Kenny Chesney says an unexpected — and unwanted — encounter with a fan once pushed him to the point of punching the man while making his entrance at a stadium show.
According to Fox News, during an appearance on Wednesday on The Howard Stern Show, Chesney told the story of the moment he “snapped” while performing at a concert with legendary guitarist Joe Walsh.
He didn’t reveal the exact date, but the two shared stages during Chesney’s 2007 “Flip Flop Summer Tour” and again on “The Big Revival Tour” in 2015.
“We were in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was playing the Steelers football stadium, and I thought it was cool to come up in the middle of the stadium, and almost like a boxer in a way, like walk through the crowd to the stage — that kind of thing,” Chesney said.
But things went sideways quickly.
“The security got way ahead of me, and all of a sudden, I’m by myself on my way to the stage, and I see this guy coming. I can just see him out the peripheral and walking to the stage,” he explained.
Chesney said the man “buckled down” as he approached, and before he knew it, the fan had picked him up. Chesney reacted instinctively.
He told Stern the only thought in his mind in that instant was the potential fallout.
“This is going to cost me every penny that I made tonight,” he said.
Later backstage, Chesney recounted the incident to Walsh.
“We’re backstage after the show and Joe’s on the bus… So, I said, ‘Joe, did you see what happened at the beginning of the show?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘Well, what would you do if somebody had picked you up like that?’ He goes, ‘I would have asked him to take me to the stage,’” Chesney recalled.
The interview also took a more emotional turn as Chesney shared a story about honoring the late Jimmy Buffett during his posthumous 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Chesney said he and longtime guitarist Mac McAnally secretly brought Buffett’s ashes onstage during their performance.
“We were sitting back there warming up, trying to figure out our parts and stuff, and Mac comes up to me, and he goes, ‘Look at this,’ and it was a small urn. He had Jimmy’s ashes in his coat pocket,” Chesney said.
“So Jimmy’s ashes were in Mac McAnally’s coat pocket onstage with us as he was getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” he continued.
Chesney explained that Buffett’s daughter, Savannah Buffett, had given McAnally the ashes before the tribute.
“So even after he passed, Jimmy found a way to join the party,” he said.
Buffett died on Sept. 1, 2023, at age 76 from a rare form of skin cancer.
