Country music star Kenny Chesney sustained a bone-crushing injury Saturday night during a sold-out concert at Williams-Brice stadium in Columbia, S.C.
Chesney was the final act for the first stadium show of the Poets & Pirates tour, which included performances by LeAnn Rimes and Brooks & Dunn.While making his entrance on stage during his opening number, “Live Those Songs,” Chesney’s right foot got caught between the stage and a lift that elevates him into the middle of the arena.
As the band continued to play an extended introduction of the song, Chesney pried himself loose, and although in obvious pain, continued the show.
Seen holding his knee and limping during instrumental breaks, Chesney didn’t acknowledge his injury until after the performance.
“I took one look at those fans, and there was no way I wasn’t going on,” Chesney said in a written statement issued following the concert. “Sometimes the energy and the adrenalin pull you through. They had come to rock, and there was no way I was sending them home with anything less than the best of what me and my guys came to do — put it all out there and give them back at least as good as they gave us. … Honestly, through the pain, through all of it, Columbia, S.C., totally got me through.”
After leaving the stage, Chesney’s boot was cut off and his injuries treated by a physician from the University of South Carolina who had been waiting nearby. The extent of his injuries is not known.
View amateur video clips from the concert below.