Sun City Carnival Tour

Sponsored by Corona Extra, the tour features Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum on all shows, plus CMA and ACM Duo of the year Sugarland appearing on the all-day stadium concerts. According to Chesney’s Web site, Montgomery Gentry will appear on all but four stadium shows.

Chesney is mixing it up by playing traditional arenas and amphitheatres along with the occasional surprise bar gig.

The fun begins with two shows at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., April 17-18 with dates on the books through a gig at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Sept. 19.

Additional dates include shows at AT&T Center in San Antonio (May 1), Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio (May 23), Heinz Field in Pittsburgh (June 6), Soldier Field Stadium in Chicago (June 13) and Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (June 27).

Evidently, Chesney really likes those stadium gigs.

“There’s something that happens when we’re on those big stages,” Chesney said on his Web site. “You get to where you can really feel the back row, those people all the way back like you were in a club on a really hot night, and there’s no way to really put that into words, but those shows, they’re something else. And as long as we’ve got cities where we know we can bring the biggest tent, then we’re gonna keep doing it.”

Chesney added that the smaller shows are also a blast to play.

“Some cities like Boston, where we’ve been four times, really want us to come back in that big way, and you know, I like changing things up, so some markets we’re gonna play smaller venues and come back big and a couple markets we’re gonna throw the all-day party for the first time,” Chesney said. “

But it’s gonna be a really intense day of music, especially with the acts we’ve got this year! You take Miranda, who did some dates with us last year and really rocked our crowd, and Lady Antebellum and you add in Sugarland and Montgomery Gentry, and you’ve got a full day of some great songs, people who know how to engage a crowd and really have the kind of fun doing it I want to know our fans have when they come out to see us.”

To help out fans who’ve been hit hard by the economic downturn, Chesney is offering a section of “working class tickets” for his Aug. 22 show at Detroit’s Ford Field.