“It's Deeper Cuts”: Kenny Chesney Teases New Setlist Additions for Las Vegas Sphere Shows

Few other artists - across any genre - have been touring across stadiums as relentlessly over the past decade or so as ‘Just to Say We Did’ hitmaker, Kenny Chesney.

As a result, the country legend has honed and perfect a rip-roaring setlist, perfectly suited to expansive venues, with a song or two being adjusted with the arrival of each new album.

However, for Kenny Chesney's forthcoming 15-show residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, the ‘There Goes My Life’ chart-topper has been revamping his set to align more seamlessly with the immersive, encompassing nature of the innovative venue.

In a new interview with Audacy's Rob and Holly, Kenny Chesney has delved further into what fans can look forward to from his Sphere show, as well as recalling the moment when a former Ticketmaster CEO gave him the idea to perform at the venue.

Kenny Chesney reflected, “They did a tribute show at the Hollywood Bowl for Jimmy Buffett, and I was out there [to be] a part of that, and I was in my dressing room with Irving Azoff and he goes, ‘You need to be the first country act to play the Sphere!’”

The island-inspired country trailblazer went on, “I didn't even think about it until then. I saw everything. I saw it was impressive. I didn't know what I was gonna do in 2025, honestly, because we had our stadium tour last year. There was a part of me that was going to take the year off and just write songs, and work on my record, create and do whatever...I mean, when this opportunity came, I looked at it, I was so grateful because it's just an opportunity for me to take myself, my band, my crew, all the wonderful people that have come to our shows over the years to a completely different place emotionally, mentally. It's an amazing opportunity”.

It's a welcome surprise to learn that, after releasing his first studio album in four years in 2024, BORN, Kenny Chesney's attention has already turned towards his next record.

Elsewhere during the conversation, Chesney touched on how they'll be paying homage to one of his earliest tour traditions through a special ‘VIP Vibe Room’ at the Sphere, “We've had an area ever since I've been headlining our shows...We called it ‘the Vibe Room’, and honestly, it was a place for us to party after the show and do karaoke, have a few beers...There’s a whole experience aside from the Sphere experience called the Vibe Room. It’s kind of a museum of my journey. It’s 3,000 square feet - there’s going to be a bar in there, there’s going to be a lot going on”.

He expanded, “I feel very fortunate to be in this spot, and to be able to have the Vibe Room and show everybody my journey, and to take the music I’ve made over the years - basically my life’s work up to this moment - and to present it in a completely different way”.

When asked if the immersive location for most of his Sphere shows would be a beach, in honour of his penchant for tropically-minded anthems and his famous ‘No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems’ approach to life, Kenny Chesney laughed, “I'm not gonna say you're not gonna go there, but you're gonna go a lot of places. You know, you're gonna go where I grew up, it's a journey, it really is, and we're working on it”.

Chesney has shed some light on the rigorous process of recording the visuals for the Sphere, “I've been on the road for a lot of years and I've been creating content for our stadium shows, for our arena shows, whatever it is, and we have years of content that we've created - and we can't use a frame of it, because everything is shot so differently. Everything is shot in 36K. There's only eight of those cameras in the world, and we've got three or four of them all the time now”.

He stressed, “What's gonna make this really different is that every single frame they see in the Sphere is completely brand new. I have a little anxiety about it, but the idea of presenting this in a completely different way, I don't know, when people come in there and see it, it's going to be as if we all took the same plant medicine journey...!”

After joking about the almost trip-like nature of the Sphere experience, with the venue boasting a 160,000 square foot screen, 167,000 individual speakers creating a sound that can be locked in to each seat and an LED screen with a whopping 171,000 pixels, Kenny Chesney revealed that he'll be switching up his traditional setlist for 2025.

Kenny Chesney explained that, just five days into rehearsals, there are already “four songs in the set that we have never done [before], just because I feel like in a stadium setting or in an arena setting, it didn’t fit, with all the high-energy stuff I like to do. I've never been a big believer in doing unfamiliar stuff, right, but with the Sphere, it’s deeper cuts. Knowing what’s around us and what we’re creating, it's more of an experience than just doing an album cut. It’s allowing us to do a lot of different things - and that’s exciting for me, and for the people that have been coming to our shows for a while, I think that’s exciting for them too”.

With Kenny Chesney mentioning that one of the immersive settings he'll be introducing into his Sphere show is his hometown, we'd love to see his emotional Hemingway's Whiskey deep cut, ‘Where I Grew Up’, getting a feature in his 2025 set.

Chesney has an abundance of hidden gems in his expansive discography, so he'll have no shortage of choice when it comes to finalising his 2025 Sphere Las Vegas setlist. We'd be keen for the ‘No Shoes Nation’ figurehead to treat the Nevada crowd to some underrated yet beautiful odes to finding peace of mind in the sunshine, such as ‘The Life’, ‘Old Blue Chair’, ‘Happy Does’ and ‘When I See This Bar’.

With the comparative intimacy of the Sphere, we'd also be delighted if Kenny Chesney dusted off some of his enchanting ballads, such as ‘Don't Blink’, ‘There Goes My Life’ and ‘What I Need to Do’, with these rarely making their way into his stadium sets.

Either way, with Chesney's Sphere Las Vegas run launching this May, we can't wait to see what the beloved Knoxville icon has up his sleeve for this blockbuster residency.

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