Kenny in the Keys
Erin and I are big Kenny Chesney fans and we happened to hear on the radio shortly after we arrived in Florida last week that he would be playing at Sloppy Joe’s on our first night in Key West. Yes, the highest grossing touring country artist and Entertainer of the Year for 2007 would be playing a bar that probably legally holds around 250.
We first passed through the bar about four hours before show time but decided to leave because it was standing room only at that point and standing for that long did not sound like fun. We decided to come back around an hour and half before his 5:30 show and to our surprise we could still get in. It was hot and crowded but we decided to stick it out figuring that he would come out and play a few songs and leave quickly. Um, we were seriously wrong.
We were straight in front of the stage about 20 tightly packed rows back. I would guess that about 500-750 people were stuffed inside the bar. The worst thing was that bathrooms were behind the stage and basically inaccessible. I tried following a really big guy that was barreling through the crowds with his girlfriend in tow, but that ran out of steam about half there as people would simply not move to allow people through. After I felt like I was going to pass out, I left Erin behind and sought relief at a neighborhood bar. Luckily I was able to snake my way back in after several other folks had to do the same thing. Security was letting new people in as people left.
The show was awesome and he played many of his hits old and new as well as covered some southern rock and country standards even a Journey tune. Uncle Kracker was on hand also - he looked like a disaster but did a great job. Kenny’s band took a brief break at the 2 hour point but Kenny kept playing until the 2:45 point before he took a break. Erin finally got tired of standing and we left after three hours into the show. I think the show lasted over four hours. That is a LONG show by any standard I have ever seen. Truly a great and memorable experience and we’ll always remember seeing Kenny in the Keys on the Eve of our 1st Anniversary.