HOUSTON -- Two-time country and western Entertainer of the Year winner Kenny Chesney has sold over a million concert tickets each summer since 2001.  This includes this year’s Corona Extra sponsored Poets and Pirates Tour.

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Kenny Chesney will play in Houston on August 16, 2008.

Chesney may be the man his fans come to see, but it takes more than one person to make a concert successful.  Just ask Chesney’s Director of Tour Marketing, Kate McMahon. McMahon said that for a super show like the one taking place Saturday night in Houston, it takes 15 trucks full of equipment and over 130 people to set up the stage.

“We started setting up stuff on Monday.  The first thing we did was decide where we were going to put the stage and then we went from there,” said McMahon.

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The stage setup at Kenny Chesney's Poets and Pirates Tour in Houston.

Kenny Chesney’s stage for the Poets and Pirates Tour is impressive.   It’s 218 feet wide and over 70 feet tall, but what is going to blow the fans away is the amount of LED video.  In fact, the entire show is shot in High Definition.

“There is over 1400 square feet of LED video display surface on the stage and another 1000 square feet in the wings,” said McMahon. “It’s like watching HDTV in your home, except really large and with incredible sound.”

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Kenny Chesney's view of the audience from center stage on his 2008 Poets and Pirates Tour.

McMahon has been working with Chesney for nearly a decade.  This is her seventh headline tour with the singer and she has also worked with him on three other tours when he was a support act.  She said on this Poets and Pirates Tour, they have 15 super shows similar to the one in Houston planned and 33 other smaller shows such as fairgrounds and arenas.  But even the smaller shows require a large crew.

“Kenny has his static staff that travel with us to all the shows,” said McMahon.  “There are 70 people that work for him full time including video techs, guitar techs, accountants, and sound guys.

The crew works together in synchronicity, and McMahon said they follow a strict schedule and they stay on it.  The team does everything from lining up the 7500 chairs in the stadium with a ruler and string, to blowing out the speakers the day before. They even bring in their own power system as they use 5000 amps of 3-phase power to run the show. This is enough power to run a neighborhood of 25 homes with everything on at the same time.

“Sometimes it feels like a village with a village.  On the day of the show, we’ll even have our own catering and food,” said McMahon.  “And then the next day, it’s all over and the village is gone.”

Even with so many people taking care of the setup, McMahon said that Chesney will come in the night before the concert and do his own sound check.  She said Chesney is also the person who comes up with the ideas for each tour such as the poets and pirates theme.

Chesney’s ideas also include his memorable entrances.

“Kenny is known for his entrances, so you don’t want to miss that part of the concert,” said McMahon. “One year he flew in on a swing.  Last year, we created a little stage in the center of the crowd and hid him in an equipment box.  He popped out and surprised everyone.”

This year Chesney has a spectacular entrance planned as well, but McMahon wouldn’t let the secret out.

“You’ll have to wait for his opening,” said McMahon.

Kenny Chesney will be performing with LeAnn Rimes, Keith Urban, Gary Allan and Luke Bryan in Houston on August 16.  Doors open at 2:30 and the first opening band will begin at 4:00.