Kenny Chesney, Michael Franti, Louis Messina Hit SoFi Stadium Site To Prep For ‘Chillaxification’ show

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From Left: Clint Higham, Morris Higham Mgmt, Kenny Chesney, Christy Castillo Butcher, SVP of Programming at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park; MTG’s Louis Messina; Jason Gannon, Managing Director of SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park; and Michael Franti

Kenny Chesney gave media and workers at the still under-construction SoFi Stadium a rare treat Oct. 3: a press conference to support one of next summer’s “Chillaxification” shows. He was joined by Messina Touring Group’s Louis Messina and his tourmate, world music icon Michael Franti. 

The East Tennessee songwriter/superstar said, “I play plenty of NFL and other stadiums, and you never think about what goes into them. To see one going up, you realize how much goes into a building that holds most just 60,000 people at a time but generation after generation.”

 The mid-morning event saw a swarm of tv crews, trade media and various building dignitaries gather on the 6th floor of what will be Southern California’s home to both the Chargers and the Rams. In addition, it will host massive concerts including Chesney’s August 1 tour stop, making the 8-time Entertainer of the Year SoFi’s second headliner.

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With 3.1 million square feet with up to 70,000 seats, SoFi will be a formidable stop of the CHILLAXIFICATION 2020 tour. As importantly, the stadium located at Hollywood Park under what will be regarded its signature canopy roof opens next summer to serve as sports and entertainment destination.


”This place is amazing. It’s the most beautiful place,”  Messina told the assembled gathering. “I’ve never seen a stadium like this in my entire career.”

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Kenny Chesney, Louis Messina and Michael Franti spoke with the SoFi Stadium steel workers before taking questions from the media.



“I have always said nothing brings people together like sports and music,” Chesney said. “Those two things reach across age, sex, race, class – and create communities. I think what Stan Kroenke is doing here is just that on the largest scale, and it’s amazing to be part of history as its being built. Being here today, and being here in August with Michael is going to be awesome.”

The pair spent time with the steelworkers on the 6th level, posing for pictures and asking them questions about the structure. Franti actually said to the assembled, “I was thinking if one of those columns was even two inches off, everything is…” to the cheers of the men in the neomn yellow vests and hard hats.
 
Franti not only thanked all the men and women “who designed. And engineered this stadium,” but “the iron workers who have brought this vision to life”

Though an unlikely tour mate on paper, Franti has known Chesney since the ocean conscious 2015 Tortuga Music Festival. Frequently heard on Chesney’s  SiriusXM No Shoes Radio, he may be almost as familiar to the fans as tour mates Florida Georgia Line and Old Dominion.
With a strong message of positivity in a high-pressure world, the 8-time Entertainer of the Year and the activist/documentarian/genre-defier are ready to hit 20 stadiums next summer. With a second Gillette Stadium show announced a week before onsale, demand for what has become a rite of summer is once again strong.


“We are thrilled Kenny included SoFi Stadium as a part this amazing tour,” said Jason Gannon, managing director, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park. “It was spectacular to have Kenny and Michael on-site to celebrate the stadium and the tour. It was a special moment for our construction workers, who were very appreciative that they recognized all their hard work. We can’t wait to host the Chillaxification tour as part of our opening series of events next summer.”