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Kenny Chesney hits the Wildwood beach for free concert

With a Ferris wheel to his right and a roller coaster to his left, country-pop star Kenny Chesney took the stage Wednesday for a free concert before a crowd of 20,000 on the Wildwood beach as the sun was setting on the first night of summer.

Kenny Chesney performs on the beach in Wildwood. A generation-spanning audience sang along, even to songs from his new album, released this week. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer
Kenny Chesney performs on the beach in Wildwood. A generation-spanning audience sang along, even to songs from his new album, released this week. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff PhotographerRead more

With a Ferris wheel to his right and a roller coaster to his left, country-pop star Kenny Chesney took the stage Wednesday for a free concert before a crowd of 20,000 on the Wildwood beach as the sun was setting on the first night of summer.

Facing the boardwalk as he looked out at a sea of straw cowboy hats, Chesney stepped onstage at 8:35, opening his live-streamed-from-the-Jersey Shore show, somewhat paradoxically, with "Beer in Mexico."

The generation-spanning audience, which was docile and calm early on during a breezy night on the beach with super-slow beer lines, sang along to both new songs like "Feel Like a Rock Star" - from Welcome to the Fishbowl, released Tuesday - and familiar paeans to the Chesney-sanctioned way of life: "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem."

When he introduced that one, Chesney said, "Usually I say let this song take you away to the beach, but we are on a beach."

Situated on a 170,000-square-foot parcel between Morey's Adventure and Mariner's Landing piers, Chesney added, "This is one of the most beautiful settings that I've ever played music on."

The location was a good fit for Chesney, who has called Wildwood "the classic American beach boardwalk venue." Although the 44-year-old singer hails from the landlocked mid-South - he grew up in Luttrell, Tenn., and graduated from East Tennessee State with a degree in advertising - a large part of his appeal is based on a carefree beach-bum persona.

Chesney's song titles speak for themselves: "Summertime," "Beer in Mexico," and "You and Tequila," his recent hit duet with Grace Potter. That image has helped him annex Jimmy Buffett's massive wasting-away-in-"Margaritaville" audience.

"Suntanned toes ticklin' the sand, cold drink chillin' in my right hand," Chesney sang on one of his biggest hits, "When the Sun Goes Down," which could as easily be set in Wildwood as in his favored song locales, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

The concert was a promotional event for Welcome to the Fishbowl, Chesney's 13th studio album. Chesney has been on a Brothers of the Sun tour with Tim McGraw; they played Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday.

Authorities reported no serious problems at Chesney's show, which officials believed to be Wildwood's largest concert ever.

At two minutes to 6, the gate opened, and hundreds of ticketholders began pouring into the ad hoc outdoor venue.

"I'm going to marry Kenny!" said Cristina Hondros, 27, of Bellmawr. She bought her ticket on craigslist for $20. "I love his looks, his music . . ."

". . . his bald head," added her friend Danielle D'Andrea, 25, of Pine Hill, as she and Hondros waited for Chesney to come on. "I want to rub it."

Having the concert on the beach "is going to make the show," D'Andrea said.

"That's how you always picture him," Hondros said. "Sitting on a beach, playing his guitar."

Dennis McMahon, 43, said he had no tickets - he just came for the party. "We'll be able to hear it from here," said McMahon, munching pizza on the boardwalk. "This'll be just fine."

The show was live-streamed on YouTube, with Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme in charge of the cameras.

"When the possibility of working with Kenny came up, I was really happy because I love his music," said a flip-flop-wearing Demme, best known for films such as The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia, backstage before the show.

"Wildwood is a great unspoiled American city by the water," said Demme, who normally shoots music in theater settings about a tenth the size of the beach concert. "My favorite filmmaking is shooting live music. And Wildwood, it's the jukebox within which this music is happening."

The twilight cooperated just as Demme had hoped, with the searing sunlight of the day receding into the backdrop of lollipop-color lights from the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster.

Demme might seem an odd choice to helm a live-streaming Internet country-pop concert. But he has a track record of making music movies, including Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, the Robyn Hitchcock documentary Storefront Hitchcock, and three movies with Neil Young, the latest of which, Neil Young Journeys, is to be released in July.

Unlike those Demme films, the Chesney concert, presented by American Express as part of its Unstaged series, is planned for release only as streaming video, which can be seen on a YouTube music channel. It was to be available for 12 hours following the concert, at www.youtube.com/user/KennyChesneyVEVO/unstaged

American Express, through Ticketmaster, distributed the 20,000 tickets, offering them first to Chesney fan club members and Amex cardholders.

Motels and hotels in the city have been booked solid since shortly after the show was announced June 7. Occupancy rates in mid-June are normally about 30 percent, officials said.

In Wildwood, crews worked days to build the four-story stage and general-admission area on the wide Schellenger Avenue beach. Barriers were erected to keep out those without tickets.

Parking-lot owners took full advantage of the premium on space, charging upward of $80 - about 10 times the average rate - to park in lots near the Schellenger Avenue beach.