Kenny Chesney likes it fun, plays it smart

Before the country incarnation of Jimmy Buffet returns for another beach party with 35,000 of his closest friends at AT&T Park on Saturday ($29.50, sfgiants.com), here’s all you need to know:

1. On his latest tour, Kenny Chesney soars above the rowdy crowd in a “flying chair.” His manager worked with Van Halen back in the ’80s. Remember David Lee Roth on the surfboard? Or Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley winging it on a zip wire? Or Motley Crue stickman Tommy Lee rotating in a drum cage overhead?

This is more La-Z-Boy country style, sitting and spinning 20 feet above, with a camera mounted below his seat to catch all the action. (Do a YouTube search for “chesney overhead” and watch him fly over a screaming crowd at Soldiers Field in Chicago last month).

2. The 41-year-old tours like a madman, bringing along his 235-pound stuffed blue marlin named “Marley” for company. He took home $65 million on the road last year and was crowned the fifth highest-earning touring musician of 2008 by Forbes magazine. Combine that with record sales and he pulled in $96 million last year, making him the third-highest entertainer on the list, behind only Madonna and Celine Dion.

He likes to say he’s been touring nonstop for 16 years. More than a million people see his shows annually. It takes a convoy of 32 trucks and six video screens to pull off his latest tour. Last year’s sandbar party at AT&T Park turned into a seven-hour gig (including opening acts and surprise guests Steve Miller and tequila buddy Sammy Hagar chiming in).

3. Not one to hole up in his bus all day, Chesney likes to get out and mingle with fans. Last month, before a show at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, he climbed aboard one of the party boats anchored nearby on the river and belted out a song for the bikini-clad crowd.

And in case you’re wondering where the band hangs out before the show: After soundcheck, some of the 115-strong crew and musicians gather backstage at the “Annex Bar and Grill.”

4. Over his 16-year career, Chesney has notched 20 No. 1 country singles. Not bad for a kid who grew up in Luttrell, Tenn., raised by Mom the hairdresser and Dad the school teacher.

After earning a degree in advertising at East Tennessee State, he set out the tip jar and began putting his music skills to use in Southern bars and honky tonks.

In 2002, his cover of “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems” started luring more Parrotheads to shows as he recast himself as a sleeveless beach bum extra from Margaritaville the musical. Flash forward to his latest Corona beer TV ad and the transformation is complete.

In between, a short-lived marriage to actress Renee Zellweger in 2005 amounted to a lot of press and allegations and confused fans — nothing that a few months on a boat in the Caribbean couldn’t fix.

5. Notable quotable, on the key to keeping it fresh: “I think I was smart enough to record a song like ‘She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,’ and I also was smart enough not to record another one like it.”

You can reach Staff Writer John Beck at 521-5300 or john.beck@pressdemocrat.com.