I hadn’t planned on going to a Winnipeg concert primarily because I was woefully ignorant of the geography of the parts of Canada I had not visited on vacations and assumed that the cities I was unfamiliar with must be remote destinations. Shame on me! But when hubby told me he would be gone to Milwaukee for 4 days, I took another look at the location of Keith’s shows for the upcoming weekend and discovered Winnipeg was just 3 hours north of Fargo, N.D. and not all that distant from Iowa. Hubby was feeling guilty about his trip and used miles to get me an airline ticket and even reserved a hotel room just steps from the MTS Centre. I searched for a ticket, first on Monkeyville and Ebay, then on the broker sites. I found some floor row 8 seats for just a little above face value, but only sold as a pair. I went ahead and got them hoping I might find someone to purchase my extra. But with 2 shows already sold-out in Winnipeg I didn’t find anyone who needed a single. I just happened to joke with my daughter on Facebook “Betcha don’t know where Winnipeg is!” and lo and behold another Keith fan board friend replied that he certainly knew where it was since he lived there. I hadn’t made the connection between all his posts in the past and Winnipeg! Maybe he would join me for the concert!
Our plan was on-again, off-again. First he said he would be happy to use my ticket. Then he got a job offer for Saturday he couldn’t turn down. I meanwhile tried again - certainly someone could use a row 8 seat!!
I had to get up at 4:30 am Saturday to make it to my crack of dawn flight. It was a sunny day and my travel went smoothly. Bienvenue a Winnipeg (welcome to Winnipeg) was the sign that greeted me and I was “welcomed” in a number of ways. I found the city bus went from the airport right past my hotel for a mere $2.30 Canadian. The Radisson welcomed me by saying the hotel was so full that they would have to upgrade me to a “Club” room on their 27th floor, with access to the Club Lounge snacks, beverages, appetizer hour and breakfast! Sounded great to me - especially since I was hoping perhaps certain celebrities might possibly be using those exclusive floors in this hotel so close to the arena. The hotel clerk also said that “a gentleman had been looking for me” before I arrived (and I hadn’t even let Keith know where I would be staying! ; ) ). Actually I guessed it might have been Leonard stopping in to see if he could say hi before he went on his job, and I was sorry I had missed him.
I went out exploring the neighborhhood, circling the arena looking for the buses, thinking it might be motorcycle time, but didn’t realize the arena had inside, underground parking. Then I checked out a couple possible restaurants for a late lunch. I ended up at Moxie’s, a nice if a little pricy restaurant in the MTS Centre itself. I chose a wild salmon sandwich on naan, a special “London” gin and tonic complete with lime, mint and cucumbers and one of their “mini” desserts ---sticky toffee pudding served with toasted almonds and a little ice cream. I was very happy with my choices! I stopped at the MTS Box Office to see if they might buy back my extra ticket to re-sell, but no such luck -- which turned out to be lucky. When I returned to the Radisson the desk clerks said my “male-friend” had been back and again missed me but left the message he could go to the show after all!! He also left me a phone message (in his cute Canadian accent to my Iowa ears). Oh fun! I had a “date” for the evening.
I called Leonard and he offered to take me on a bit of a personal tour of Winnipeg since we still had a few hours before showtime. It was a perfect afternoon for visiting the Forks and the near-by shops, monuments and their impressive bridge. We walked along the rivers and through the grassy park We visited the grounds of the Legislature and saw the many polar bear sculptures behind it and drove through several of Winnipeg’s neighborhoods. It was great to have someone so knowledgeable show me so much during my brief visit to his hometown! Thanks Leonard!
The MTS Centre, a fairly new medium size arena, looked a little different than earlier venues. None of the big Verizon posters of Keith or Verizon green screen booth or free guitar competition. None of the Kingsford photo displays of Keith at a BBQ and no little BBQ video once we were inside the arena. They still had the text-messaging and sending photos to the arena screens (sponsored by Mozes?) Lady Antebellum was also offering a prize pack for text messages.
Our 8th row seats were excellent with nothing but 4 feet of empty space between us and the end of the right-hand runway. Lady Antebellum were fun and I think Leonard had a little thing going on with Hilary : )! I enjoyed their inclusion of a bit of “You Shook Me” into their “Good Time” hit (see video). During the break before Keith a large crowd gathered up front around the catwalk and stage edge. I told Leonard Keith would start out the evening at the end of the catwalk. He looked at the fans gathering at the end of the walk and said “You can go up there.” And then again “You’ve got floor seats - you can go up there.” And so I did! I found a spot very close to the of the catwalk and just reveled in my wonderful view of Keith’s first 3 songs from that spot. Last night he had a lot of that sweet but devilish bad boy look about him and looked so fine moving that guitar around. I couldn’t believe my good luck and videoed like crazy - but then was crushed later to find NO record of those first 3 songs- not even a photo- when I downloaded my camera at midnight. I can’t imagine what went wrong but my camera files jump from Lady Antebellum to Blacktop. What a shame.
Keith was in a subdued dark gray with red and blue lines plaid last night, with black jeans, From a distance you might have thought he was all in black. His hair was swingy but seemed a little more styled in the back (and I did spend some time behind him and had a great view)(see clips). (Then again I didn’t spend that much time looking at the back of his head - LOL!)
During Blacktop I was distracted by flashes of skin at Keith’s waistline and the opened buttons of his shirt and even more gaping than usual (see clip) between buttons. He was feeling playful and did some of his voice changes and threw in some “Oh Mama!’s” and “Mercy!”. (I kind of echoed him softyly “Have mercy on us Keith!” because he was using all of his moves unrelentingly! Phew! I had left my catwalk spot and gone back over towards our seats in anticipation of Keith coming down the right runway during Blacktop and coming off the runway in Better Half. He didn’t disappoint !(although heads blocked some of my view of his Blacktop solo) (see clip)! When he headed out into the audience during Better Half I met him at the end of the ramp and gave his not-yet-sweaty bulging right bicep a nice rub (Leonard commented that he wasn’t interested in touching Keith - LOL).
I knew the satellite stage area was guarded and surrounded by big metal barriers (they had not let me cross the area to get to the bathrooms even before the show began) so I didn’t know whether I should bother following Keith back there. But I couldn’t resist, although I took the center aisle rather than following right behind Keith’s security. The small stage area was packed with fans - not a chance of getting to the front side of the stage. But I was relatively close to the back side and was perfectly happy to enjoy THE backside : )!! Bootylicious! Keith does make an effort to turn periodically on that stage rather than only facing the rear of the arena, so I did get to see his smiling, laughing, strumming, plucking side every so often as well. He rewarded our singing during Once in a Lifetime with a big ol’ “Oh yeah - I hear you!” . Keith dedicated Making Memories to Nic and changed up Only You Can Love Me a bit with “I’d have never had this feeling that I’m feeling playing to all of you tonight in Winnipeg!”
Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me was terrific as usual, and I didn’t realize that Keith’s backbend at the end was just a teaser preview for an even more impressive one later in the evening at the end of You Look Good in My Shirt, where he went as low as conceivably possible, then collapsed on his back and wiggled backwards on the floor, while continuing to play the closing his guitar!! (see clip)
In Sweet Thing Keith changed up the lyrics a bit to:
I held open the car door for you
Then you climbed inside and slid on over
To the other side.. i thought “I like your style!”
and, a little later, “Come on and meet me mama!”
Remember the “man in the yellow hat” in Curious George. Well my camera-work was foiled several times by the “man in the black hat” (and another with a big head). Please remove your Stetsons during the concert gents!! You’ll stay cooler and won’t block the view of all those behind you!
Oh my. Keith not only served some autographed tennis balls way back into the arena and up into the risers tonight - he did so looking quite fetching in a bright red sweatband and wristbands! He really looked like a handsome Bjorn Borg at his best.
Some pretty guitar picking (see clip)preceded the emphasized rhythmic strumming before Raining on Sunday. Keith held the last note of the first verse extra long. During the chorus, after “We'll hide under the covers all afternoon” he threw in a “I believe we will” with a rather devilish smile and tone.
Keith made use of his deep voice and a little growling in I Told You So and in the last verse added some extra emphasis:
Please just come back home
No don't say that you're sorry
And I won't say I told you so
And I won't say I told you so
BUT DAMN! I told you so!
I have to say that I believe Keith and I “shared a moment” in ITYS and perhaps a couple other moments during the evening. It seems that truly making eye contact or getting some acknowledgement is a pretty rare thing even with all the shows I have been to. After all, he has some 15,000 faces beaming at him each night (well maybe not that many that he can actually see...). But during ITYS (second ITYS clip) I’m sure he smiled right at me right beneath him, tucked between the stage and confetti cannon and waved a little hello! And I thought I saw that glimmer of recognition during a couple other songs as well. I don’t know if he might finally remember my funny face after my long urban-journey or whether it was surprise that just this evening he had been face to face with me at the catwalk, at the right edge of the stage AND at the satellite stage. Whatever - there’s nothing like that “smiling right at you” look!
I thoroughly enjoyed Keith bringing Lady Antebellum back out to harmonize on Seven Bridges Road. They set up a little differently than last time - Lady A all shared one mic, with Hilary in the middle and Keith had a second mic to himself. Maybe being close to Keith last time was a little too distracting for Hilary to do her best?! I don’t know which group best accompanied Keith on this song - Sugarland, Little Big Town, or Lady A? What do you think?
I’m trying to think what song it is, towards the end of the show, when Keith tosses the hand-held mike he has been using off the stage to one of his crew?? Is it Somebody Like You? Better Life? I forget, but Saturday night I think his aim might have been off a little. I couldn’t see exactly what happened, but when he tossed the microphone we all heard a big “clunk”.I don’t think it was the sound of the mic being dropped because I saw the crew member running backstage with the mic in hand. So maybe the microphone knocked some fan’s camera out of her hands. Or maybe a fan dropped her camera in an attempt to catch the mic? Whatever it was, Keith felt bad about it and as soon as he got back to his regular microphone stand he started mouthing “I’m sorry” and doing that lovable, apologetic tapping of his chest that he does. I guess he still didn’t feel like he made amends for whatever happened because he then went down the ramp and hugged the affected fan. I’ll have to try and get in the way of that flying microphone in the future!
Keith surprised us all (and damn, my memory card had long before given me its “memory full” message) by beginning the encore with the first two lines of the chorus of “All By Myself”, (“I don’t wanna be - all by myself) which I always think of as a Bee Gees song, and then went into Tonight I Wanna Cry. Love those little surprises!
As Keith and the guys were slapping hands and saying final goodbyes after the encore, someone lifted a tiny little girl in a frilly pink outfit up onto the stage and she approached Keith holding a cap for him to autograph. He knelt by her and gently took the cap and obliged. I would so like to see him interacting with Sunday. He has such a wonderful way with kids that are complete strangers - I can’t hardly imagine his tenderness with his own baby girl!
So Winnipeg was a special Keith Urban Road Trip for several reasons. I played my YouTube clips before each of my classes today. Wish that they could understand the lengthy euphoric pleasure each show produces - from the excited anticipation, to the heady realization of the actual concert, and then the floaty afterglow for days, which can be somewhat renewed whenever I re-live the experience through videos, recordings, photos, reading or just plain ol’ daydreams!
6 of my Keith Urban - Winnipeg clips are already up on YouTube (iowalw):
Where the Blacktop Ends
The Other Side of Keith Urban (OIAL)
Behind Keith Urban's Satellite Stage (Part 2)
Making Memories of Us
You'll Think of Me
Keith and Lady Antebellum - Seven Bridges Road
But here are some additional ones:
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