Chicago! Chicago!

I always enjoy traveling back to Chicago, even if I have lost some of the tolerance for city traffic that I had while growing up there. This weekend was a “girls’ roadtrip” – my oldest daughter came in from Ann Arbor, my middle daughter drove up from Champaign-Urbana and my youngest and I came from Iowa so all of us could rendezvous in Chi-town. We stayed in a fun and funky Lincoln Park neighborhood rather than a big downtown hotel and had our own little slumber party!

On Saturday we lunched at Giordano’s, then headed for the stadium early because we were unsure how fast parking would fill up. Loads of tailgaters had beat us there but the non-tailgating lots were still empty. The partiers got sprinkled on a bit but the light showers ended an hour or so before concert time. We caught 99.5’s free Jake Owen pre-concert (fun!) and got us some cute “I (heart) Keith” and “I (heart) Kenny” hand-fans that a local bank was distributing (and they came in handy as the weather turned warm and sunny!).

The fan club presale graced me with 16^th row tickets this time. We sizzled a bit in the sun during the first few acts (lots of sunburn victims I bet). Today the speaker units once again blocked the second half of the catwalk for performers other than Kenny. Gary Allen was great – I am liking him more and more and he’s getting some good singing from the audience. Leann did her whole energy-packed show barefoot again today – even though the runways weren’t damp. Seemed to fit the casual “first day of summer” atmosphere of the concert. She really wowed us again with her vocals and I heard others around me saying that they hoped she’d put her Joplin song on a future album. She was wearing another “might as well be naked” silky top which really kept the attention of the males in the audience.

Keith’s video wall was back today and it was really quite impressive watching the 2 halves glide into place from either side of the stage during the break before Keith’s performance. The wall (and, necessarily, Chris M.’s drums) were positioned closer to the edge of the stage than usual, making the screen look even bigger. From my angle I could see Keith’s screen was 8-10 feet taller than Kenny’s screen behind it. An unusual treat during set-up today was a camera which panned the stadium crowd in vivid color on Keith’s big screen (and everyone reacting with waves and other antics). An even bigger treat was a new video opening to Keith’s set!!! In black and white halftones we first saw the silhouette (a little bit like the opening of OIAL in concert) of Keith a long way down a winding country road (a bit like the road in the YTOM video). And then Keith walks towards us, growing larger on the video screen, until all we can see is that sexy smiling Keith, walking with his guitar. I wish I had known something new was coming so I could have captured it!!

The man was stunningly gorgeous last night. The natural light just brings out Keith in living colors like no spotlight can ever manage. The rosy red of his teeshirt with an image of a Native American chief, the bright blue of his sparkling eyes, the lighter blond highlights in his hair, the warm tones of his tanned skin. It was all I could do to muffle an inappropriate moan when he first came out on stage. He was also wearing what I think are old favorite jeans – light blue with white worn, torn spots on all the pocket edges and the knees, and the flaps with buttons on the back pockets. So comfy but fine looking!! And a belt with kind of silvery filigree design rather than just studs.

Keith was in high spirits, thrilled to be playing in Soldier Field and so happy (as we discovered later) to have Nicole there with him. He included references to Chicago and Soldier Field in several songs and reminisced about playing at the Whiskey River in 1997. At the appropriate moment in Better Half the camera showed Nicole sitting just offstage on the right, looking lovely in a floral dress with spaghetti straps – large print on the bodice and fine print on the flowing skirt. Keith often looked to that side when he was singing center stage. When he came out on the catwalk for ROS, he said that before he sang the next song he wanted to ask a favor of us. Since Nicole’s birthday was Friday, he thought it would be nice to have 50,000 people sing her Happy Birthday! So he led us in song and the camera caught some cute shots of her blushing and covering her face with her hands in embarrassed delight backstage. Very sweet!

Keith was totally ambushed by dozens of clinging, hugging, kissing fans during his YLGIMS walk into the audience. He almost did not make it back to stage! Security had to pry some ladies off of him and the camera couldn’t even keep track of Keith in the crowd of fans as he struggled back towards the stage. I could not see how he got back up there – seemed like he re-appeared from behind the video wall, somewhat breathless, hair mussed by all those grabbing hands.

Keith again had the guys do their solos during introductions. Looks like Brad has somewhat tamed his wild hair with a new haircut. Brian’s hair is getting longer. Chris R. sang “Hot Blooded” last night. Keith and Brian did their great lyrical guitar duo towards the end of Better Half. Keith did a quite emotional performance of YTOM – not just at the end of the song either. He sang the verses so intensely that I thought he might start to cry.

I think the gal sitting next to me might be a new convert. She had never seen or heard Keith before but was all “Wow! He’s GOOD!” at the end and said she would certainly be checking out his albums. SLY was back as the closing song tonight. Keith both jumped and circled on the catwalk at the end and then jumped all the way back to the stage. He played so vigorously during the song that his guitar seemed to knock his wallet-chain loose, so he finished the song with the chain swinging free with every his every movement.

Yay – Kenny and Keith did their duet again tonight and seemed more at ease and playful during it. Especially Kenny – he is just so tickled to have Keith out there. Keith came out in a fresh baby blue tee shirt with an image I can’t recall (I’m afraid I was looking at him and not the design!). The two of them got the whole audience singing along with Take It To The Limit.

Kenny was cute last night – he brought his dad and uncle up on stage to introduce them! Kenny said they had gone to the Cubs/Sox game at Wrigley Field that afternoon.

A Little Damp in Pittsburgh

When I arrived in Pittsburgh Friday the weather was warm but lovely and I enjoyed walking through the Three Rivers Art Fair across the river from the stadium. But during the night angry thunderstorms moved into town and I began to worry about it “raining on Saturday”. And rain it did – Saturday dawned gray and drippy and went back and forth between downpours and drizzles all day long. Since this had been in the forecast I came prepared with umbrella, rain parka and plastic sheeting – nothing was going to dampen my enjoyment of Keith!!

The sky was still overcast as concert time drew near, but since the rain had temporarily stopped I decided to avoid the traffic and hike across the bridge to Heinz Field and to try to catch some scenic views of Pittsburgh. By mid-bridge I had to break out my umbrella and this time the rains were going to continue for hours. Nevertheless the tailgating lots were packed and fans willing to brave the weather were pouring into this stadium that seats 60,000+. My seat was in row 34 of the floor. But since many did not show up for the opening acts (this was true in Cleveland too even though the weather there was gorgeous), I decided to try to make use of some empty seats closer to the action if I could slip by the VERY active concert security. I watched Luke Bryant from row 24 and then managed to nab a seat next to the sandbar fence (at least temporarily) for Gary and Leann. I had a great view from there!

Perhaps because of the rain no speakers blocked the catwalk today and Gary ventured down as far as the second T (but not down the arms of the T). So I had high hopes of a closer view of Keith and prayed that those who purchased tickets for my spot on the fence had been scared away by the weather. Gary was a trooper and did not retreat to the stage despite the rain (seemed an appropriate and poetic background for his “Songs About Rain”!) The weather cleared a little when Leann came on but she still needed to remove her silver high heels midway through her first song to be able to negotiate the rain slick runways. She did the rest of the show barefoot and was just a ball of energy – so fun to watch. Her voice was amazing and I really loved her Janis Joplin song. I’m sure the men in the audience enjoyed not only her performance but her “might as well been naked” silky tanktop worn braless!

Unfortunately, during the break between Leann and Keith, the stadium suddenly filled. The rain had stopped and everyone showed up to see the headliners! Which meant security emptied the row I was sitting in (apparently ALL of us were squatters) for those who held the actual tickets. Shucks!! So back to row 34 I went – on the floor but really too far away to catch many good views of Keith except when he came down to the end of stage left. But I sure enjoyed the view on the multiple screens. Tonight Keith used Kenny’s screens rather than having his own video wall. Although the side screens are standard fare I think Kenny’s center screen is almost as clear as Keith’s (but not quite as large).

How appropriate that the sun finally broke through, just over the stadium walls, as Keith came on! Doesn’t he always bring sunshine into our lives!! He was just as yummy as usual and seemed to have a mischievious grin from the start! He was wearing a different white tee with particularly short sleeves (the Nicole tattoo was fully visible all the time) with something like “Where in the hell…..is Sun Valley?” on it (couldn’t catch all of the print or picture because of the guitar strap), grayish jeans and his favorite boots (no nakey feet for Keithy) . He opened with DGB and immediately had the entire crowd on their feet and singing. No fan video today – perhaps because he wasn’t using his own projection system. Then into Blacktop where he snuck in a line about being “so glad that it stopped raining” in the middle. He omitted the TIWC that he did in Cleveland, replacing it with the more crowd-involving Better Half. He encouraged and praised our singing multiple times throughout the show – even during Stupid Boy. He made a special point of recognizing the big group of fans standing, singing and clapping way, way up in the nosebleed seats, assuring them that he saw them up there and thanking them. He also chose to give more time to the guys in the band – doing his ‘jousting’ bit with Jerry before WWWBM and introducing each of the guys with their little song solos (which sounded amazing on that big stadium sound system and got the audience singing along with them). I thought the sound was quite good except for a couple times when Keith or Gary took a mic out to the ends of the stage and didn’t quite seem to have as much volume, but I admit I was on the floor, not the rear stands, so don’t know what they were hearing. Keith also thanked the audience for paying outrageous gas prices to come to the show and joked about how “designated drivers” were really getting a raw deal these days and that they should respond with “Sure I’ll be the designated driver, but we’re taking YOUR car!” He asked how many of us had arrived yesterday (lots of cheers) so I thought that might lead into a report of what they had done, but he only joked “Or can’t you remember??”, sensing the inebriation of many in the audience.

Keith – no surprise - was smoking hot on that guitar tonight although I thought he sped up his series of classic guitar riffs (because of his limited timeframe I guess), one following quickly on the heels of another, rather than pausing and grinning at the band and the crowd as usual. I could tell lots of the college males around me were impressed (some playing their “air-guitars” along with him). Keith also made the fans go crazy by venturing out into the audience during YLGIMS at a stadium show (brave man!!). He jumped off the stage and went about halfway up the lower risers – sang a bit standing on one of the seats– then continued down along the front row and down the side of the catwalk to where there must have been a way to get back up top. Security must not have been expecting his foray because it looked like a group of them surprisedly scrambled to follow Keith offstage to protect him. What a guy!

Keith also kept the camera man scrambling to keep up with him as he repeatedly visited each end of the stage. He was feeling playful and at one point mugged it up by leaning down and going almost going nose-to-lens with the big camera, making faces at us all. I do not believe he ventured farther down the catwalk like Gary did – I think he stayed at the first T in the stage for his catwalk songs.

Unfortunately those 2 additions to the performance (the guys’ solos and going offstage) must have meant he had to shorten his set – no SLY to close his show. But that wasn’t the last we saw of Keith!!

I was SO pleased when Kenny brought out Keith to sing with him, calling Keith one of his very best friends. They sang a somewhat slow arrangement of Take It to the Limit, with Keith providing the slow, traditional strumming background as well as singing the duet. It seemed like Kenny may have forgotten the words a couple times during his sections (the “making money” and “making time” portions of the lines) but you know that’s a song that Keith has done many times. They kind of kept their distance from each other and were pretty serious while performing, but afterwards Kenny really gave Keith a couple big hugs and even grabbed and rubbed his head like he was a kid brother. Kenny also brought back Luke for a song on the catwalk a bit later. During the show Kenny also made a joke – wish I could remember what female performer he was talking about (maybe the gal in his “Big Star song?), but he referred to her as “almost a Keith Urban in a skirt”! What a mental image I had (and it wasn’t that Keith in a dress from the Ranch days)!

My section of the floor was well behaved – a number of families dancing with their little ones to the music, quite a few middle agers. So Pittsburgh was a positive experience, rain and all! I know rowdy drunks spoiled the enjoyment of the show in some areas of the arena.