NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - AUGUST 25: Kelsea Ballerini performs onstage during the 55th Academy of Country Music Awards at Ryman Auditorium on August 25, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. The ACM Awards airs on September 16, 2020 with some live and some prerecorded segments. (
John Shearer/ACMA2020/Getty Images for ACM

The Show Goes On for Kelsea Ballerini Despite Sickness

Kelsea Ballerini fought through illness on Saturday night (April 8) during a concert in Wilkes-Barre Township, Pa. While on the road with Kenny Chesney as part of the I Go Back Tour, the country star ate a meal that didn't agree with her stomach.

"I was hungry, and I had some Trader Joe's chicken dumplings," Ballerini shared from the stage. "And they were...there was something wrong. And I need to know that I have had an intimate relationship, today, with the bathroom. I have a trash can waiting for me backstage. Things have been very touch and go."

Still, Ballerini guaranteed fans the best show possible.

"I promise I'm gonna give you everything I have, but I might need a little bit of help," she added. "This is normally where I say, like, 'To my girls, should you ever need help hypothetically burying a body, I can help you.' Tonight, I'm gonna ask, 'If I go down, will you go down with me?'"

Afterwards, Ballerini shared fan-captured footage on Instagram, complete with the caption "Today was...a day."

Hopefully, she'll feel better when the tour resumes on Tuesday (April 11) in Birmingham, Ala.

The tour deviates from Chesney's usual jaunt from stadium to stadium.

"When a year is as hot and alive as 2022 was, you don't want to try to recapture that magic. Or maybe it's me," Chesney shared on his website. "I still have the sounds of diesel engines and No Shoes Nation in my head - and that made me ask, 'What else could I do? What would be something that would put me every bit as much in the music and give No Shoes Nation another reason to believe? How can we reach those people who might not come to stadium shows, who live a little off the obvious path, but who love this music every bit as much...

"And that's when it hit me: 'I Go Back.' That song is about holding all those things that shaped you very close, recognizing how special they are - and keeping them alive any way you can," he continued. "So, I decided that rather than just go repeat what we did, I wanted to take this band and these songs to a lot of the cities we played on our way up! Let's call the tour I Go Back - and do just that."

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