Kenny Chesney rocks Nashville for a homecoming show

Kenny Chesney rocked more than 48,000 people at Nashville's LP Stadium Saturday night. It looked like the people not only showed up in record numbers for a music event, but came early, partied in the parking lot and stayed until the last note was played.

“The trouble with Nashville,” says Chesney, who calls Music City his home, in a SonyBMG press release, “is that everybody knows somebody who's in the business... they're so dialed in, they don't get excited… and there's so much music, they don't know where to start.”Pausing for a moment, the man who not only brought dear friend and reigning Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Keith Urban onstage for his first post-matrimonial appearance and had BNA VP of Promotion Tom Baldrica make a special guest appearance on tuba smiled a big smile, then proclaimed, “Although you couldn't really tell that if you were in the parking lot, listening to the tail-gaters at 2:30 in the afternoon -- or looked up at the third tier of the stadium during our set.”Taking the stage -- or rather a satellite stage out on the far end of the playing field with his now 6 week and counting #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart “Summertime,” and then being hustled 50 yards upfield surrounded by 20 security guards to hold back the surging, screaming fans, Chesney brought everything he had to a venue that only George Strait's Stadium tour -- featuring multiple headlining acts -- and N Sync at their prime dared attempt back in 2000. And not only did the only act braving football stadiums this year attempt, he came, saw, rocked and roared.“Our fans are a pretty crazy, rockin', spirited bunch,” Chesney states in the release, “and I gotta say, they were wild in Seattle two weeks ago, but the folks in Nashville, they represented loud - and had a blast doing it. When you're up there playing for 50,000, that's what you wanna do: have the best time you've ever had in your life. I'm lucky: my fans come ready to have a good time.”He shared John Mellencamp's “Hurt So Good” with CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Gretchen Wilson, brought songwriter Mac McAnally out for an emotional “Back Where I Come From,” enlisted duet partner Uncle Kracker for “When The Sun Goes Down” and a thumping take on Kid Rock's “Cowboy,” then brought everybody back out for the always free-for-alling “She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy.” But the set pretty much belonged to the fans who sang along with every line throughout night.