Kenny Chesney Reveals How Being Mistreated as an Opening Act Shaped the Way He Runs His Tours

Kenny Chesney learned a lot along the way to becoming one of country music’s biggest stars, and some of those lessons continue to shape the artist he is today. One thing that has remained especially important to Chesney is being good to the people around him. After being treated poorly while serving as an opening act early on, he was inspired to create a welcoming environment where everyone on his tour feels valued.

“There was a moment where I was the opening act for a lot of people. And I’m not going to name names, but we got treated terribly,” he recalled in a conversation with Apple Music Country. “And treated terribly by someone that wasn’t necessarily a big act. It was just their ego and they had to have it that way. But I’m so thankful for that because that showed me how not to do it.”

The country hitmaker believes that the people he surrounds himself with play a major role in shaping who he is as an artist and because of that, he makes a point of having supportive, likeminded individuals on his team. Without them, his tour, his live shows, and his music wouldn’t be the same.

“When you do what I do or you’re a high functioning person and very mentally busy, you can never have enough good people around you ever,” Chesney explained. “And I’m very thankful that I have all those kind of people around me on the road because I mean, yes, it’s my tour, it’s my name on it, but they help create the atmosphere and the environment. And that’s been turned into a really beautiful thing over the years.”

One way Chesney is able to create a welcoming environment for everyone on the road is through his signature Vibe Room, a space that has helped form a close-knit community among his touring family, friends, fellow artists and more.

“I’ve been to a lot of shows that weren’t mine over the years where you felt really scared to walk down the hallway or you have these security people with microphones in their ears. I hate that because it just sets a precedent. We don’t have those. We have the Vibe Room.”

The idea for the Vibe Room came about when Kenny Chesney first started headlining and playing in some of the biggest venues of his career. Him and his road family wanted to create a space that would allow them to step back from the chaos and enjoy the ride. The Vibe Room has since become a valued tradition and a signature part of Chesney’s touring experience.

“We didn’t name it the first year. That was 2001. In 2002 we named it. My friend Mark Tamburino named it the Vibe Room. And it was just a place for us to get together before a show, raise a toast and to just take a moment to realize how blessed we are and how grateful we are to do what we do. And that turned into a different thing over the years. It turned into that moment before the show and it was us, it was our families, it was our road family, it was our partners at radio and every city that we went to and everybody felt included. And so it just made the whole experience of the show a lot better.”

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This year, Kenny Chesney announced that his 2027 tour would be named after this special community. He will return to the road next summer on the long-awaited Original Vibe Room Tour, taking the East Tennessee native’s back to stadiums following a two-year run at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

The trek kicks off April 24 at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium and will wrap up August 28 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Along the way, fans will get to hear the hitmaker bring songs from his twenty-first studio album Silver Sands Marina to life on stage each night.