Chesney Announces Tour Dates!

This is awesome news! After taking several months off, Kenny Chesney has announced a series of dates for The Road and the Radio tour. His openers on the tour include Dierks Bentley and Sugarland. He kicks it off March 23-24 in Dayton, Ohio, and visits 19 cities in the eastern U.S. before wrapping May 27 in Columbus, Ohio.

"Even when I've just been several hundred thousand miles and am wore out exhausted, the place where I'm the most alive is on that stage," Chesney said. "We get out there, me and the guys, and we're ready to rock. I gotta tell you, the time off has really given me an edge to charge my batteries, think about why we do it and get as hungry for it as when we were first getting started."

His 2005 tour grossed $61.8 million, more than any other country artist. Changes in his 2006 production include a bigger stage. However, the standing-room portion of the stage configuration will remain in place.

"We've learned a lot about certain things that work, just from being out there and doing it, especially doing it with 18 semis," he says. "And the more you do it, the more you can figure out to do, the more things that you can imagine. So I don't wanna give anything away, except to say if you had a good time last year, you came, you partied, it rocked -- this year is gonna be even better."

Rolling Stone magazine has taken notice of his success as well, estimating his 2005 income at $109 million -- if you only consider album sales and concert tickets. Chesney comes in at No. 3, behind the Rolling Stones and U2, on the publication's Ultimate Top 10 list published Friday (Jan. 13). Others on the list included Green Day, the Eagles, Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, 50 Cent, Dave Matthews Band and Elton John.

The Road and the Radio Tour dates include:

March 23-24: Dayton, Ohio
March 25: Lexington, Ky.
March 30: Lubbock, Texas
March 31: Austin, Texas
April 1: Oklahoma City
April 6: Omaha, Neb.
April 7-8: St. Paul, Minn.
April 20: Pensacola, Fla.
April 21: Lafayette, La.
April 22: Houston
April 23: Bossier City, La.
April 27: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
April 28: Jacksonville, Fla.
April 29: Columbia, S.C.
May 4: Moline, Ill.
May 5: Cedar Falls, Iowa
May 6: Columbia, Mo.
May 26: Philadelphia
May 27: Columbus, Ohio

Source: CMT.com