Old and New at Country Thunder

Whereas Friday at Country Thunder had been overcast and uncharacteristically cool, on Saturday the skies were clear and the day bright and sunny. Almost TOO bright and sunny! That Arizona sunshine really beats down on you (especially on us fair-skinned Northerners) and the temperatures hit the nineties pretty quickly. I felt bad for the performers scheduled during the early afternoon - relatively few of the seats were filled in the glaring sun - must be kind of discouraging. 

First up was a young singer I was unfamiliar with (Jason Jones). He got my stamp of approval early on when he did a nice job on "Walk in the Country".  He is cute and has a nice voice but the bright sun really washed out my attempts to catch him on video.

Gloriana had apparently canceled their scheduled appearance and Chris Young agreed to fill in. I like Gloriana but was happy for the opportunity to see Chris live. I enjoyed his set very much - was a sexy deep voice, what seemed to be a sincere and modest personality and a great smile. I caught a bit of When You Say Nothing at All, Rainy Night in Georgia, and his current hit Getting You Home.

Well, if the concert day began with country music's 'youngsters', the evening brought one of its 'oldsters' = Willie Nelson. I have been a fan of Willie's for over a quarter century! Unlike Keith and so many of today's artists, Willie stayed with the same old worn guitar for his entire, lengthy set. And what s wonderful sound he pulled out of that instrument - so rich and evocative. He managed to squeeze in many of my favorites from over the years. He did an extended medley of Time Just Slips Away, Crazy, and Nightlife.

Later he did  a couple more of my favorites: 

Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

My daughters and I decided to forego the last act of the festival - Kid Rock. Although we wouldn't have minded seeing him perform, we had decided to pull our RV out of the very congested campgrounds early. We had heard that Sunday morning there would be a huge traffic jam caused by a caravan of RVs and late Saturday night many intoxicated partiers would be wandering the grounds. We had to make it back to Phoenix for early flights so chose to slip out during the last act. We had to call upon one of our nice neighboring campers to help us maneuver out of our campsite onto the narrow campground lanes. Nice folks there at Country Thunder!

Meeting Keith Urban at Country Thunder

It is a new calendar year for "Backstage Experience_ eligibility at Keith Urban's fan club website so I have been trying my luck when I can. I applied for the Houston meet and greet.......no luck. Then I tried for the Florence meet and greet and, once again, when it was announced on the .net board that emails had been sent to the winners, there was no winning email for me : ( . But about 7 to 10 days later I was shocked and delighted to receive the following message:

We have had a last minute opening for the Keith Urban Meet and Greet in Arizona, and you are next in line! GLORY BE!!

So don’t ever give up - you might receive a last minute surprise!! I knew there would likely be only short meet & greets at the summer festival shows, rather than the full backstage experience treatment, but ANY brief time with Keith is precious and I had hopes that the meet and greet might possibly offer the opportunity for an individual photo with Keith.

The email gave the usual instructions - pick up your envelope at the venue box office a few hours before showtime. The meet and greet, it said, would probably take place 90 minutes before Keith goes on stage. Don’t be late or you might miss your opportunity. Well these instructions turned out to be much more difficult than they seemed. First off, the largely temporary staff at the huge Country Thunder venue is also largely uninformed. As you drive into the grounds you pass several security checkpoints making sure you are ticketed and going to the right area. At each checkpoint I asked the location of the box office and NO ONE KNEW!! Finally the 6th person I asked said “There is no box office, but there is a will call located in that little portable box of an office 500 yards to my left.”

So I stopped at will call about 1 pm but they had no meet and greet envelopes. “Come back later in the afternoon.” This location, unfortunately, was 1.5 miles from my parking lot and probably 2 miles from the performance area! But I made my way back there at 3:30 - still no envelopes and they had been told the envelopes would be delivered to the merchandise booth rather than will call. So back to the concerts I went.

I visited Keith’s merchandise booth at 4:00, at 5:00, and at 6:00 - still no envelopes. I ran into 3 other worried Monkeyville winners (one local, one from Louisville, and one from Colorado) - had Monkeyville forgotten about us? I talked to Keith’s man Carson (who often mans the Monkeyville table at concerts) and it didn’t help that he sounded very doubtful. “The backstage passes are ALWAYS at the box office, not the merchandise booth. All my years with Keith that is where they have been.” he said. What to do? Bumper to bumper traffic was now pouring into Country Thunder for the big evening shows so I doubted I could even buck the traffic and make it back to the will call box, then back to the concert grounds in time. One helpful young lady at the merchandise booth tried multiple times to call or run and find Keith’s staff to help us out without luck, The envelopes seemed to have disappeared somewhere at Country Thunder. Finally at 7 pm she told us one of the Sheriffs on the grounds was hunting them down!!(Florence is a prison town and overloaded with law enforcement personnel of different types and it was these guys who provided almost all of the security functions at Country Thunder). At 7:25 the envelopes finally appeared - much to out relief. We put on our backstage stickers and went to line up for the meet and greet. But our worries were not quite over yet. We were pretty excited, thinking that only 4 of us were going to meet Keith, but lo and behold maybe 30 others from radio stations and possibly sponsors were lined up as well. Chances for individual photos with this number and the late hour seemed slim. Then we waited and waited and waited - nervously watching our watches as Keith’s 9:00 showtime drew closer and closer.

Finally at about 8:15 we saw Keith riding over in a small vehicle. The guard told us he had to stop and autograph a few things (for the charities and radio stations I presume) first before meeting us. We were issued strict instructions - don’t ask to have anything signed. Don’t bring in any alcohol or any beverage of any type. This was repeated more than once and was something I had never heard before. I guess, practically, beverages would be a hassle and a slow-down for the quick meet and photo routine. But I also wondered, in the back of my mind, whether it had anything to do with the abundance of Crown Royal drinks at Thunder since Crown Royal is one of the main sponsors. I thought I remembered hearing once that Crown Royal had been Keith’s drink of choice so maybe he wants to steer completely clear of any reminders of that.

At last we saw Keith again being shuttled from the autograph location to the makeshift black tent they had set up between buses for the meet and greet. He smiled and waved at our anxious, anticipating faces and a cheer went out that the awaited time had FINALLY arrived!

No time for individual photos the staff told us - it will have to be groups of at least 4. It made sense for us 4 Monkeys who had commissurated during the last few hours should go in together. The tent was rather dimly lit, maybe 20 ft square, with nothing inside except the photographer and our favorite guy. He is wearing a long sleeve blue shirt a shade darker than his eyes and his hair is shiny and silky. I never look down so don’t know about jeans or shoes. As each person entered Keith would greet them with a handshake and ask their name.

At last - my turn!! As I took his hand and looked at that smiling face I said “Its so good to see you again Keith!” and, at his expectant look, I added “I’m Linda.” And he responded “And it is so great to see you again Linda!” aww : ) and pulled me in for an unexpected hug!! double aww : ) The remaining Monkeys introduced themselves and we jockeyed for position in the photo (I lost) until Keith said “Let me get in the middle here.” and then he stretched out his arms to pull all 4 of us together. I rubbed his back a bit with my hand and it took effort to look at the cameraman rather than Mr. Urban.

Well of all the many amazing things about Keith, one that I cannot get over is his ability to really focus, listen and remember. He meets so many people in such short time periods - gives so many quickie radio interviews, probably one after another - yet seems to be able to really be there and remember the last of so many introductions. How does he do it? After the photo it was obvious that the staff wanted to rush us out to make room for the next group. But I touched Keith’s arm one more time and said “ Thanks so much for having the patience to do this!” And he said “You’re very welcome LINDA. Take care baby,” !!! triple aww and knock me over with a feather! So even after a few more introductions after me he remembered. I’m impressed and just beamed all the way back to my seat to get ready for his show.

Keith Urban Steals the Show at Country Thunder

Country Thunder- Florence, AZ - a huge summer festival venue surrounded by campgrounds and parking lots. The crowds at the daytime shows tend to be somewhat spotty, with many choosing to party and play games at their campsites since you can hear the performers no matter where you are. But by 5:00 the crowds thicken, the seats fill and it becomes challenging to even walk around the thousands of people. The temperatures cool after dark but the concerts heat up!

Keith was scheduled to perform at 9:00 Friday. Beforehand the video screens on either side of the stage solicited text messages from the audience just like at last year’s arena shows, but the sponsor here is “Cricket” rather than Verizon. There was also the opportunity to text in an entry to a new contest to win a summer BBQ with Keith, courtesy of Kingsford and Masterpiece again. The music during the break was a new assortment, with many of the songs related to the “love” theme of the tour (Love’s Gonna Live Here Again, Love Can Make You Weak, Single Ladies) but John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” signaled the start of the show.

I immediately knew we were going to hear some new song arrangements this tour - both to creatively change up the show and probably also due to the smaller size of the band now. The opening song was Kiss a Girl and it had a neat new pulsating, echoey intro before the more familiar melody began.

Keith looked terrific in a short-sleeved black button-down shirt, unbuttoned to mid-chest and with the short sleeves rolled up a bit to reveal even more of those tattooed guns, and soft gray jeans that positively fit like a glove. His hair was soft and swingy with those great golden highlights (but a tad shorter than in Houston) and he looked to have a bit of a tan. He gave a big “ARIZONA!!” shout out before breaking into song.

A big, undivided video screen is back but it did not appear to be the high definition one used before so the picture is much more pixelated. But it looked like it might be easier to handle in these outdoor venues. I was glad to see that Jerry was back! He, Chris M and Brian were great all night, but the stage still seemed a bit empty without Brad and C-Rod.

The stage at Country Thunder has a long catwalk (slightly taller than Keith’s old catwalk) as well as narrow walkways going off to either side of the stage which were not easily traversed because of poorly placed spotlights. Keith tried to venture out to the far right and far left a few times during the show, but they just didn’t leave much walking room for the performers.

Next up was Days Go By. Keith worked hard to get the audience to sing along throughout the show. Many of us were singing but you know a large mixed audience just isn’t the same as an arena full of his fans, so I fear the audience singing sounded kind of weak by contrast. But Keith kept complimenting and encouraging nevertheless.

His voice sounded just wonderful at the beginning of the evening, but I think the dry, gritty desert air was taking its toll in some of the later songs. He had to drink lots of water (even accepting a bottle from the audience when he was on the end of the catwalk!). (Each evening I’ve had to wash a layer of desert grime off my feet, legs, neckline, and clothes so I know about the grit he’s dealing with!).

Stupid Boy was wonderful as usual, as was the guitar solo (until some cowboy blocked my view!), Afterwards Keith greeted the audience with a “G’evening Arizona! How are you all feeling tonight? Nice to be here playing some music for you tonight!” Then he turned his attention to each part of the outlying audience, asking each side and also the folks way in the back how they were doing, tossing in those lovely deep chuckles and an “Excellent!”

Then out came his Waylon Jenning’s guitar and a great rendition of “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” (but no explanation to the audience this time). Several folks sitting around me commented, however, “He’s playing Waylon!” As you can see in my video, the guitar really caught the lights. Keith went straight into Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me next and it too had a new beginning ( sorry I didn’t catch all the new bits but he kept surprising me!).

Then the treat of seeing the first big show performance of I’m In with the band. Very nice, with some wailing guitar. But I do miss the “Baby come here close to me” ending from the album. But I still think it will be a big hit. Brian played a huge double neck guitar (is there a name for that?) during this song and perhaps one or two others during the night.

Sweet Thing included a “Come on and meet me pretty mama”, a little scatting by Keith, and a great new guitar ending beginning with “We’re gonna break it down. Break it down!” in my clip. He did this great improvisation (?) out at the srages ends, accepting and wearing a cowboy hat for a while when off to my right and then singing some enthusiastic “Du doo, du doo doo doo;’s) when right in front of me. He was so excited and into it - it was quite contagious!

Before Til Summer Comes Around Keith joked with the audience “That does it - we are moving to Arizona! It is beautiful here - just look at this night!” (and it was just perfect)

“And the cows are just huge! (the grounds feature a inflated cow as tall as the main stage : )

After Til Summer Keith did one of his regular guitar changes, but to his dismay the guitar produced no sound. “ I got nothing here” he said to his guitar guy, who rushed out and switched out all of the connecting cords. Still no sound!! So giving up on the broken guitar and calling for another, Keith, like a trouper, did his best to fill the gap with idle conversation that went something like this:

How many of you are camping out? (huge number of cheers)

After the show we were thinking of finding someone’s tent and have a jam session (more screams)

We have to figure out who has the biggest tent....

Or maybe the smallest tent with the best vibe...

Or maybe a little pup tent,,,,

(still no guitar)

We want to thank everyone for emailing and writing to us and getting us to come back to Arizona.

(still no guitar)

Any folks here from Phoenix?? (silly question!)

We used to play at a place called Rockin’ Rodeo - 9-10 years ago - and we had the best time there!

And finally a working guitar arrived! : )

I was a bit surprised that Better Half was next but maybe he was choosing songs that would most encourage singing. This too had new guitar solos at the end, during which Keith moved to both ends of the stage and shouted out to the audience on each side.

To the crowd to my right side he said “Looks like you guys have quite a buzz going on!”

To the audience to my left he said “Well you’re all looking pretty mellow.”

Like last year’s shows when Better Half was followed by a trip out to the small stage, last night Better Half was followed by a 3 song set at the very end of the catwalk -

Once in a Lifetime, Making Memories and Only You Can Love Me. The General

Admission audience loved him for coming out closer to them for those songs. By the way, all evening he was slapping hands along the catwalk and stage edge and even signing a few things. Then back to the mainstage for an exuberant Better Life and an impassioned You’ll Think of Me.

I really thought I could see Keith just itching to jump off stage several times during the night - first at the end of Blacktop, then in Better Half (when he chose to go to each stage side instead), and then finally in You Look Good in My Shirt. He did just a little bit of jamming tongiht before breaking into the intro of YLGIMS. At first the colored lights on his guitar were not on, but they began flashing as he got into the first verse. Then off he went into audience (the camera couldn’t even keep track of him) thrilling the crowds but riling up the half dozen law enforcement officers who tried to follow him (almost all security at this festival was provided by actual sheriffs, state patrol, correctional officers (Florence is a prison town) in their khaki and olive drab uniforms). I made it out to his return aisle so greeted Keith as he finally made it back to stage.

Then he and Brian headed back out on the catwalk. Keith said “They told us we had to get off the stage, but we told them to go to hell!” (resounding cheers) “We wanna play a little bit more for you - is that okay??” (more cheers) Keith introduced Brian and tonight Brian sang a bit of “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” for his solo. Then Keith went into Tonight I Wanna Cry”. Just before the second chorus he managed to squeeze a “and I wanna hear you sing” right into the song. I must say his voice was as sweet as could be on that song despite the long night and dusty atmosphere.

With a yell of “Did you have a good time Phoenix??” Keith must have seen in some Florence faces a this-ain’t-Phoenix look, because he laughed and quickly changed it to Arizona and asked “It’s late! Cut me some slack!” He Thanked each section in turn, making comments like “Thanks to this section over here that just sang their hearts out. Thanks to this section which has been dancing up a storm! And to you in the back - you guys have just been crazy! And thanks to the folks down front on the floot for giving us so much love!

When they returned to stage Keith introduced Jerry and Chris; Jerry sang his “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Keith seemed to be having such a joyful time in Better Life

He lead us in a round of Yeah - yeah -yeahs and really seemed to have the audience in the palm of his hand at that point. But then he inserted another reference to Phoenix, realized he had slighted the Florence crowd again and totally cracked up at his mistake, saying "Oh no - I did it again!"

Somebody Like You closed out a wonderful show on a glorious desert evening. Keith did a lot more handslapping and signing of autographs as he thanked the audience from the catwalk, the stage and both sides of the stage. The crowd obviously did not want him to leave but I’m sure he probably took off for Vegas immediately after the show.

Country Thunder 2010 - Florence, AZ!!

My hubby is typically not very organized when it come to shopping for Christmas or birthday gifts. He shops sporadically - when he has a little time while traveling or when he happens across an interesting catalog or website. He’ll often buy what he thinks is cool, or artsy, or funny, without thinking about who he might give the gift to until much later. He’s never been one for checking names off a list or keeping track of his purchases, so he might end up with many presents for one daughter and few for another without intending to - in fact, he is as surprised as they are! We had one of these “surprises” Christmas of 2008. Lying in bed after a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of celebrating with the family, eating too much and opening presents, Jim asked if I had had a nice Christmas. I told him yes - it was wonderful to have everyone home for the holidays! And, I said (not able to stop myself), “it was a very nice jar of jelly.”  “Jelly?” he asked with a blank look on his face. “Your Christmas gift” I said. “You got me a jar of jelly.”  “There was more, no?” he said. “Nope, just a jar of jelly.” Inadvertently I had been the ‘victim’ of Jim’s haphazard shopping style!

Well this Christmas Jim went overboard to make up for the lonely jar of jelly. I was completely taken aback when, on Christmas morning, I opened a box with contained tickets for Country Thunder for me and my daughters, airline tickets and a rental agreement for a RV to camp at the music festival grounds. Bless his heart - he had looked up where Keith would be playing and arranged every aspect of the trip!! What a man! (I’ll take a jar of jelly anytime if this is what follows!!)

The school year is not yet over for me so I had to do some juggling to find substitutes for my classes while I played hooky in Florence, AZ the end of this week. Thursday morning three Walsh women flew into Phoenix from Iowa, Ann Arbor and Chicago (my youngest couldn’t leave college at the busiest time of the semester so had to miss this event). Enterprise Car Rentals gave me my choice so I picked a fire engine red rental car for us and off we went to pick up the RV. Of course none of us had ever driven anything that large so this was an adventure in more than one way. Sara stepped up to the plate and did a terrific job driving the 50 miles to the concert venue. We did, however, call upon the skills of a more experienced and helpful gentleman to back the RV into our campsite at the very crowded makeshift campgrounds that totally surround the Country Thunder performance area.

Today we heard but didn’t see Jo Dee Messina’s set as we got settled in (perfect concert sound at the campground), then headed over to catch Gary Allan and then Miranda Lambert. It had been in the nineties midday but cooled down nicely for the evening shows. The Country Thunder stage has a long catwalk but neither Gary nor Miranda made full use of it. They came out on the first 20 feet or so, but never went the full length (I’m betting things will be different tonight when Keith plays!). Security periodically cleared away fans that tried to stand up front or along the catwalk even though the performers were actually saying things like “Don’t let them make you sit down!” and “There is more of us than them - go on and stand!” I think they would have liked a lively group of standers upfront because the reserved seat section was generally a group of quiet sitters! They better not expect me to sit tonight!

Both Gary and Miranda put on terrific shows. I must say though that I prefer their hits and softer country sounds to a few of the louder, harder rock numbers - especially when you are sitting in front of those giant concert speakers!! Whew - my ears were ringing several times during the night! Some of my favorites:

Gary - Right Where I Need to Be 

Gary - Half of My Mistakes

Gary - Songs About Rain

Miranda - More Like Her

Miranda Singing Blake Shelton’s Home

An Intimate Evening With the Cowboy Junkies

I have been a long-time fan of the Canadian group the Cowboy Junkies since the release of their Trinity Session album back in 1988. Athough I have picked up another half dozen or so of their CDs in the last 20 years, I never seemed to have the opportunity to see them perform live. So when I saw that they would be playing in Davenport, Iowa I jumped at the opportunity even though it was two and a half hours away in the middle of the work week!

I had never been to Davenport for a musical event and was completely unfamiliar with venues in that city. I learned later that the location for the Cowboy Junkies performance - the Redstone Room of the River Music Experience facility - is a non-profit venue which uses concert income to support the music education of Davenport youths - another good reason to have purchased a ticket! 

I headed southeast towards the Quad Cities after my last class, filling my car with the deep soothing tones of the Trinity Session as well as later albums during the journey. I used my GPS to more or less randomly pick out a restaurant near the venue and lucked out with a cute little family run Italian place just 1 block away - Antonella's Trattoria and Pizzeria. It smelled just heavenly when I entered, redolent with garlic, sausage and fresh baked pizza crust. Did you ever notice that the chain pizza places like Godfather's just never smell that way??? Although my nose almost made me splurge on a million calorie pie, I went with the Chicken Marsala with Fettucini instead, served with lots of mushrooms and onions. The chicken was yummy but next time I'd ask for light sauce on the pasta. A cannoli topped off my meal (okay,okay - so I didn't save many calories by ordering the chicken, what can I say?).

I walked over to the second floor venue at River Music Experience, just a block or two from the Mississippi River. Before it became a performance venue it had briefly been a music museum, so the halls were lined with bits of music memorabilia mostly from famous jazz musicians. Although the museum had probably been busy during the annual  Bix Beiderbecke Festival, I guess the year-round attendance was not high enough to sustain the museum, so they switched it to a performance venue surrounded by music practice rooms for local young people. The Cowboy Junkie show was a sell-out but I heard that, for this facility, that means a mere 130 tickets! It was going to be an intimate evening of music!!

I had arrived just before the doors opened and scored a second row seat when I entered the theatre. I had a nice time chatting with the other Cowboy Junkie fans around me until showtime. An interesting indie performer (with kind of a jazzy-folk vibe) Lojo Russo opened  the evening. I enjoyed her set but the back-of-the-room audience was annoyingly chatty. (Quiet down or take it outside guys while the music is on!!).

Then the Cowboy Junkies!! They look somewhat different than the long-haired somewhat hippie images that albums and videos had set in my memory all these years. Leader singer Margo Timmons looks more like a middle aged mom - with short hair and a respectable dress (see clips below). But they sound just as wonderful as ever!! The acoustics of the Redstone Room are not those of the Trinity Church, but the audience was enthralled throughout their approximately two hour set. I wish their mandolin (and miscellaneous other instruments) did not hide out at the back of the stage - I kept craning my neck trying to catch a glimpse of his musical artistry. And I also wish Margo did not sometimes seem to hide her face from the audience. Could she be a little stage shy after all these years?

The Cowboy Junkies played quite a bit of new music, as might be expected, since the first of a multi-CD project will come out in about a month. The new music sounded very good and I will be sure to watch for the album release. But I must say that I personally was a little sorry not to hear more of my favorite Cowboy Junkies' classics. I suppose all musicians constantly struggle with the balance between presenting their newest work versus their old fan favorites. But no "Sweet Jane"? Blue Moon? I'm So Lonesome?

Anyway it was a great evening except for not getting home until close to 2 am with an early class to teach the next morning!!

My Keith Urban High in Houston

Oh I am grinning and floating on a cloud, enjoying that Keith Urban post-concert glow. How that man can do that even in pretty poor stadium conditions where the sound goes in and out and isn’t great even when its “in” is amazing. I SO needed that dose of KU - I was parched for KU, yearning for KU, so even a mere 65 minutes of KU was one sweet drink of water. 

And he looked so, so fine. He wore a cherry red shirt that, of course, flattered him, unbuttoned to the bottom of that new chest tattoo. His hair is still longish (like it was on Jimmy Kimmel’s) with a more free, unstyled appearance than was the case during the last tour. And the lights definitely showed up lots of golden highlights all evening. No watch chain tonight - perhaps in anticipation of a walk out in the audience? Keith was full of energy and enthusiasm, really throwing himself in to his moves on the stage. Oh those swinging hips and guitar flinging arms moves! And even though the stage was constantly rotating, it sometimes wasn’t moving fast enough for him, so that he would circle around the back to make sure the audience back there didn’t think he had forgotten them!

Keith opened with a rousing Kiss a Girl with an especially loud shout out (to us in the audience?) or “Are you ready? Are you ready?” {I AM - I’m really ready!!}. Afterwards he called out a greeting “Good evening Houston - so good to be back!” Then he paused to say “This next guitar is one I’ve never played live before. Its a very special guitar which spent most of its life right here in Texas, so what better place to bring it out?”  He said he wanted to play “just a little song, so say hello to the Waylon Telecaster.” It had quite a unique sound and a special guitar strap saying “Waylon” on it. I imagine it was actually one of Waylon’s personal guitars. Keith then sang what I’m sure was a bit of a tribute: Waylon’s song “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” See my clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7EVc4VC3o0

It's the same old tune, fiddle and guitar

Where do we take it from here

Rhinestone suits and new shiny cars

We've been the same way for years

We need to change

Somebody told me when I got to Nashville

Son you finally got it made

Old Hank made it here, we’re all sure that you will

But I don't think Hank done it this way

I don't think Hank done it this way

Ten years down the road, making one night stands

Speeding my young life away

Tell me one more time just so I understand

Are you sure Hank done it this way

Did Ol' Hank really do it this way?

I've seen the world with a five piece band

Looking at the back side of me 

Singing my songs and one of his now and then

But I don't think Hank done 'em this a'way

No I don't think Hank done 'em this a'way

With a shout of “Let’s see some hands up in the air!” it was clear that next up was Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me, with just a tiny bit of playful guitar jousting before hand. I was surprised and a little concerned when it was obvious that not only were C-Rod and Brad missing, but Jerry was absent as well!! Happily Keith later explained that Jerry could not make this show so that Jimmy Lee Sloese (sp?),a guitarist who has played on every one of the albums, was temporarily taking Jerry’s place (including the bit of jousting).

With Keith’s urging the placid Houston crowd clapped some, but they were driving me crazy with their general inactivity!! Keith was anything but inactive, doing his best WWWBM ‘dance’ moves (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNcbuRCop8U )- mmm mmm and throwing in another Texas reference (“Singing a George Strait song to me”) and gave us a big backbend at the end. Then a passionate Stupid Boy  (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcdUdlfaLAA )with my favorite chill-giving guitar solo. Wow! BTW all the guys were somewhat ‘hairier’ that last fall. Brian’s hair is longer than that of Jesus (lol) and I think he had a bit of scruff on that baby chin of his. Chris M also had some scruff (or maybe an actual goatee?) on his chin.

Sweet Thing came next and Keith changed it up slightly by almost speaking rather than singing “lookin’ at me” and “I thought my-oh-my”. I guess it is no surprise that Brian has taken over C-Rod’s various guitar and vocal duos with Keith. I’m not sure whether it was due to this particular stage or not, but Brian seemed to be closer or more prominently featured next to Keith, even during some of Keith’s solos. See what you think.

When Days Go By began and Keith called out “Let me see you on your feet!” I could take passivity no more. I was up on my feet and turned around beckoning everyone around me to stand up as well. “He just asked us to stand up!! Come on - let’s show him we’re having a good time!!” I said. I got about 50% participation but at least I felt I could finally completely give in to the music and fully enjoy it!!

Then Til Summer Comes Around  ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIcuDMOVrNU )(the 2 guitar solo songs were closer together than usual but I guess you don’t have much leeway when you are only given an hour to play). The solo was seering - totally hot. In my dreams I might have asked Keith afterwards “Was that as good for you as it was for me?!” LOL

After Only You Can Love Me (during which the cameras really caught his baby blues) ( see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHWXBOQTj3M )Keith gave the audience one of several compliments on their singing “Beautiful job Houston!” In the audience it was really hard to tell if many were singing, but I hope perhaps he could hear those of us who were better up there on stage.

I wish I were able to read lips to decode the joking exchange between Keith and Brian as he broke into the opening chords of You Look Good in My Shirt. Perhaps something about being about to risk life and limb as he ran the gauntlet of the stadium crowds? Some might have thought that Keith might have lost some of his physical conditioning in the 5 months since the end of the tour, but his jaunt around the Reliant, up chute walls, over fences and up into the risers says that ain’t the case!! I don’t know if they planned the route ahead of time or whether he is just a clever improvisor because he even found a spot in the fence to stick his hand-held mike into so that he could play the guitar while he sang into the fence (mike).  (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqFXsVg7bA8 ) Keith passed about 5 fet in front of me - about 4 feet too far to get a hand slap. He didn’t even look winded after the quite lengthy YLGIMS outing although I think he did have to struggle a bit to get out of the riser crowd  that surrounded him, and his hair was tossled by all those hands! Apparently didn’t worry him a bit since he went out for a second trip into the audience later in his set!! One thing about “Shirt” and his wild trip around the stadium - he finally had virtually everyone standing up, reaching out, craning their necks, applauding, screaming - at last!

It is possible that Keith was babying his voice a bit last night. Although I didn’t see any other signs that he was under the weather I did notice that he seemed to skip some of his big high notes. So there was no dramatic “ I miss your love, I miss your love, I miss your L-O-V-E!!” in TSCA and there seemed to be no final oo- hoo - oo- hoo at the close of You’ll Think of Me (although, strangely, in my videoclip, his lips seem to form these shapes but there is no obvious vocal??).He did add an extra emphatic  “You’re gonna regret it” to his emotional YTOM ending however.

The final songs were Somebody Like You and Better Life.  Keith shocked all of us by once again going out into the audience during SLY - what a brave man, so determined to thrill his fans. Unfortunately my camera memory card was full by that time : (  so I missed the exuberant jumps and circles and the final backbend which gave way to lying fly on the floor while still playing.

He began Better Life with a big "Un, dos, tres, quattros" and added a new guitar variation at the end. After leading the audience is his usual day-o and yeah-yeah-yeah rounds, time was up.  Keith circled the stage thanking the audience, bowing, signing to us, then climbed into the back of a flatbed truck with the other guys and waved as they were chauffered out of the arena. Too too soon but it was so much fun while it lasted!! Now to start counting the days until Florence, Arizona!

I’ll be working on uploading quite a few shorter clips below, but uploading is slow.

Urban Journey #1 for 2010: The Houston Rodeo

It has been 118 days since I last saw Keith perform live at Joe’s Bar in Chicago. That may not sound like a long time to most people but it has seemed like an eternity to me! Although the hour long shows and far away stage at the Houston Rodeo don’t make it an ideal venue, desperate Keith addicts jonesin’ for a fix are traveling from far and wide to this first official stop on Mr. Urban’s 2010 ‘festival tour’. Since the date coincided nicely again with my spring break, I decided to make my second annual pilgrimage to Texas (too bad there is no special Dallas House-of- Blues appearance this year).

When the Houston tickets first went on sale - no presale this year so I knew I was up against the general public - I was over-anxious and ended up buying 3 different tickets when I only needed one. Me and my bad Ticketmaster habits! But I was able to re-sell my extras - one to a New Jersey gal (as I mentioned we travel from all over to see KU) and the other to a Houstonite (funny that he had to buy a ticket from me in Iowa!).

I’m arriving a day early to be safe and will see Lady Antebellum tonight. I had a bit of concern that I might not make it to their show when my airline called at 9:00 pm last night and said my flight had been canceled. At first they suggested I drive to Cedar Rapids at 4 am to take a crack of dawn alternative flight. I was not thrilled with that prospect and asked if they would pay for a Cedar Rapids hotel that evening so I wouldn’t be on the road at 4:00. They called back and instead put me in a first-class seat at 11 am - alright!!! Cocktails and wine and a very good Turkey Caprese sandwich with fresh basil pesto mayo on ciabatta bread - guess I’ll forgive them for canceling my original flight : )

I am bubbling with curiosity about Keith’s performance. Who will he have with him? Will there be replacements for both C-Rod and Brad? Or might this have been a show that was handy or perhaps arranged before contract negotiations? What songs will Keith choose for the limited time the Rodeo allows him? Will he still include “Shirt” and make a jaunt around the arena? Will Nic and Sunday be there to take in the Livestock Show and carnival rides? 

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Well, it is now 12 hours later and I am back from my first night at the Rodeo. It is quite a zoo here in the stadium area. Got caught in some terrible traffic coming in from the airport. My hotel is within eyesight of the Reliant Stadium but I had to have my shuttle driver drop me at the restaurant on the corner because the streets were so congested!

They said a little over 64,000 were in attendance at tonight’s show and I think all of them are driving down the road in front of my hotel! Good thing I was hoofing it - it was a lovely evening for walking -  still close to 65 -70 degrees.

To me it seemed the Reliant stage had been improved or enlarged to include short catwalks on all 4 sides, and that the video screens looked very high definition. Sadly the sound is still “stadium sound” - not the best for us or the performers, who can’t hear much from the audience. Lady Antebellum put on a good show. They all looked good and happy. Hillary was in skin tight black jeans and an interesting black strapless top. Charles is definitely a cutie. As performers they are at a bit of a disadvantage being so new - only their hits elicit much response from an already pretty laid back rodeo crowd. I hope it won’t be an audience of quiet ‘sitters’ tomorrow!!! I am ready to sing and dance and whoop it up so Keith knows we’re there!