Rick’s Caf drew in $8,000 Saturday night, but the money did not go to owner Rick Welch or singer Kenny Chesney, the No. 1-selling country artist in the nation who performed that night. The money went to tsunami relief in Southeast Asia.
The crowded scene, Kenny Chesney on stage and the smiling faces of die-hard Kenny-fans, made Welch smile.
“The best country star in the nation is right here tonight. His record is No. 1 right now and has only been out since the 25th,” Welch said.
Chesney’s latest album, Be as You Are: Songs from an Old Blue Chair, took No. 1 on the Billboard all-genre top 200 before a single was released and before Chesney’s full tour began.
With only four days notice, Welch surprised Starkville by announcing the Chesney concert, which would benefit the tsunami victims in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Welch sold 800 tickets to the concert for $10 apiece through a raffle Wednesday night at the MSU Horse Park.
At the concert, fans sang along with Chesney in what some described as a “more personal” performance than they were used to.
Rob Carston and his girlfriend, Beth McNeel, said they drove from Batesville and walked two miles to see Chesney. Another couple said they bought their tickets from raffle winners for $300.
MSU students enjoyed the concert as well.
“I’ve been a Kenny Chesney fan for a very long time, but this far surpasses any expectation I’ve had of him,” said Paul Wilson, a senior industrial engineering student.
“This is a personal performance,” said Jessie Carver, an MSU baseball player and sophomore physical education major. “I didn’t know he was so in-touch with his fans.”
Fans who missed the concert can download Chesney’s performance of “I Can’t Go There” from the tsunami benefit concert on www.connect.com for 99 cents. Money from the downloads will go to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.