In January of 2002, Ed Wannebo resigned from his production manager position for Tim McGraw to be the manager of a new production, the first headlining tour of McGraw’s opening act, Kenny Chesney. Since that tour eight years ago, Chesney has evolved into one of the biggest names in country western music and the touring industry at large.
Ranked at the 15th highest grossing tour in the world in 2009, Chesney’s claim is particularly remarkable since the entertainer has never played a show outside his home continent.
The All-American touring sensation has watched his career evolve and blossom under Wannebo’s unorthodox yet hyper-efficient production style. This very same efficiency won Wannebo a Parnelli Award for Production Manager of the Year in 2008. How does such a humble entertainer consistently remain so popular and successful? Ed Wannebo spilled the beans at his Chesney show at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Apparently, the production is not just merely a well-oiled machine, but a dependable and fully functional family.
The Chesney tour is unique due to its relaxed organization and atmosphere. Techs rode around the stadium stage on roller blades, the “bar & grill” was up and running and Johnsonville Bratwursts were handed out to the crew. In the back of the room sat “Daddy’s desk” (as Ed’s card table is lovingly labeled on site), and underneath the light of his 40-pound parrot desk lamp was where all of the organization of production took place. From such a relaxed atmosphere, how can such a professional and successful tour spawn?
The answer is the dependability of the family. Ed keeps production costs low by consistently using the same team of personnel year after year. Dale Morris, Chesney’s senior manager, is also the owner and operator of Morris Leasing, a well known sound and light company. When Chesney began touring nearly a decade ago, his sound and lights were conveniently provided by Morris, and have been ever since. The Morris group provided this same service for another one of their clients, Alabama, some 20-plus years ago. Danny O’Bryan at Screenworks has been providing the video since 2004, and both O’Bryan and Morris offer affordable deals to production due to their loyalty and consistency. The Chesney production has also kept set costs low by reworking and reusing the existing mobilating set provided by All Access Staging and Productions.
“We’re kind of a unique machine in that we kind of put the tour together ourselves,” says Wannebo. “We book it and sell it in house; we produce a lot of the stadium stuff ourselves with the Messina group.”
This self-reliant business model keeps the Chesney costs very low, allowing the production team to project future costs and make adjustments, and it makes the Chesney tour a very reliable client for their gear providers
The Chesney tour runs smoothly due to the loyalty and trust of their longstanding promoters and crew. Kenny still uses the same third party promoters he did when he began headlining tours eight years previous.
“Some of the shows,” Wannebo states, “have to go to Live Nation and other regional promoters, but Kenny has never forgotten the guys that helped him out on the front end, so there are some smaller promoters around the country that always get their shows. He doesn’t just blanket it out to one of the big boys.”
The Chesney family also takes care of its fans. Due to the state of the current market, the Chesney team tries to keep costs low to provide a relatively inexpensive yet spectacular show. The average cost of a Chesney show is $67, which is much lower than some acts of similar size.
“We keep an affordable ticket,” says Wannebo. “Up front on the floor here is probably $105, but you can buy a $35 ticket. They try to have some sections that are around $25 even.”
The ticket pricing policy allows venues to still sell out, regardless of the country being in the midst of a recession, and that is made possible by careful, precise financing in the production department. The Chesney tour didn’t squander all its profits on technological upgrades in the first few years.
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job of a protracted progression. Between Mike Swinford the designer and myself and Kenny, collectively, we’ve done a pretty good job of just growing and growing and adding technology and just staying at a sustainable pace of acceleration through his career.”
The tour’s modest spending has helped prepared it for the unpredictable; if this production is not recession proof, then it is at least recession resistant. How badly has the recession affected the production? Wannebo replies, “Not that bad. Some markets we’re still blowing out the way we have, some markets we’re still doing great business. But people are just holding onto their money a little longer.”
With the money saved through reconfiguring existing equipment and with Wannebo’s approach to economical production, the Chesney family is able to comfortably take care of their crew. At the end of the tour, Chesney takes his whole crew to the island of St. Thomas for a week-long vacation.
“We flew out 116 people down there,” Wannebo said. “He puts them up in the Westin, always throws a big party on some other island, and we all jump in a bunch of boats and head over to Peter island,” says Ed, with a Caribbean grin across his face.
From the pleasant, relaxed atmosphere of the load-in at AT&T Park, it was apparent that the Chesney team believes the carrot is a much better motivator than the stick. “Yeah, the crew will go to the wall for him. I mean, he certainly wants to make sure everybody has a good time and is appreciated for what they have done, and he wants their input into the show.” The mutual respect that all of the members of this multi-faceted production have for one another makes the tour seem more like a traveling family reunion than a mobile job site.
The show also demonstrates the great leap forward that the country music touring market has taken in the past decade, making the lines between it and the rock ‘n’ roll industry so blurred as to be unrecognizable. The evolution of this industry is due to pioneers like Wannebo who took the business models of the huge arena-style rock tours and adapted them to country artists.
So what does the future hold for this country superstar? How about playing out of the country, for starters? Ultimately, the decision is up to Chesney and his manager. But if this Knoxville-born hairstylist’s son can hang in with the big boys at the 15th highest grossing tour spot worldwide as he has been doing, he might as well spread his music overseas. For now, Chesney is on his eighth U.S. tour and is more popular than ever. Wannebo attributes that to his wonderful family.
“Everybody’s doing their part — the publicity side and the production side, we’re delivering, they’re selling, Kenny’s delivering out there. That’s the big thing.”
