Just last weekend I got to check a major bucket list item off the list. But it was not planned and definitely not how I imagined finally see my favorite artist Kenny Chesney in the Sandbar!
Rewind to the end of 2022 when my best friend Lacy and I were planning our annual girls’ trip. It has been a tradition as of late to book our trip around a concert. Last year we saw Luke Combs in Charleston and in prior years we have traveled to Jacksonville to see Thomas Rhett and Atlanta to see Dierks Bentley. This year our travels took us to Greensboro, NC to see my all-time favorite artist Kenny Chesney. While this would be my 5th time seeing him, this was Lacy and I’s first time together and I was so excited to share this experience with her.
We signed up for presale and were hopeful we could splurge and get Sandbar tickets. If you are unaware, the Sandbar is what Kenny Chesney call’s his pit area next to the stage. Very on brand with his island vibes. Unfortunately, they were not selling pit tickets for this show as the arena was much smaller than his usual stadium tours. We settled for 20th row floor seats, still a great spot to be in.
Fast forward to last weekend when it was finally Kenny weekend in Greensboro. I flew out Friday morning where Lacy picked me up. We had lunch and did a bit of shopping before checking into our hotel. We decided not to splurge on a hotel and just picked a random hotel close to the Greensboro Coliseum.
Later that evening we headed out to dinner and noticed about a dozen buses in the hotel parking lot. To me they looked like tour buses. I said on the way to dinner, “What if the band is staying at our hotel?”
A few hours later after dinner and some drinks we arrived back to the hotel to see more tour buses and a branded Blue Chair Bay Rum bus, which is Kenny Chesney’s Rum. At this moment I knew that had to be staying there and at the very least using the large parking lot as a home base.
We went upstairs, changed into comfy clothes, grabbed our bottle of Blue Chair Bay Coconut Rum and headed down to a take a picture with the bus. Once we got our photos we headed inside, carrying our bottle of rum when we were waved down by a pretty intoxicated man. Lacy and I both looked at each other like, “Is he waving at us?’. We reluctantly walked over. That’s when I recognized the female bass player from Kenny’s band and multiple others wearing Blue Chair Bay Merch. We chatted for awhile, took a selfie, and went back upstairs, purely thinking of how cool it was we got to meet the band.
But the story didn’t end there. We went back to our room, dropped the rum off and decided to go back down to actually have a drink. On our way down 19 floors we ran into the same drunk guy who happened to be the keyboard player in the band. He invited us to their small corner in the lobby bar, demanded the man with the credit card buy us drinks.
Over the next two hours we chatted and got to know the bass player, guitarist, keyboardist, drummer, and multiple representatives of Blue Chair Bay. Chatted about where we were from, what we did for work, what other concerts and music we liked. I have to say it was one of the most genuine group of strangers I have ever met.
But the story doesn’t end there. During our evening of free drinks and good conversations the keyboardist insisted the main man in charge of Blue Chair Bay hook us up with Sandbar tickets! My literal bucket list. I was dying inside but played it cool and did not get my hopes up. We exchanged numbers and the very next morning he texted me saying he had 2 Sandbar wristbands saved for me and to text him when we got to the venue.
I was geeking out in pure excitement.
We spent the day getting pampered at the spa and once we were dressed, ready, and a few drinks in of Blue Chair Bay Rum we made our way to the arena. We texted our new friend Mark who moments later responded with where to meet him. A big hug later from Mark he banded us up and I was finally going to check off seeing a Kenny Chesney Concert in the pit off my bucket list!
The 3.5 hour concert went buy in a blink but the memories are forever. Not only the memories of standing inches away from my favorite artist but the insane memory of meeting his band at a random hotel lobby bar in Greensboro, NC.
I thought I was a Kenny Groupie before, but I guess I really am now.
