Urban-a Heaven!

>Now don’t you think that since Keith was going to play at the University of Illinois they should have played up the Urban-a instead of the Champaign??? Okay, so the arena was technically in Champaign, but I kinda like the idea of being in Urban-a. Anyway it was one terrific start to my 3 day Urban adventure. My ride down from Iowa went a little faster than expected so daughter Sara (who is getting her Masters in Engineering at U of I) and I had time to catch some dinner at an interesting Noodle Shop before heading over to Assembly Hall, a quite impressive space-ship shaped basketball arena. Although it looked big from the outside the arena was actually rather intimate compared to most of the venues Keith has played lately, The catwalk had to be shorter than usual and there were only a total of 17 rows of floor seats next to the catwalk and small stage area – I think that is less than half the usual number. Although I had “Floor 4” seats they were really seats on low risers set just beyond the small stage, in front of the regular first level risers, just elevated enough that we had a great view over the heads of the standing floor crowd.

As soon as we arrived I had my Monkeyville passport stamped and renewed my membership (only $20 – less than what they charge online, with the extra bonus of a chance at a first row seat upgrade). We didn’t win but I was quite pleased with our seats anyway. I was convinced that DJ Debonair was not there tonight – I could not locate his “Twin Disks of Love” or whatever Keith calls them – usually lit up somewhere near the stage – but enjoyed the fact that the opening music included more classic rock than is sometimes the case. But Keith did end up introducing DJ later, so I’m not sure where he and his equipment were hiding.

Gary put on a good set and seemed to get a good response from the crowd. But once he finished it didn’t take long for fans to line the sides of the catwalk, anxiously and excitedly awaiting Keith’s arrival. The left side of the catwalk, from my vantage point, appeared to not be fenced off from the walk – several of the gals had their arms or elbows resting on the walk itself and all night long they appeared to be within easy reach of Keith as he sashayed by – they kept catching his pant legs etc throughout the evening. I didn’t get over to that side to see how the set up differed from usual.

A new addition (new to me) tonight – a huge countdown clock which appeared on the big video screen one minute before Keith came on stage – counting down the seconds (and tenths of a second) until the starting beats of OIAL. The clock worked to whip everyone up in a frenzy.

Keith was looking so good – I do love the blond highlights and the less styled hair and is it my imagination or, with the hard work of this tour, are his legs getting lankier? And boy those cameramen are doing lots of butt shots – I think they know our weaknesses! He had on the usual dark tee, grayish jeans and a heavily studded belt; there was some faded writing on the back of the tee that I could not make out. Keith was wearing a couple special bracelets – a blue one and a silvery gray one – on his left arm, likely something he received from fans at the BSE, but I couldn’t tell if they were supporting some cause. Brian was dressed up again, like he was on GMA – long sleeve shirt and tie and nice looking vest.

They did She’s Gotta Be again tonight!! What a treat to see a song I haven’t seen done in years and a fantastic guitar solo to boot. He also went out into the left risers during YLGIMS but tonight the ladies seemed to be relatively respectful and well behaved. I noticed he played more facing up towards the risers rather than facing down towards the floor like he did in Wilkes-Barre, for example. When facing up towards the risers it is harder for anyone to grab him around the neck from behind as has happened at a few of the shows, so it might be quite intentional. He treated the crowd to his medley of classic rock guitar riffs before transitioning into YLGIMS – he looked like he was having so much fun as he did that – just little kid delight beaming from his face with each new bit he performed.

I had brought a pair of fluffy feather “ears” or antennae in U of Ill colors along and when the band came down to the small stage I made it up to the railing and passed them up to Chris McHugh. He put them on and posed for several pictures, but then tossed them back rather than keeping them on. My spot by the rail turned out not to be too good though, once a cameraman came and blocked my view, so I had to move a bit further away to be able to see Keith as he played MMOU and YTOM. Keith scolded security for hassling the fans gathering at the end of the small stage – told them to leave the fans alone and let them stand there. During the encore, while playing Better Life from first the right end, and then the left end of the stage, he also welcomed fans down from the risers to come stand down on the floor for a while! Go Keith!

Both Keith and Gary threw out an abundance of guitar picks to the audience. The guys were all playful as usual. Keith and Jerry again did a “slow-motion” charge at one another at the beginning of WWWBM – this time from more distant points on the stage so the slow run was really funny. Also tonight the guys all gathered at a single mike to single the closing of the song.

The applause and hoots of approval from the crowd were especially loud and the arena was a-twinkle with cell phones as we urged the band out for the encore. No extra songs during the encore this evening (and hence no re-emergence of Gary)– maybe they are heading out immediately to spend a night in a Chicago hotel. Keith did a little bit different “thank-you” to the crowd when he talked about this last year and all the emails and cards he received - he said he was he was moved by how many friends he apparently had in Illinois. Keith also did a new variation in his wonderful performance of Everybody – instead of the “Everybody needs somebody – somebody like you” that he has been singing at the end of the song, tonight it was “Everybody needs somebody – like I need you!”, gesturing to the audience – really nice!!! He stayed quite a while after the closing bows, going to the stage edges and down the length of the catwalk to slap more hands and on the way gathered many gifts, posters and other offerings from the fans. It was a terrific evening – making me hungry for more. On to Chicago!