Kenny heading to Chicago stopping in Moline.....

From the Quad City Times : Somehow saying that Kenny Chesney put on a concert Thursday night at the i wireless Center seems inadequate.

The country superstar unleashed a flat-out mega-frat party in Moline, complete with extras seldom performed on his current “Sun City Carnival” tour, some of it admittedly in prep for Saturday’s concert at Soldier Field in Chicago.

“This is what you get when we get the next night off,” he announced to the 11,000 fans, in the middle of a free-for-all, all-classic rock encore.

Even leaving about a dozen of his hits out, he filled the nearly two hours with his songs, many of which are either celebrating a South Seas life of beer, sand and swimsuits or reminiscing about days gone by. (Speaking of swimsuits, he apparently is amassing a collection of bikini tops and brassieres atop a microphone stand, and the crowd added to it throughout the night.)

Chesney made a grand entrance, seated in something resembling a carnival ride that took him to every inch of the arena floor, about 10 feet in the air, while singing a few lines from “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” followed by “Live Those Songs.” The rest of the night was a cruise through his greatest hits, mostly those from the current century.

The video backdrop was simply phenomenal, with a large crisp screen extending the length of the stage and — aside from the two smaller monitors near the ceiling — three separate screens above the stage, each with different video footage, and side screens that alternated between lights and video.

The video itself was astounding in two places: Separate, similarly produced montage videos incorporating various photographs. (One was before Chesney made his appearance, the other during “Young.”) The video was also effective on Chesney’s hit “Back Where I Come From,” incorporating footage from the Quad-Cities.

Chesney was in fine form — yes, ladies, he wore a sleeveless T-shirt that showed his pecs — musically, and he seems even more energetic than ever, mastering a backwards skip on stage during several of the songs.

I’ve repeated this fact whenever it’s appropriate — this is the ninth time Chesney has played in the Quad-Cities in the past 10 years; twice at the Adler Theatre in Davenport, once at the Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport and the rest of the time at the Mark of the Quad-Cities/i wireless Center. He has been at or near the top-grossing artists of all genres of music in the past few years, and he could easily have passed us by as many others have. The mutual admiration continues.

Singer Miranda Lambert and trio Lady Antebellum were the opening acts. Lambert reinforced her own tough-chick country stance with hits including “Kerosene” and “Gunpowder and Lead,” as well as the ballad “More Like Her” and covers of Rod Stewart’s “Stay With Me,” Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” and Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll.” Lady A gave an energetic leadoff with their hits, including “Looking For a Good Time” and “Run to You.”