Kenny Chesney gave fans 90-minutes of hits punctuated by a duet with Carly Pearce

If your idea of “country” is a sandy beach and a tequila-infused beverage, then Kenny Chesney is your guy.

Starting as dark fell on Thursday evening at Historic Crew Stadium, with a few drops of rain peppering guests at the relatively full venue, the peppy singer-songwriter powered through a solid 90-minute set composed of many of his hits from the past few decades, pausing only for a minute or two to let members of his competent backing band briefly shine.

Clad in faded jeans, an increasingly sweaty tank top and his signature cowboy hat, Chesney appeared to be intent on making his way through as many up-tempo songs as possible in the allotted time. Chat with the audience was limited to several reminders of how many years it had been since the singer that last appeared in Columbus (four).

Audience members, seemingly satisfied but somewhat stuporous, occasionally raised their arms or rocked slightly side to side to songs such as the opening “Beer in Mexico,” “Here and Now,” “Summertime,” “All the Pretty Girls” and many more, including, of course, the show-ending “She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy.”

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Cheney's voice ranged from pleasantly raspy to downright hoarse. He was supported much of the time by backup singing from the musicians. Though he occasionally strummed a guitar, he focused mainly on singing and bouncing back and forth across the thrust stage.

The show, apart from a few frenetic video clips of seascapes, boats and young women in bikinis — and a few strobe light effects — mostly concentrated on its star, with the other musicians well back from the action.

Though the singer could be heard most of the time, acoustics at the former soccer stadium tended to favor bass sounds, and much of the more subtle instrumentation was blurred.

One of the all-too-brief highlights of the show was when Chesney was joined by Carly Pearce for one number, the sweetly melancholy “You and Tequila.” The subtle, touching collaboration revealed how well Chesney is suited to working with another vocalist, as opposed to keeping the spotlight to himself.

As both singer and songwriter, he's an innocuous presence with what appears to be a deliberate refusal to take sides or advocate anything more controversial than “getting along,” having fun, and participating in activities where “no shoes, no shirt” present “no problem.” (It should be noted that he wore shoes during the concert.)

The chorus of his hit “We Do,” which was emblazoned on the curtain that concealed the stage before his entry, embodies what might be conceived as his philosophy: “Who gets to live like we do? We do.” It may take a few drinks to make that lyric seem more Zen than plain vacuous.

Chesney was preceded by a long set by likeable pop-country duo Dan + Shay.

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(Pearce also performed briefly early in the evening, but I missed the performance due to a combination of traffic, parking problems and “will call” issues.)

Dan + Shay, best-known for “10,000 Hours,” their collaboration with Justin Bieber, and for an inoffensive pop-country sound with an emphasis on romance, did their level best to work the crowd into enthusiasm with frequent exhortations to sing along, raise your arms and sway your cellphone lights (not truly effective with the sun still shining.) Their close harmonies, however, proved effective.

A footnote to the concert: Parking cost $40 cash, which I was lucky to have with me.

margaretquamme@hotmail.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Country superstar Kenny Chesney delighted fans in Columbus