Kenny Chesney returning to Rupp Arena for 2023 concert, bringing Kelsea Ballerini

Country music megastar Kenny Chesney is returning to Rupp Arena after more than a decade.

Chesney announced on Monday that his “I Go Back” tour will come to Lexington on April 25, 2023, with Kelsea Ballerini.

Tickets for the show go on sale to the public Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. at KennyChesney.com. American Express Card Members can purchase tickets in select markets beginning 10 a.m. local time Nov. 23 through 10 p.m. Dec. 1.

Chesney last played Rupp Arena in May 2011. The East Tennessee native, who just finished a 2022 major stadium tour, said in announcing the new tour that he wanted to return to cities that were a major part of establishing his career.

“I can still hear No Shoes Nation singing those songs after being apart for four whole summers,” Chesney said in a statement. “It’s a sound that reminds me how much music really means to people. It’s not about the numbers, but the joy you see on people’s faces – and the more I thought about it, the more I thought about taking the music to the people who were there when this thing was taking off.”

Chesney and Ballerini teamed up for “half of my hometown,” which won the 2021 Country Music Association Vocal Event and Video of the Year Award and was nominated for the 2022 CMA Single of the Year.

Music has taken me so many incredible places,” Ballerini says. “Around the world, singing with some of my heroes in pop, alternative and contemporary music, but singing with Kenny is going home. He was the only voice I heard on ‘half of my hometown,’ and when he comes in, it’s just like hitting the Knoxville city limits. So to be able to go out to those cities like the place he and I grew up with an artist who’s accomplished what he has, it’s a lot like going home.”