(Okay, so I'm on a "songs from musicals" kick in my titles, what can I say?)
Note to Keith: Keith, I want to suggest a little addition to your end-of-show thank yous. I have always appreciated the way that you make a point of thanking those who traveled a long way to get to shows, but how about adding “And those who got up at 4:30 am to get here”? That’s what I had to do to go to the Indy show, even though I didn’t get back to my hotel until 1:00 am after the Des Moines concert the night before. Good thing you're worth it baby!! Good thing!
After that early arising I was not very happy when I arrived in Detroit and my connecting flight to Indy was CANCELLED!! I was ready to rent a car and drive if necessary but there was another Indy flight 2 hrs later. But I sure wish I could have spent those hours in bed rather than the airport!
When I arrived in Indy and picked up my $27 rental car there it was a weird one - a brand new red Nissan Cube - and it really was almost a cube on wheels. It was weird to drive as well but I’d be traveling less than 30 miles total.
It was gosh darned hot in Indy. I waited until late in the day to head to the fair, hoping that it would cool off, but no such luck. It was still hot at midnight that night! Interestingly the Indiana State Fair felt very different in personality than the Iowa State Fair. It had what I would describe as a “Mayberry” feel to it - an old-time, rural, country feel even though Indianapolis is definitely a big city. I enjoyed the 6:30 ‘parade” that went down the main street of the fairgrounds, right in front of the grandstand, with many old farmers driving every variety of antique tractor and lots of little kids sitting on the curb waving at the farmers : ) The livestock barns were right across from the grandstand and the fair was celebrating the “Year of the Pig”. While Iowa is certainly rural and a “pig” state, visiting the grandstand at the Iowa fair felt more like a cross between a carnival and Iowa Hawkeye tailgating. Much rowdier. Interesting difference. I had to pay $10 to park and $10 to get into the Iowa Fair but admission and parking were free with your concert ticket in Indiana. Go figure.
It was so hot I didn’t even leave my shady bench outside Hoosier Lottery Grandstand to move onto the hot and sunny track when the local band played. I wasn’t sure if Kris Allen was opening or not - no mention of him on my ticket. But when I heard him start his first song, I made my way to what turned out to be a very good seat (row 7 in front of Keith’s microphone).I was in the center of what I think was a 42 seat row so once in place I didn’t leave my spot until the show was over.
Up close I was liking Kris Allen even more than before and also enjoying his bass guitarist whose Latin good looks remind me of one of my favorites in earlier decades, Cat Stevens. I really enjoyed Kris's rendition of Falling Slowly (the haunting song from the movie Once) into which he also pulled a bit of U2’s With or Without You. And this audience really got into his performance of Come Together (Beatles).He is developing nicely as a performer.
Keith was wearing red plaid tonight and it very quickly became dark red plaid as it was soaked with sweat. But as usual he didn’t let the heat slow him down or dampen his spirit - he was constantly on the move as always. He did unbutton his shirt an extra button after 3 or 4 songs : ) (and I suggested under my breath that he continue!). And in fact later on during the final bows he looked down to discover that his shirt was open to the waist and looked so positively embarrassed you'd have thought his fly was open! (it was so cute!) In a flash he turned away to re-button it. Guess that territory is for his one and only's eyes only.
After Kiss a Girl, Days Go By and Stupid Boy Keith greeted each section of the grandstand in turn and then asked how we were “down on the field”. Then realizing that the sandy oval wasn’t really a field he corrected himself “ Or down on the track or whatever it is that we’re on. Wouldn’t wanna play ball on this “field”!”
I noticed that during Sweet Thing he sang “Come on and meet me baby girl!” and I thought 'I bet Nic is here'. And sure enough - that was just the first of many indications that his better half was present. After singing Making Memories (which had a new crooning vocal introduction) Keith said that he'd had a lot of people tell him that this song was sung at their wedding. And, he confessed that he was one of those people - he had sung it at his wedding and that he was going to sing the next song to his lovely wife who was sitting over on the side of the stage tonight. After that he repeatedly looked and nodded in her direction and added little personal embellishments to OYCLM. Early in You Look Good in My Shirt Keith actually turned away from the audience and went back and played a bit of the chorus to her - really telling her, no doubt, that she looks good in his shirt! : ) He thrilled the audience by going way up in the grandstand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcIOiZ7fO2s
I sense that Keith is really pleased at how heartily audiences are singing along to his current single I'm In. He's even gotten brave enough to turn lines over to the audience to sing and I'm sure has been gratified that the audience has not let him down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv2AxeaAeJU
Keith later invited Kris back out on stage. He said they were going to do something different since one of America's great songwriters and performers - one of his all-time musical heroes - was from Indiana. He apologized saying that he and Kris had never performed the song together before and he hoped that that wouldn't be too obvious. And then he and Kris did a rousing version of Mellencamp's Jack and Diane with just a tiny bit of lyric confusion at the close of the song. Very fun, but not so easy to videotape http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IAPZ-kYq3E since everyone was dancing and singing along and Keith and Kris were spaced far enough apart on stage that it was hard to capture them both at the same time. The grandstand truly rang with the loud audience singing of this song.
You'll Think of Me was also embellished this evening!! I'm not sure I caught all the changes, but towards the end it went something like this:
Take your stupid "Its not you its me baby" away from me now
'Cause I don't believe you
No I don't buy it baby
But I know in the night you;re gonna call my name but I won't be there
and then a very emotional ending.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwWogFJRGMw
Other highlights of the evening - a new variation on his silly sing-alongs with the audience where, after having us echo "Its so nice to be out underneath stars" twice he went on to "Something something something, something that rhymes with stars' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZHe5uRhfko (which we repeated) and then even a line of pure gibberish and was tickled when still the audience tried to oblige and echo him! And late in the show he accepted and donned a pair of white and pink bunny ears from a fan at stage edge and wore those ears through a couple verses of Better Life!! I couldn't help but think, during his final vigorous guitar solo at the end of Somebody Like You that he should still be wearing those ears because he was "Still going" like the Energizer rabbit! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bdo6-sFIe0
Postscript: Boy the Urban team moves fast once the show is actually over. By the time I had walked from my seat to the right end of the stage, I could see Keith's bus, with the motorcycle trailer in tow, pulling out of the centerfield parking lot!!
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