chesney hurt
himself during
Saturday's night's
performance at
Williams-Brice
Stadium in
Columbia. (Send Us
Your Pictures of
the Concert)
Fans told News19
that Chesney was
hurt in the lifting
device which
elevated him onto
the stage,
collapsing in pain
for a moment. After
the incident, the
band continued to
play, and the
spotlight was
turned off. After a
brief pause, the
lights came on and
he continued to
sing, but fans say
he had a noticeable
limp, and seemed to
be avoiding putting
pressure on his
right foot.
Chesney reportedly
told fans, "I've
never done a show
before with a
broken foot."
According to CMT's
website, bones were
crushed in
Chesney's foot when
it apparently
became stuck
between the lift
and the stage. CMT
says, "It took
approximately 30
seconds for him to
pry himself loose
as he squatted down
on the stage while
the band continued
to play an extended
introduction of the
song. When Chesney
finally freed
himself, he stood
up and kept holding
his hand on his
knee as he began to
sing."
CMT's website also
says that a
University of South
Carolina team
physician waited
nearby while
Chesney completed
his performance.
Once he left the
stage, Chesney's
boot was cut off,
and was treated by
the doctor to
minimize
damage.
Chesney's known for
having a lively
stage show, and it
isn't the first
time he's hurt
himself wowing his
fans. During
rehearsals for a
2005 concert in
Tennessee, Chesney
tore ligaments in
his ankle. He
received treatment,
and went on to
perform his
show.
Chesney played at
Williams-Brice
Stadium Saturday
night as part of
his "Poets and
Pirates" tour.
Country-duo legends
Brooks & Dunn,
as well as LeAnn
Rimes, Gary Allan,
and Luke Bryan, all
performed as
well.
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HAS KENNY GONE
BAD??
Over the past
decade, Chesney has
become one of
music's biggest
stars by peddling
carefree vibes and
Everyman escapism
in the form of
bright, breezy,
barely-country
songs with
arena-ready hooks,
universal
characters and,
almost always,
happy endings.
But he's in a bad
way on his new
album, "Lucky Old
Sun," sounding
spiritually adrift
and, at times,
bereft and
downright broken as
he examines the
emotional wreckage
of his failed
marriage to Renee
Zellweger. Good
luck selling that
to your fans,
dude.
Chesney and
Zellweger wed in
May 2005, but the
marriage was
annulled before
year's end. If
Chesney was
hurting, you
wouldn't have known
it by listening to
his subsequent
album, 2007's "Just
Who I Am: Poets
& Pirates,"
which didn't
include a single
lyric written by
Chesney.
The
uncharacteristically
melancholy "Lucky
Old Sun" addresses
that lingering pain
head-on and is thus
the most personal
and surprising
album of Chesney's
career. Five of its
11 songs were
written or
co-written by the
40-year-old artist,
who confirmed to
USA Today that yes,
the songs that
sound like they're
about his
relationship with
Zellweger are,
beginning with the
album-opening duet
with Dave Matthews,
"I'm Alive."
The song is
supposed to be an
anthem about
strength and
survival and
soldiering on:
"It'd be easy to
add up all the pain
/ And all the
dreams you sat and
watched go up in
flames / Dwell on
the wreckage as it
smolders in the
rain / But not me
— I'm alive."
Yet it sounds more
like a weary wish
than a declaration.
(It also sounds
like a '70s
soft-rock tune.
Forget country's
Jimmy Buffett;
Chesney is becoming
Music Row's own Jim
Croce!)
On "Spirit of a
Storm," the
forecast calls for
even more inner
darkness: "Maybe
I'll find someday
the waters aren't
so rough / But
right now they've
got the best of
me," Chesney sings,
his warm baritone
sounding extra
blue.
The mopey "Way Down
Here" finds Chesney
escaping to the
Caribbean, because
if he's gonna be
bummed, he's at
least gonna do it
"where no one can
tell the salt water
from my tears."
His personal life
may be a shambles,
but the island life
is always good, as
Chesney's
beach-culture
fixation has hardly
abated. Having
already traded his
boots for
flip-flops, the guy
who once sang "She
Thinks My Tractor's
Sexy" is now
performing a paean
to "Boats" while
using more steel
drums than steel
guitar.
Chesney notes that
his idea of bliss
is having "Nowhere
to Go, Nowhere to
Be." Besides maybe
Mexico, where, in
"The Life," he
meets a guy who
fishes, plays
guitar, goes home
to his wife and
prays every
night.
"Wouldn't that be
the life?" wonders
Chesney, who, in
real life, is the
top draw on the
U.S. touring
circuit, in any
genre. Perhaps he's
rethinking his
priorities, as the
album closes with
Chesney and Willie
Nelson performing a
hymnal version of
the old pop
standard "That
Lucky Old Sun," in
which they sing
about working
slavishly.
Or maybe he just
liked the idea of a
song that's
principally about
the sun. Either
way, Chesney sounds
restless and full
of regret.
But really — he's
loving life! The
album's first
single is
"Everybody Wants to
Go to Heaven,"
which features a
calypso groove, an
arena-rock guitar
riff and Bob
Marley's old
sidekicks, the
Wailers, along with
a preacher telling
the song's
protagonist to quit
the women and
whiskey lest they
shut the Pearly
Gates in his
face.
Chesney says he's
"havin' fun down
here," though, that
"everybody want to
go to heaven / But
nobody want to go
now" — which
makes for a great
hook while also
suggesting that he
got carried away
with his notion of
island syntax.
The song is an
outlier, seemingly
included on the
album simply to
please Chesney's
core fans, who turn
to him for
good-timey tunes,
not sad songs and
aching
introspection. Not
that you can blame
him: Having already
gone through a
bruising breakup
with his ex-wife,
Chesney can be
forgiven for not
wanting to suffer
through something
similar with his
base.
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