Kenny Chesney to Open Tuscaloosa Amphitheater

Four-time CMA and four-time ACM Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney will open the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater with a concert March 31, 2011. The announcement, made last week by the Mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was dramatically punctuated with a fireworks display.

"It's not just that Kenny Chesney is a big star, but that he crosses genres, which is important to us in building a diverse lineup. And it's especially showing faith in a smaller facility such as ours," Mayor Walt Maddox told box holders, sponsors and media at the amphitheater's dedication ceremony.

The 7,500 seat amphitheater will be one of the smallest venues Kenny will play on his hotly anticipated 2011 tour. But performing in Tuscaloosa will be like a coming home of sorts for Kenny. The multi-platinum superstar has played at the city's old Jupiter Bar & Grill as an opening date of several tours in years past, and fans would line up around the block to get into the intimate 500-seat venue for his warm-up performances, and to hear him announce upcoming shows just days beforehand.

Even though he took this past year off the road, Kenny still came in as the second biggest ticket seller of the decade, the only artist in any genre to sell over a million tickets for eight consecutive summers. On March 17, 2011, the singer will kick off his Goin' Coastal tour in Palm Beach, Fla.

Kenny's latest album, 'Hemingway's Whiskey' debuted at No. 1 on Billboard in September this year. It was his sixth album to debut at the top of the charts and his tenth No. 1 album overall. The album's second single, 'Somewhere With You,' is racing up the charts, about to break Top 5.