backstage with Kenny Chesney.

Ok, I'll be the first to admit that my life is pretty random. And I'll also be the first to admit that I get the chance to do some pretty amazing things...all by happen-stance. Seriously. I really have the most random and exciting things happen to me. A lot. And sometimes, if I'm lucky enough, I get to share these experiences with some awesome people.

Pretty sure the highlight of my summer was not one but TWO Kenny Chesney concerts. I love country music (my last name is Hicks after all). lovelovelove country music. More imporantly, I love country concerts. lovelovelove them. Kenny Chesney has been coming to Indy for years and years now. And his shows aren't just concerts. They are events. So it was totes on the top of my priority list to go see him (for like the 6th time) this summer.

Let me back up a wee little bit. If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you'll know that I am very active with the 500 Festival Princess Program. This year, Kelly Pickler was one of the celebrities that the Festival invited for the parade/Indy 500/etc. Kelly was in our suite for the Indy 500 and I got to hang out with her record rep Bubba for awhile. He's a fab guy! Seriously. He's the best!!! While chatting with him at the race, I found out that he also represents Kenny Chesney. DING! DING! DING!

Yup. Bubba hooked me up for the Kenny Concert on June 24th. Me and my sweet friend Lauren! Honestly, we were just expecting tickets (which were sold out. Over 10,000 people at the Verizon Wireless Music Center. sold out.) And Bubs scored us 8th row seats, center stage for Kenny! We were stoked! And soso happy! And not expecting anything else.

But that wasn't the last surprise Bubs had up his sleeve. When we got to Verizon, we met up with Bubs and he gave us two Meet And Greet passes for Kenny! AHHHHH!!!

meet and greet passes! the surprises never stopped!

me and Kenny. yup. he's a shorty. and I was so star-struck, I almost didn't know what to say. (almost)

Lauren and Kenny.

After the Meet And Greet, Bubba told us that he'd come out and meet us at our seats. No biggie, we were already on cloud 9 from meeting Kenny. And we totes wanted to see the opening act (Billy Currington...ahhhh, dream boat).

So we went to our seats. Not 10 minutes later, out comes Bubba with Kenny cups and beers for us (of course Kenny's tour is sponsored by Corona). So we sipped on some delish Corona while swooning to the sweet jams from curly-top Billy Currington.

8th row seats! and free beer....what more could two chicks want?



love me some Corona.



After Billy was over, we mentioned to Bubs that we were going to try and find some of our friends. Then he asked us the one question that changed my life (ok slightly dramatic, but still)..."do you guys want to go walk around or do you want to go backstage?"

say WHAT??

uhhhh. Backstage. Of course. Totes. No question. Hands down. Backstage!!!!

So backstage we went. Walked around back there. Hung out in the "Pit" (the mini-club they set up for the bands to hang out in). Drank some more Corona. Even chatted with one of Kenny's guitar players Clayton for a bit.

And then Bubba said, "follow me". And follow him we did.

To the stage. And then to the side of the stage. Where we stood. FOR THE ENTIRE CONCERT. Uh yeah.

Stage right baby. These were our seats for Kenny's entire set!

(please excuse some of these pictures...I took them with my phone.)

seriously, I don't think we could have been more excited if we tried!

oh sweet Kenny. Yes. This is how close we were!!

5 feet away. fo sho.

Kenny even looked over and waved at us a few times. Highlight of my life. Not even kidding.

Me and Bubs.

Who's your Bubba?

This is Robin. One of Kenny's tour managers. He's awesome. And he spilt beer all over me.

See? told you.

One of the other openers for Kenny...Uncle Kracker. He later told us in the Pit that he was "Kracker with a K"...in case we were confused. He was super nice. And kind of drunk when we met him.

Seriously, one of the best nights of my life. We hung out stage right for the entire night. We even got to meet Kenny's girlfriend...who was one of the nicest people I've ever met. It was so refreshing actually to meet her because she didn't have to be nice to us, but yet so was such a sweetie!

Side note (and I don't have any pictures but it totes happened): we did get to meet Billy Currington. Not the brightest guy in the world but we talked to him for a bit during Kenny's encore. He asked us how we enjoyed the show. I tried to make a joke like "it was good, I just wish our seats would have been better." He didn't get it.

Oh another side note: while we were standing Stage Right, a few other girls our age and guys came up and were standing with us. We got to talking to them and found out that they work for Oprah. Yup. Oprah. Kenny was on the Oprah show and invited them to his Chicago concert. They couldn't go, so they came down for the Indy show. Oprah. Kind of a big deal.

Ahh, honestly I didn't think that week could get any better....

And then, two days later, Bubba texted me and told me that Kenny was playing in Cincinnati on the following Thursday (6 days after our first Kenny experience). Would we be interested in a road trip?

HECK YEAH!

So Lauren and I took off for the Nasty right after work on Thursday, where we got to do the whole experience over again. Seriously.

We got to Riverbend (after driving around for an hour trying to find a place to park. I mean, I lived in Cincinnati for three years and still can't find a reason to like that city. My experience at Riverbend just drilled that point home.) Bubba had tickets for us at will-call. We picked them up....only to see that he had given us FRONT ROW tickets!!!

I really had to keep pinching myself to assure me that this was really my life. Good grief!

So we stayed front row to see Billy. Got a wink and a smile from him!

And then Bubs took us backstage. Again.

While we were standing stage right, I happened to look across the stage and saw someone pretty famous standing in the sound booth.

Uh. Yeah.

BRETT freaking MICHAELS!

They were handing him a guitar, and sure enough, he went out and sung "Every Rose Has Its Thorns" with Kenny! Amazing.

 Afterwards, we were talking to Brett backstage and he asked us "if he looked like a douche on stage". Seriously. That was his question. Uh no Brett. You're awesome. And I can't believe I'm actually standing here talking to you. And you're short. But you're still awesome. 

Kenny in the Nasty!

Kenny has four set lists that he works from during a show.

Nick, the blonde guitar player, kept photo-bombing all my good Kenny pics!

I mean, Bubba had given us front row tickets so we can stand and lust after Billy Currington. Not too shabby!

We got to chat with Billy after the Kenny concert too. We talked a lot about Savannah, Georiga (where he's from and where my parents met and married). He totes remembered me and Lauren from the Indy show and as he was hugging me goodbye he said  whispered "It was really good to see you again." Uh. You too Billy. You're dreamy. And my new FFOMC. And I love you! :)

Yup. This was definitely the highlight of my freaking summer!!