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Rating: "5 summers, 374 shows, 13 stadiums, 14 college bars, 5.43 million fans, 1 incredible feeling"... and the best of all this is captured in the 67 minutes of great music of this "Live Those Songs Again", the first and so far only live collection by Kenny Chesney. Released in 2006, this album showcases Uncle Kenny as a stage animal, maneuvering between power ballads and faster episodes, thus creating a highly enjoyable and balanced tracklist, although with some unjustified absences.
The majority of the songs offered are from the period 1999-2005, with the album "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" from 2002, represented by 4 performances: from "Live Those Songs", the most country track on the album, which opens the dances in the liveliest and most exhilarating way possible to the little-known "On The Coast Of Somewhere Beautiful", a delicate and dreamy piano ballad, passing through the energy and AOR charge of the single "Young", which finds its highest expression in this live version, and the wonderful and captivating rhythm veiled with melancholy of "Never Gonna Feel Like That Again". Also well represented is the subsequent "When The Sun Goes Down" from 2004, strong with the catchy and rhythmic melodies of "Keg In The Closet" and "I Go Back", the reggae flavor of the fun title track and especially the emotion and impact of a magnificent "Anything But Mine", performed here in a particularly direct and inspired version that contends for the title of best ballad of the album with the equally moving "What I Need To Do".
Among the pleasant surprises stands out the fluid and crystal-clear melody of "Back Where I Come From" from 1996, while the album "The Road And The Radio" from 2005 is represented only by the bittersweet "Beer In Mexico", a beautiful song but one that makes us miss "Summertime" and especially "Living In Fast Forward", which in such a live would have been true dynamite, but Uncle Kenny more than makes up for it with a breathtaking finale, ensured by the big hits that, ten years ago, launched the album "Everywhere We Go": first Kenny's summer song par excellence, "How Forever Feels", a stunning and almost epic crescendo of vitality and freshness, and to close with full speed a pyrotechnic version of the super hit "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy": unmistakable, light-hearted, rustic, and joyful, complete with a drum intro and final reprise that further ennoble this song so fun and unique in its genre, which alone is worth an entire career, as well as the price of the album.
In conclusion, the final result is definitely excellent: Kenny always has a great voice, whether in the studio or live, the songs travel at high levels, there are no dead spots, and the band is always perfect and never misses a beat. Sure, the absence of songs like "She's Got It All", "Me And You", "The Good Stuff", or "No Shoes, No Shirt No Problems" is felt, but for a live that fully does justice to KC's entire repertoire probably even two CDs wouldn't have been enough. My secret and unattainable wish remains to see this extraordinary singer perform at San Siro Stadium, preferably on a stage set up under the North Curve, but "Live Those Songs Again" perfectly conveys the idea of the emotion and magic that is unleashed when a true singer performs in front of his audience, and for now, that's enough for me.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Beer in Mexico (04:36)
Starin' out into the wild blue yonder
So many thoughts to sit and ponder
'Bout life and love and lack of
And this emptiness in my heart
Too old to be wild and free still
Too young to be over the hill
Should I try to grow up
But who knows where to start
So I just ...
Sit right here and have another beer in Mexico
Do my best to waste another day
Sit right here and have another beer in Mexico
Let the warm air melt these blues away
Sun comes up and sun sinks down
And I seen 'em both in this tourist town
Up for days in a rage
Just tryin' to search my soul
From the answers and the reasons why
I'm at these crossroads in my life
And I really don't know
Which way to go
So I just ...
Sit right here and have another beer in Mexico
Do my best to waste another day
Sit right here and have another beer in Mexico
Let the warm air melt these blues away
Maybe I'll settle down, get married
Or stay single and stay free
Which road I travel
Is still a mystery to me
So I'll just ...
Sit right here, have another beer in Mexico
Do my best to waste another day
Sit right here and have another beer in Mexico
Let the warm air melt these blues away
Down in Mexico ...
05 Keg in the Closet (04:04)
We had a dog named Bocephus living in the front yard
He liked sleeping out on top of the car
He drank beer out of a mason jar
And he'd climb up on everyone in bed
A wide frame house in a college town
A bunch of people always hanging around
No real problems we needed to drown
But we tried our best anyway
We went to class just to pass the time
Back in '89
We had a keg in the closet, pizza on the floor
Left over from the night before
Where we were going we didn't really care
We had all we ever wanted
In that keg in the closet
This old guitar taught me how to score
Right there on that Lambda Chi porch
Mary Ann taught me a little more
About what one you can't have
Sweatshirts and flag football
Spring breaks down in Panama
For a while we had it all
We never dreamed it wouldn't last
We went to class just to pass the time
Back in '89
We had a keg in the closet, pizza on the floor
Left over from the night before
Where we were going we didn't really care
We had all we ever wanted
In that keg in the closet
We all kind of went our separate ways
But I swear it seems like yesterday
Keg in the closet, pizza on the floor
Left over from the night before
Where we were going we didn't really care
We had all we ever wanted
In that keg in the closet
12 Don't Happen Twice (04:03)
I haven't seen you in forever,
aw you haven't changed a bit.
you didn't think that I remembered,
how could I forget?
We sang Bobby McGee on the hood of my car,
made a wish on every star
in that clear September sky.
One bottle of wine and two dixie cups,
Three A.M. I fell in love
for the first time in my life.
Oh that's somethin' that just don't happen twice.
To this day I still taste that first kiss.
How I prayed it wouldn't end,
and in a way seeing you like this
I guess it never really did.
We sang Bobby McGee on the hood of my car,
made a wish on every star
in that clear September sky.
One bottle of wine and two dixie cups,
Three A.M. I fell in love
for the first time in my life.
Oh that's somethin' that just don't happen twice.
One bottle of wine and two dixie cups,
Three A.M. I fell in love
for the first time in my life
oh that's somethin'
baby that's somethin'
oh that's somethin' that just don't happen twice
oh yeah
We sang Bobby McGee on the hood of my car,
made a wish on every star
One bottle of wine and two dixie cups,
yeah we fell in love
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