It has been 115 days since Keith Urban's Get Closer Tour ended, but to many of us it has felt much much longer. This was especially true after he had to cancel three scheduled performances at the Grand Ole Opry late in the fall to have throat surgery. We fans really empathized with the wearing wait and worry Keith experienced during his post-op mandatory silence because we were feeling it too. Would that sweet voice survive intact??
I had had tickets to the canceled shows at the Ryman Auditorium and was so pleased to hear that one of the rescheduled performances would take place there the first weekend in February. I have long hoped to hear Keith perform in that intimate and historic venue. When I called to claim my seat at the rescheduled show, they were already full to Row U of the back floor, but at least I would be there. I had heard others say that there really are no bad seats at the Ryman and I was hoping that they were right.
Luckily it was time for exams in all of my classes, so I got everything ready and arranged for others to administer the tests so that I could leave for Nashville at the crack of dawn on Friday, Feb 3. It was icing on the cake that Nashville was 66 degrees when I arrived and pansies were blooming outside the airport! I was able to rent a car for $21 - cheaper than cabs or shuttles would be! I headed straight to the Ryman to pick up my tickets at will call before the evening crowds. A fellow fan who couldn't make the show ended up selling me her much better seat near the front of section 7 - a bit off to the side but my church pew seat was just 4 feet from that famous old stage.
Tickets in hand I decided to try out lunch at a local favorite "meat and three" I had read about online: Arnold's Country Kitchen. The line, as predicted, was long but moved quickly and the very friendly folks in line around me were happy to suggest their favorite dishes but said that everything was good. I ended up with some of the wonderful roast beef carved off the biggest roast I have ever seen - yum! Then I went exploring for a couple hours before checking into the free room at the Hilton hubby had gotten me with some of his Hilton reward points.
Unfortunately that was when my day went bad for a bit. Checking into the hotel I noticed my driver's license was missing!! The driver's license that I needed to fly home and to fly on another upcoming trip next week! My first thought was that the rental car agency had not returned it to me. For 45 minutes I tried calling their airport location but they wouldn't answer the phone. Then I tried the national reservation number and they got me through to the Nashville manager. He went to check with all the employees but no license was found. I was a nervous wreck for another hour when I remembered I had also shown my license to claim my tickets at will call. I called the Ryman and hallelujah!! - they had my license. What a relief!!
I was tickled by the location of my new seat just 2 seats away from stage edge. As my pew and the ones behind us filled in, it was clear many Monkeys had traveled from far and wide to attend this show! We kept peeking under the stage curtains hoping to see those familiar boots. Some ambitious fans had made us small hot pink signs saying "Welcome back - we missed you!!" But as soon as the ushers saw them they sent down security to warn us that signs would not be tolerated during the show.
Although I enjoyed the Opry ambience of the entire show the more 'old-style' country numbers are not my favorites, especially when I am impatiently awaiting the star of the show. I did enjoy seeing Eden's Edge again, later Charley Pride, and then had fun singing along with Rocky Top, Elvira and Amazing Grace. I was a bit worried - I could see the stage clock and the show was running 5 minutes later than the schedule in the program - would Keith's segment be cut short?
We were puzzled as the stagehands set up for Keith's segment during one of the last radio show sponsor commercials. Out came 4 or 5 chairs and extra microphones! What was going on here?? Turns out these were the chairs for the string quartet that Keith surprised us with for a new exciting version of Long Hot Summer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfX6zZtXYvo !! What a great and unique performance that was!! I wish I knew the whole story behind this - were these student musicians that he happened to meet or work with somewhere? (they all looked quite young to me) Was their performance among those submitted in his Long Hot Summer cover contest? I'm sorry I didn't include them very well in my video but I was just too entranced by Mr. Urban!
Keith sounded and looked great (if a little thin) in form fitting black jeans and a longer sleeve olive knit shirt. He came out with a big "Yee haw!" and received and huge screaming welcome - the somewhat staid auditorium suddenly came to life when he finally walked out on stage (with a slightly embarrassed but also delighted smile). "You guys are crazy!!" he said and then went on to thank the Opry for being so compassionate and understanding when he had to cancel the earlier shows and for having him back.
Of course despite all the Urbanites that made it to the Ryman, the majority of the audience were the usual Nashville tourists making their visit to the Grand Ole Opry which just happened to be holding its final winter show at the old "mother church of country music." So I think many of them were baffled when, during his second song, Making Memories of Us http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNUA_QdGK2U ,Keith said that one of the things he loved about the Ryman was its incredible intimacy. To prove it he went on to say that we could sing together there even without the trimmings of the stage microphones and amps. With just his acoustic guitar he stepped out in front of his microphone and sat on one of the amps to sing another chorus of the song with us. All of us Monkeys joined along but, a bit different from the arena shows of the tour, here we were a kind of quiet angelic choir responding to Keith's pure pluckings from the stage.
Then he turned up the volume a bit and rocked the house with You're Gonna Fly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxrQCEYtb0s , joined by the full band. It was great to see all the guys - Jerry now sporting a beard and stache, Danny with longer and lighter hair (a bit more like Keith's), and Brian with very short hair and sporting a jaunty cap (sorry Chris - my view of you was all but blocked).
Apparently three songs is the usual, so we were thrilled when Keith reported he had been asked to a sing a fourth, so he ended his set with a special Somebody Like You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_q7Nrz4hOY , slightly tweaked for the occasion: " And it sure feels good to be on this stage and back at the Ryman!" and later "You're teaching us to be a better band!" ( Not possible! : )
But that was not the end. Steve Wariner brought Keith back out because, he said, he really needed a second guitar on his song. So Keith a Steve jammed a bit, having a good ol' time.
An extra special Opry night : ) only lacking in the absence of the predicted invitation to Keith to join the Opry : ( . Every time all the players that evening had talked about how special this evening was, we were hoping that it was special for more reasons than it being the last night for the old Ryman stage. But that extra-special event we fans were hoping for didn't materialize this evening. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed.
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