Bodacious in Bismarck!

While not ever visiting the central coast of California had been a good ‘excuse’ to go to the Paso Robles concert, I can’t say that not having been (which I hadn’t) to North Dakota was what drew me to the Bismarck show. Even though Bismarck seemed pretty remote, the concert there caught my eye from its very announcement because it was an indoor arena show rather than a big summer festival. An arena likely to be filled with just Keith fans rather than the hodge-podge of partiers that are in the immense audiences of the festivals and jamborees. That made Bismarck irresistible!

Traveling on my own a 10 hour drive in a single day was unappealing. Hubby was busy anyway preparing for this coming weekend’s 4th Annual Iowa Irish Fest, so I left a day early and overnighted in St. Cloud, MN. That left just (!) 366 miles to drive today. Once I crossed into North Dakota the speed limit was 75, so the miles racked up pretty quickly on that fairly empty interstate. While not the California coastline, North Dakota is beautiful in its own way - lush green rolling hills and plains of farmland broken up by frequent lakes and ponds as well as over 10 miles of sunflower fields in bloom. The skies were blue with cotton puff clouds, the temps low eighties, and breezes strong enough to kick up little whitecaps on all those lakes I passed. Keith didn’t mention if he and the guys were out on the cycles today but it was such a perfect day that I hope so.

The hotel closest to the civic center had been full so I had reserved a room at the next closest. When I arrived they too were sold out and were turning folks away - good thing I had a reservation! But then they couldn’t find my reservation so I was briefly anxious. But I booted up my computer and showed them the confirmation email. Turns out their computer already showed me as having checked in (must have been my evil twin). No time for dinner, but I came prepared with what had been in my fridge - cold boiled baby beets and 2 ripe avocados! : )

The Bismarck Civic Center was one of the smallest arenas that I have been in, which is a plus in my book. There were only about 25 full rows of seats on the floor and only about 18 visible rows in the risers (I think they curtained off the highest rows). Similar to the last tour the first 3 rows of floor seats went all the way across the arena, but beyond that the seats were broken into 3 sections by aisles. No catwalk or side video screens, but there was the second stage at the rear of the floor. I had a great seat  - upfront but close to an aisle, so I immediately began to plan my route to the remote stage later in the evening. Turns out that was silly of me, not knowing the local civic center protocol (more about this in a moment).

Gloriana was fun to watch, although my personal opinion is that they are not quite the equal of last several award-winning “new” groups like Lady A, Zac Brown Band, or, before that, Little Big Town. I don’t really know their music, so the song I enjoyed the most was actually their cover of Mellencamp’s Small Town. The seats were not yet filled during their set and the audience pretty much remained sitting until Gloriana’s very last song (the one you hear on the radio). That was going to change!

While they were setting up the stage for Keith, so many of Keith’s techs and stagehands were out there at once, wearing and testing different guitars for longer than usual periods of time that I almost thought we were going to get a “stagehand band” performance. During the break security was visible and doing their thing. But just before Keith came out I noticed a number of young ladies were just hanging around in the aisle next to me. At the time I thought to myself “Why aren’t they getting to their seats - Keith will be coming out any second now?” There were also folks hanging around at either end of the stage. Well, as soon as the lights dimmed Security vanished and there was this incredible rush upfront to the stage - all those ladies in the aisle and most the the people who had been seated in the first 3 rows climbed right over those rows of seats to get close to the stage. No sneaking, no hesitation - just a mad rush. I think though that this was not just a KU phenomenon - it must be the norm for this arena, because so many were poised for this “attack”! I was really surprised, but stayed where I was because my 5th row seat was dead center in front of Keith’s microphone. But when I looked around I realized this ‘free-for-all’ extended to the aisles as well. People from the back of the arena rushed up to pack the aisles and invade any available space and remained there the rest of the night. It was pretty clear that I wouldn’t be heading back to the rear stage unless the crowd passed my body over their heads a la crazy mosh pit antics! LOL When Keith later talked to the audience he said “Security - you be nice to everyone,” but by that time the question was “What Security??”

Sweet Thing lead off the show and Keith’s extended guitar improvisations at the end of that song as well as at the end of Better Half have become a regular (and wonderful) component although I think there are spontaneous variations in the play at each venue. In Where the Blacktop Ends Keith used what I think of as really deep ‘Dracula voice’ on “Give me some time with your in my arms,” and jumped down to a lower stage edge to thrill the fans there with a fiery guitar solo.

After greeting each section of the audience, Keith took note of a young girl with a green poster saying “It’s my birthday - make my wish come true!” He asked her if her birthday was that day and what her wish was, and then invited her up on stage! (Boy - it has been quite a while since he has done that!) She immediately turned red and burst into happy tears! He sang a little “It’s your birthday” ditty as she made her way up front. She was so floored by the experience that she could hardly tell Keith that her name was Savannah and she was from Jamestown, ND. She did manage to ask if she could get her photo taken with him. Keith obliged with not one (taken by Jerry Flowers), but two photos, taking the second shot of him pulling her close himself! What a birthday treat for Savannah!!

That was just be beginning - Keith was in high spirits and was playful, funny and playing with abandon all night. In Kiss a Girl Keith changed up the lyrics just a bit, following “Don’t want to be lonely,” with a big “No, no, no!!”.  There was also a little change in I’m in, with the final “Baby come here next to me, I’ll show you how good is can be’s” being sung loudly to a new melody rather than the usual whispery ending. At least twice during the evening (perhaps both in Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me?” Keith ended up flat on his back on stage playing his guitar - don’t know how he hops right up from that position!

I think Keith had a case of the sillies in Bismarck as he lead the audience in singing. We progressed from echoing “Ooo na na na na na’s” to “yeah it feels so good to comin’ to hear the band” and “Anyone not here just would not understand” to “I’m just makin’ this up as I go along, Right now I’m missing something that rhymes with long,” to singing “A B C D E F G H I J K..”. And then he cracked us up by playing the role of one of us telling our friends about the concert: “Yeah we went to see Keith Urban- he sang us the alphabet and it was really cool...” lol

My up-close view of Keith shredding that guitar in Til Summer Comes Around was thrilling. Keith commented that he liked the amazing vibe running through this wild crowd. Despite the arena setting, how they played through the setlist was the same as it has been at the summer festivals. Keith did his acoustic numbers Making Memories and Only You Can Love Me from a stool on the main stage. I was happy to hear that the high notes are back in Keith's performance - the full range of his voice is finally back!! : ) When it came time for his trip down on the floor I took one look around and new I’d never make it through the masses in the aisles to the rear stage. But as it happens he only led the audience in a few choruses of You Look Good in My Shirt back there before he returned up front. After struggling through the crowd to return to the main stage Keith gave a big smiling shout out " You guys are crazy out there!"

In Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me we got not only the usual playful interactions between Keith and Jerry and Keith and Brian, but towards the end Keith surprised those at stage right by skidding to the edge of the stage on his knees for one of the last guitar riffs.

I finally managed to save enough camera memory to capture a bit of Somebody Like You which is always the 'cherry' that tops off the wonderful Keith Urban concert sundae. It was the only encore song this time - probably because the buses and trucks had to rush off to WeFest to set up for the next day. I'll be right behind you guys!