Radiant in Roanoke!!

The drive from Charleston to Roanoke was gorgeous – winding four lane road through the beautiful misty lush green West Virginia, then Virginia mountains. Sometimes the peaks were hidden in low hanging clouds but it was still a completely pleasurable drive. Passed the New River on which I used to white-water raft years ago, scenic outlooks over valleys and gorges, and places with colorful names like Possum Hollow. No sooner did I arrive at my hotel when I got a call from online friend Feathers and we made plans to meet for dinner at one of the radio station pre-parties at Corned Beef and Company. We entered their drawings. We didn’t win the backstage passes for either Keith or Dierks, but Feathers did win 5 country CDs! Once at the arena I also met online friend Porcelain and made some new Keith-fan friends as well!

Dierks Bentley was a fun opening act! Another cutie (glad his curls are back!) who wears his jeans well! He sang all his hits as well as his most recent single. Because we were in Virginia he did Come A Little Closer as an acoustic performance with a little bluegrass music added to it. He joked around quite a bit. I liked when he sat down on the edge of the stage and started talking to some gals, asking their names, in the middle of How Am I Doin’, and then said “I have to get back to work now” and stood up to continue the song.

I also loved it when Keith brought him out later in the show and they had so much fun doing a duet of Take It To the Limit. The song was great but what was really funny was Keith giving Dierks a hard time for having written out all the lyrics on his forearm (and I saw it – his inner forearm was entirely covered with small writing!). : ) Dierks in turn tried to claim that he so admired Keith’s forearm tattoo that he had gone out and got this as a tattoo in the same spot on his left arm. What fun they were!

I like the Roanoke Civic Center!! Not too big, smoke free AND alcohol free and generally a nice set-up. I had lucked out and got a floor row 11 seat in the presale, just a couple seats from the aisle Keith goes down, so I thought I was set for at least a little close contact. But the evening exceeded my wildest expectations!! It was an absolutely fantabulous concert – Keith was stellar, truly perfect and so on his game last night!! I had such a wonderful experience – another definite Urban high – that I can’t hardly imagine a better concert experience in my future.

The big black curtains were back tonight and they actually used them to create an interesting effect. During the Celtic like music that introduces the show bright ceiling lights within the curtained stage flashed on and off erratically, creating almost the appearance of lightening inside the curtain. When they opened the curtain there was a huge vapor cloud this evening so that Keith could not be seen until he burst out of that cloud several steps onto the catwalk. The little plaid shirt was white/blue-gray/brown tonight and for a good part of the evening only 2 buttons appeared to be buttoned so we saw glimpses of both chest and tummy as he moved around that guitar! J

During the break after Dierks the security people became quite active, clearing the aisles and stage and catwalk edges of standers, giving the impression that they were going to be strict enforcers. Well, they were, during the break, but as soon as Keith came on the security up front pretty much disappeared (can’t speak for the back of the arena). So all those folks who had been chased back to their seats earlier made a mad surge (but still a polite surge I have to say) for the front, myself included. I never went back to my row 11 seat during Keith’s entire 2 hour+ show!! Initially I was on the move – I got to stand about 6 feet from the end of the catwalk where Keith sang the first couple songs, then during Better Half I moved to the ramp where he would exit the stage, then to the opposite side to greet him upon his return. (Gave his back a rub as he passed by and he was already soaking wet only 6 songs into the show!) Surprisingly, even though a lot of people moved up front they were not packed together (I heard that those with seats further back were not allowed to come up so I guess that limited the crowd). So it was pretty easy to move from one spot to another. After Keith returned to the mainstage I was easily able to slip up to nearly the stage edge (in front of the row 1 seats where no one was actually sitting) for the rest of the night. By the end of the show the only person closer to Keith was that camera man who films from the corner where the catwalk hits the stage! Who would have thought my row 11 would turn into row 1?? I was so tickled!!

When Keith made it back to the small stage he started out by saying “It’s nice back here, I think I’ll stay a while". Then, admiring the growing crowd around the stage he yelled out “I love you guys in the back section! Its so funny to watch security clear you away and then you are right back here again. I love that!! What the hell, it’s Friday night!” He put on a proffered hat briefly, said it was a bit small but told the gal “That’s a stylin’ hat you’ve got there."

He closed Once in A Lifetime with a bit of a rhythmic chant: “ You and me, you and me, we gotta once in a lifetime love! You and me, you and me, we gotta once in a lifetime love.” Tonight Making Memories was dedicated to anyone getting married or in love.

Keith told us more than once that we were in for a long night (Yay!) and we should call the babysitter and let her know we wouldn’t be getting home anytime soon. He seemed to be in a devilish and playful mood all evening long, using one of his deep silly voices during part of Blacktop, his ‘tropical bird call noises’ in Better Half, using what sounded like a little Swedish at one point (remember the Swedish chef of the Muppets?), throwing out an impossible to imitate African sounding scat in the middle of doing a little Day-o, Day –ay-ay-o echo round with the audience. And he had faces to accompany each of these auditory jokes. He was in a GOOD mood – I think he felt the wonder of this awesome show and at the end he thanked the audience for making it such a magical evening, commenting that it has been a while since they had such an evening. And thank you Keith for being the wand that creates that magic – we loved every minute.

The cherry on the top of this yummy music sundae was catching a guitar pick as the guys said there final goodbyes. What a night!

Amost Heaven in West Virginia?

Almost heaven, West Virginia” – especially on a spring night when Keith Urban is in town! Well, although it is always heavenly seeing Keith, West Virginia was not quite heaven today. Every time I tried to go out to wander around the Civic Center or to look for the buses there was a downpour! It did stop as concert time neared, so that was good. A couple radio stations had booths set up outside of the arena so I signed up for the “second row seats” drawing. No luck there but actually I had a great seat in the risers close to the stage anyway. I was in line with the ends of the ramps and the runway. The Charleston Civic Center is a venue of mixed blessings. It is small – there were only 13 full rows of seats between the end of the catwalk and the sound mix area, so there really weren’t many ‘bad’ seats. But it was hot and humid even before Keith got on the stage and only got worse most of the evening. Many in the audience were as sweaty as Keith! And although the arena itself is supposedly no smoking, wherever their smoking area is, it must share an air supply with the arena because we had a strong tobacco smoke smell. (I’ve gotten spoiled by all those truly smoke-free venues!). There was a fistfight between some drunken males on the floor during the break after the Zac Brown Band and it took a bunch of security guards to finally break it up and drag off the offenders! Maybe that worried security, because at that point they started chasing away the standers who had lined the catwalk, front stage and runway edges, clearing the crowd away before Keith came out! (Security did not continue to do this though, so once the show began people once again lined up in all these areas.) Finally, at least from my position, I didn’t think the acoustics were quite as good as usual. (Fussy, aren’t I?)

Tonight they got the timing and vapors right for the band’s opening number so we had a great view of Keith rising out of the mist as the crowd screamed. They rocked Hit the Ground but I got the feeling that fewer in this audience were familiar with the Defying Gravity selections than has been the case elsewhere, so were just observers rather than participants during those numbers. But the crowd was loudly into Days Go By (with a special “up the scale” guitar flourish during the song’s closing) and Stupid Boy with its always chill giving guitar solo. I forgot to mention earlier in the tour that Keith has been playing a crystal-like (clear) guitar during this number – that must be the specially designed guitar we read about early on. Has there always been a quiet, about 10 second, perhaps keyboard introduction to Stupid Boy preceding Brian’s guitar strumming? If not, there is now!

Keith then gave his usual greeting, saying they were glad to have finally made it back to Charleston and asking each section of the audience in turn if they were feeling good tonight. I was a little surprised, considering that two in the band are from West Virginia, that this small venue was not sold out. Just over half of the rows in the 200 level risers were full. Strange, huh? Keith then introduced Black Top by saying “Let’s go back a couple records with this one”.He spent time at each of the platforms at stage right and stage left but last night seemed frustrated by the positioning of the sidestage spotlights that are lowered down to stage level during this song. While he was over on my side he kept gesturing to the spotlights while he sang, indicating that he wanted them raised so they wouldn’t block his view of the very first set of risers, but the lighting folks didn’t catch on until too late.

Keith wore a white/brown/black plaid shirt tonight and dark jeans. Despite the ‘break’ he still looked a little tired around the eyes. He was also still a little hoarse on the really high notes and so called on the audience to sing when he got to those points in songs. The West Virginians were a much more polite crowd when it came time, in Better Half, for Keith to make his way back to the small stage (which tonight was almost right up against the rear risers with very little standing room around it). Although thrilled and screaming they didn’t rush at Keith and tended to gently pat his arm rather than grabbing as he passed. So Keith was able to play and smile and nod at fans on both sides without much trouble. After his solo Once in a Lifetime he said “My god it is hot in here!!” (and you weren’t helping the situation Keith!). He only did 2 songs on the small stage, dedicating Making Memories of Us “to two friends out there in the audience somewhere – Juliet and Julia”. His return trip was a bit more congested but he still made it back to the mainstage pretty quickly.

The guys sang their usual solo bits following their introductions. Somewhat surprisingly there was no mention of any family members being present for this West Virginia show. There did seem to be a little extra featuring of some of the guys. Chris M. brought his bongo (I think) drum up to the side platform and was spotlighted as he accompanied Keith singing on the small stage. Brian also, at one point, sat on the edge of that platform, legs dangling, as his playing was featured (I’ll have to check my video to recall what song that was). C-Rod of course plays with Keith during Till Summer Comes Around and all the guys are featured upfront while Keith sings MMOU on the satellite stage. They all deserve that extra attention.

Maybe I’ll catch some flack for this but I don’t know if Standing Right in Front of You is working as well as they had hoped live (much as I love that song on the CD). I’m hoping that they might try I’m In or My Heart is Open or Why’s It Feel So Long instead. Or maybe bring back a little more conversation and a bit of cover song? Just a few words about funny things on the road, or about Nic or Sunday would mean so much!!

Keith did a searing, wailing, wrenching two and a half minute guitar solo in Til Summer Comes Around!! Nearly orgasmic! J I felt wrung out when he finished and let out an almost involuntary “Holy cr_p!!” WOW. Happily the man did a good part of I Told You So from the sidestage platform in front of my seat and my section gave their all in singing, dancing and gesturing back at him. He did a little of the ITYS percussion by slapping his guitar. After Kiss a Girl there was particularly loud and sustained applause and cheering and Keith joked “Thank you so much. I feel like I am on American Idol!” Hee hee. Keith treated Charleston to their own little improvised song before Raining on Sunday (I'll upload a clip) - he's obviously enjoying this little bit of personalization of the concert.

During the evening I felt a little sense of time pressure for some reason. It seemed like Zac Brown was a little hurried and ended a little early. Keith did not leave the stage during You Look Good in My Shirt so that number was shorter!! And the pause after Somebody Like You before the encore songs was definitely brief last night. Maybe Keith was a little under the weather (I saw Brian and Jerry punching his arm during the evening in kind of a supportive gesture) or maybe it is rough breaking down the show, driving 4 hours through mountains and getting it all set up again for tomorrow night. Didn’t they say setup took about 8 hours? So it was a good night that had some special highlights (like that guitar solo) but some things seemed just slightly off. Maybe it was a ‘first night back’ phenomenon and they will be fully in gear tomorrow in Roanoke.

Off on another concert roadtrip in the morning - to "almost heaven" West Virginia tomorrow night and then the Roanoke, Virginia show on Friday! :) I've planned meet-ups with several other like-minded fans and am looking forward to the pre-parties.

A Happy Graduation Day!

On Sunday my daughter Sara received her Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana!! I am one very proud mama!!

Giddy in Green Bay: That Keith Urban High

Well I am on one of those Keith Urban concert highs – what a great night!! My daughter asked me which of our 3 concerts in a row I liked best. They all had their special high points but I picked tonight. I am feeling so good and no alcohol was involved!!

I’m now able to sing along with many of the Zac Brown songs and I broke down and got their album at the merchandise booth. Tonight they were sweet – drumming up support for an organization that works with troubled kids. Zac was funny too – at one point he had us all light up our cell phones, so I was expecting something like Keith’s cell phone wave last tour. But no, Zac stopped right there – once we had our cells open they began another song. Maybe they just wanted to feel that “Bic Lighter” aura of the audience showing support?

There was a big solid block of floor seats that were empty during the opening act which then filled suddenly when it came time for Keith. A special party perhaps? Corporate sponsors?

Keith and the boys totally rocked the house with Hit the Ground and Days Go By. Tonight they created a huge cloud of vapor that totally hid Keith’s ascent through the stage floor. Instead he suddenly burst out of the fog, like a genie out of a bottle, to the cheers and screams of the audience. So it seems they are trying for a different opening effect now. The brown plaid shirt was back (is this the first repeat?) with darkish blue jeans..

Daughter Annie is no longer timid. Tonight she was determined to get a front view of the songs performed on the satellite stage. In Green Bay females started surrounding that stage during the break between Zac Brown and Keith and security did not chase them away. So Annie staked out her spot in that crowd and stood there through the first four songs performed on the main stage. I, not being quite up to the crush of the crowd for that long, stayed in my seat until Better Half began. Then I moved to the rear of the arena and, with some quick moves while others were distracted by the screaming when Keith first began his journey down the side aisle, found a spot just 2 gals away from the microphone on the small stage. But then, in an instant, a huge crowd surged in towards the satellite stage and we were all totally smashed together, body against body. And the screaming of this group made my ears absolutely ring!! It was like the same thought entered everyone’s mind at the same second –“Keith is coming – scream as loud as you can!!!” (I didn’t scream, but I was excited about my nearly “front row” position. Oddly enough when Keith finally reached the back of the arena his security decided not to take him up the small stage steps. Instead they forcefully split apart the crowd close to me and boosted Keith up to the microphone!! Then the crowd immediately snapped back into position, body against body!! I had some trouble even getting an arm up to take photos and would periodically get rocked in one direction or another, the crowd swaying like one amorphous beast. Keith looked pretty amused by this and told us we were all crazy!

Besides the special treat of being up front for his songs on the small stage, I was surprised and delighted when, after Once in a Lifetime, Keith mentioned that they had a new album, Defying Gravity, out and he wanted to play Only You Can Love Me This Way from the album!! So he sat on his stool and sang that song oh so sweetly just 4 feet from me – so wonderful! (except for those dozens of bodies also trying to get 4 feet from Keith!), followed by Making Memories of Us. Of course the crowd once again went nuts as Keith handed off his guitar and left the small stage. Although I’m sure he was touched by many many hands it didn’t seem to be the aggressive grabbing this time. As I walked smiling back to my seat I can’t tell you how many gals were standing there looking stunned, trembling, crying, holding out the hand that had made contact, or just exclaiming in amazement that they had been THAT close to Keith!! Lots of happy happy fans!! Daughter Annie had made her own contact with Keith’s sweaty arm J and was ready to go again if the opportunity arose during You Look Good in My Shirt! ( it didn’t – he went to the other side of the arena).

Back up on the main stage Keith and the guys next played the three in a row from Defying Gravity with one change that I noticed tonight. Although they began Til Summer Comes Around with the video panels forming a low ceiling over the vapor filled stage, during the song the panels lifted, still positioned horizontally but higher now so that the audience could better see the intricate designs being shown on them.

I Told You So gets everyone singing again. I don’t think that I’ve mentioned that during the final percussive closing bars of the song Keith leaves the stage, but a camera (filming now in black and white) follows him down the steps as he towels off some of the sweat and under the stage, where on the final beat comes face to face with the camera for an instant and then the screen goes black. Very interesting ending! This was followed by the half dozen or so videoclips of fans performing You’ll Think of Me as a lead in to Keith singing this song from a stool on the catwalk.

For the second time this week some silly fan toss a bra up on stage towards Keith. Once again he responded like it was a dead rat, gingerly using the head of his guitar to nudge it out of the way, clearly indicating that he wanted nothing to do with it. Good for him!

During Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me, just after Keith kneels on the stage edge with Brad and Brian, playing that distinctive bridge, Keith got silly and leaned in to go nose to lens with the camera filming them, making a funny sideways face at the audience.

Before You Look Good in My Shirt Keith went back to his series of classic guitar riffs, including a couple new ones I couldn’t place. I’ll post my videoclip and maybe one of you will recognize the last couple right before YLGIMS. (In Chicago he included the theme from the Pink Panther in his series – it had been a while since I heard him play that bit!!)

Once again tonight Keith treated us to a little improvised song, just for Green Bay, after he had strolled out on the catwalk to sing Raining on Sunday. I don’t think I can quote it exactly but something along these lines:

Went out riding on my motorcycle today

And the wind nearly blew me right off!

It was a little bit chilly

But this state is sure pretty

During the closing song, Days Go By, someone near the right hand ramp offered Keith a big bouquet of white flowers when he came over to that side of the stage. He not only came down the ramp to accept them, he managed to give the woman a nice hug without a break in the song!

Click here for one video that could not be uploaded here for some reason.

Keith Urban Gets Love Chicago-Style

Sorry to be a little slow posting but 2 late concert nights and 6 hours of driving from St. Paul to Chi-town left me one tired puppy last night, and then this morning we headed to Green Bay. It is past midnight again so I hope I make sense here.

The Zac Brown Band is growing on me. Besides their single hits I really like what they call their “summer song” (toes in the water, ass in the sand…) and also a song written while they were in Byron Bay (Australia) about being “free as we’ll ever be” (sorry I don’t know actual titles) into which they blended a little Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic last night. And then their reggae beat song into which they incorporate a little of Marley’s One Love. I think I will pick up one of the autographed CDs they have at the show.

Take Back the City (which signaled the start of Keith’s show out east) has been replaced by My Love Opens the Door to Your Heart the last two nights. An appropriate lyric to lead into this show, no? Allstate Arena is a little bit smaller venue with no nosebleed seats. The satellite stage only had a small amount of floor space around it and it was partially surrounded by the sound mix area fence tonight.

Tonight Keith wore dusty brown jeans and a brown plaid shirt, shirttails out, which had a metallic thread running through the plaid, so it did sparkle a little all over. His eyes looked a little tired but otherwise he looked great. Chicago just loved him to bits! The entire arena was on their feet for the whole 2+ hours, singing loudly, totally into to it. Keith reminded the crowd "The last time we were here we played a place called Joe's (cheers). Now we have a damn good Friday Illinois Night!"

Allstate Arena and its Ticketmaster seating charts are notorious for mistakes. Last tour floor section 4 was much farther back than pictured so there were quite a few people disappointed with their seats. This year section 4 was “left floor” when I bought the tickets but it became center floor last week when they suddenly changed the seating chart online! So my daughter Annie and I were in row 20 in line with the centerstage mic and catwalk. Pretty good in terms of closeness, but too many moving heads to shoot good videoclips most of the time. The debate about whether floor seats or low risers seats are better continues.

Annie is sometimes a bit timid on her own, but has been following Mom’s rather disinhibited lead during our 3 day Keith Urban Road Trip. Tonight as Better Half was being performed we slipped out of our row 20 seats and walked towards the back of the arena just as Keith was leaving the main stage. We weren’t quite quick enough to get to one of the limited spaces on the front side of the satellite stage, but we did score spots on the fence surrounding the rear of the stage, perhaps 8 feet away from Keith. We all know that the “back view” is nothing to sneeze at! : ) He did turn to face us occasionally so we were more than happy to be there. We had a close-up view of him performing Once In A Lifetime (with a bit of a special ending) and Making Memories Of Us. No sign reading tonight. When he finished on the small stage Keith turned over his guitar to his crew (which he hasn’t done before), so that he could be more closely surrounded by his body guards during the trip back to the main stage this evening. In fact they almost made a pretty tight “Keith sandwich” (body guard-Keith-body guard) to avoid some of the head grabbing of last evening. Because of that his return to the stage was much faster than yesterday.

I don’t think I have mentioned that Keith has incorporated, in the production, a couple of links, if you will, to the LPATWCT tour. We see a colorful silhouetted fiddler (Brad?) on the video screens (a la Shine) towards the end of If Ever I Could Love and then we see the large “cracked” heart of LPATWCT, in red this year, during the “a beating, braver heart” lyrics of that song. These spark a special familiarity and recollection of other wonderful concert nights in those who enjoyed the previous tour.

When it is time for Raining on Sunday Keith gave us some really lovely, new melodic guitar play and then, again, a very percussive intro to ROS as he walks down the catwalk. But then he begins improvising a sweet little song for us:

Are we in a singing mood Chicago?
Are we feeling good Chicago?
It feels real good to be here with you on a Friday night.
At the Allstate Arena everybody’s looking good and I’m feelin’ alright
I’m kinda making this up as I go along
But I gotta good feeling that with you there’s no way I can go wrong!

(and that last line is really the truth in Chicago!) I guess he could feel the love the crowd was radiating.What a treat!

The after show interactions with the audience have gotten longer this week (although not as long as last year). Keith goes from the center catwalk to each of the side platforms, bowing, saluting and thanking the audience, slaps hands along the stage edge and small catwalk, signs a couple autographs. The guys toss out picks, wristbands and drum sticks. And then they are off. I can only imagine that Keith must collapse once he winds down a little with all the incredible energy and stenuous physical work that he puts in the show.“Cardiovascularly challenging” was how he put it, but it is so much more than that! Even I collapse (but then I have very sweet dreams!).

Sexy Serenades in St. Paul

Blue skies, sunshine and low sixties welcomed me and my teenage trio (daughter Annie and friends Katie and Randy) to the Twin Cities. We did a little shopping so didn’t arrive at our hotel across from the Xcel Energy Center until close to six. I guess I should have gotten there earlier – I ran into Blue-Jeans-Gal in the elevator and she had seen C-Rod jogging and Brian driving his T-Bird during the afternoon. She is another Iowan and won tonight’s Backstage BBQ Experience pass from iLike! iLike has been good to us heartlanders!! Kingsford Charcoal made their presence known with an enormous blow-up BBQ grill serving as an archway through which to enter the arena (“I walked through hot coals to see Keith Urban!”). They had a little “EDS” problem and it collapsed into a big heap at one point (luckily before the crowds arrived). Once inside we got our Monkeyville Minnesota scrapbook pages stamped and headed for our seats.
My daughter and friends came prepared with posters, one saying "My mom smelled your neck!" and the other "We want to smell it too!". Oh Lord!

The Zac Brown Band were fun openers – mostly lively numbers, a couple surprisingly with a nice reggae beat. I’m going to have to check out their album. After they finished, the Kingsford/Masterpiece BBQ Sauce folks showed kind of a nice promotional video on the side video screens. It began with the sound of a heartbeat to get our attention, but then included shots of Keith and his motorcycle and a big white (?) tour bus, all obviously going out to a BBQ in the country. Then lots of live footage of Keith and the guys at the BBQ that has been featured online and in promotional materials. Later there were some shots of setting up the stage and the racks of guitars. They also used those side screens to announce who won the signed guitar from Keith (and Verizon) this evening (I guess this tour the guitar giveaway happens behind stage before the show rather than out in the audience like last tour.) During the break, as the crew set up the stage for Keith, I kept expecting them to pull shut those big black curtains like they did out east. But no curtains tonight! Maybe they decided they weren’t worth the trouble. Tonight they did create quite a cloud of vapor centerstage to focus attention on Keith’s mysterious rising out of the floor during Hit the Ground, but it was almost too thick – if I hadn’t been sitting off to the side I’m not sure I could have seen his ascent. Still working out some of those little details I guess. No matter – the crowd still screamed their heads off as the show opened!

It looked like the Xcel Center was pretty much sold out – even the highest rows of the nosebleed seats up in the rafters looked full and Keith called attention to them several times during the night. I was sitting in the second row of the second set of risers from the stage (right near row 22 of the front floor). Pretty good seats except for the 6’8” big guy on my stage-side that I often had to peer around whenever Keith came over to the microphone on our side L Tonight the satellite stage was set up about 6 feet beyond the sound mix area and perhaps 20 feet in front of the risers at the far end of the arena, leaving a large area of empty floor for fans when Keith made his trip out there.

Keith looked especially fetching in a red/black/white plaid shirt and blackish jeans tonight. The video screens really showed him to his best advantage so there were times I couldn’t help but give out a little moan or felt a little weak in the knees. And I think he knew it too, so we got more sexy looks than usual. He also seemed to make a point tonight of holding picks in his lips or in his teeth for a bit, then tossing those out to the crowd (in addition to those he flings when he is playing) – what is that about? A guitar-y way of blowing a kiss? Tonight they sometimes used the 5 big video panels to show five Keith’s at once! Gosh I might blow a fuse if they keep doin’ that!!

The music was wonderful as usual, the guitar solos stunning – no departures from the setlist tonight. The crowd was thrilled when Keith made his first trip offstage towards the end of Better Half, all those fans slowing down his progress to the back of the arena. No sign reading from the small stage tonight and no one was invited up. He introduced Making Memories of Us with a slightly different lead-in:. “This is a song for anyone who is getting married, thinking about getting married, wishing you could get married, have got no intention of getting married.” :) When I knew the song was nearly over and Keith would be returning to the main stage via my side of the arena, I leapt (okay, lumbered) from my second row position, over the first row chairs, so that I could be immediately above Keith as he passed by. And it paid off – the first row folks were happy for the “alert” so they had their cameras ready forclose-up shots, and I slid my hand down his bare arm as he passed.:)

He was cute to watch grooving in the background to Chris R’s, Brian’s and Jerry’s little vocal solos. And I think I caught some good video of his dancing, clapping silhouette during that wonderful percussive ending to If Ever I Could Love. Tonight Keith added or really emphasized a rhythmic, plucking, slapping, pulsing beat of the guitar during his (short) walk down the catwalk at the start of Raining on Sunday, then said in a deep sultry voice “Are we still feeling okay?” “ How about you guys sitting up high around the arena?” and then said, no actually sang to us “Do we feel like singing?” and then again “Do we feel like sing-in’?” before actually beginning to sing ROS.

Fun guitar play before You Look Good in My Shirt, but not the usual classic riffs. Maybe someone will be able to put a name to it, but I didn’t recognize it, just enjoyed it! I jumped up and down when I realized that tonight Keith was going to come down the ramp on my side of the arena for YLGIMS and hoped he would either choose to climb up either the aisle close to me or the one close to my girls.

Well he did cross right in front of us, but tonight the crowd that rushed towards him was so overwhelming that he never made it to any of the staircases! I was worried for him because it seemed so many were reaching for his hair and head I thought he could lose an eye! He and his body guards finally had to retreat to stage without the usual perching on a chair somewhere to sing a little. I hope that kind of crowd response doesn’t lead to him abandoning the trips offstage!

The thunderous applause and echoing screams were so loud after Somebody Like You that when Keith came back on stage for the encore he just looked at the audience and said “Holy Hell Minnesota!!” shaking his head in disbelief. “Thank you so much for making us feel like family every time we come up here!” Wow – I am loving the acoustic guitars of Keith and Chris during You’ll Think of Me. They have such a full resonant sound - just beautiful.

I’m worrying a little about Keith’s voice. Although most of the evening he sounded just great, towards the end he got a little froggy and needed the audience to help with the vocals. I’m afraid his madcap schedule in Canada did not give him the break he needed after the previous three concerts. Chicago show tomorrow and Green Bay Saturday – I hope they won’t strain his voice too much! Take good care of yourself Keith! Thanks for another wonderful evening!!

Post Script:

I sat next to a couple great gals, Lori and Julia, who host an afternoon show on FM107 here in the Twin Cities. They were a lot of fun and shared a nice story of their experience meeting Keith and Nicole in New York on the red carpet for the opening of Australia. They shouted to Keith and said that they were from Minnesota. Even though it was her big evening, Nic called Keith’s attention to these fans who had traveled all the way from the Midwest and both Nic and Keith came over and chatted with Julia and Lori – one of the only (if not the only) stops the couple made on the red carpet.

Secondly, my teen trio were completely overwhelmed by Keith’s show this evening and are frantically trying to figure out a way to see him again this tour. They weren’t Urban “virgins” but they definitely have fallen more deeply under his magical spell!

Videos to come but I have to sleep now!

Massive Mohegan Concert #2

>Apparently “massive” is the Aussie “in” word for fantastic and it is entirely appropriate to describe Mohegan concert #2! Tonight I met up with several fellow fans and we had dinner together before heading down to the arena for the 6:30 opening of the doors. We saw a large contingent of Canadian fans while waiting in line. Once inside the arena we had nearly an hour before showtime so we took turns taking photos in front of the large Keith-at-a-BBQ photos up on the walls before a Kingsford rep told us they had an even more realistic photo set up (with a cut out Keith and a real BBQ) just down the hall. So we went down and posed there as well. I decided to go all out and continued down the hall to the Verizon green screen where I sang and “played guitar” “with Keith” to Sweet Thing. The video they will send me should be a hoot!

Tonight I had a seat on the floor in Section 1 (thank you Monkeyville) rather than the risers like last night. I won’t repeat details that I already reported yesterday, but surprisingly much of the evening was like seeing a whole new concert because of my seat position and perspective and also because Keith was totally relaxed, in fine voice and in his element tonight. He is really trying to give as many fans as possible an “extra special” experience, and (with the exception of the upper level) I think he is succeeding! Any of you with lower riser seats or floor seats this tour has the chance of having an “extra special” up close encounter with Keith! (more on this later)

Tonight Keith had on the tiniest very short sleeved brownish plaid shirt possible, with the few buttoned buttons looking like they might pop open (in a good way)! At first sight I almost thought he was wearing a sparkly goldish brown spandex shirt (it fit that closely) but it was just that black glittery guitar strap that was reflecting light off his torso.

I had an aisle seat in Row P of Section 1 on the far right hand aisle as you face the stage. In the past this would not have been a real good floor seat because it is as far away from the central catwalk as possible. But since Keith is now coming down and traveling around the perimeter of the arena being on the aisle is good! Jerry walked down my aisle before the show even started and I was so surprised I didn’t say anything – by the time I had my wits about me he was chatting with others.

Some of the Canadian fans I had met coming in were sitting just a few seats away. Very nice but a bad influence : ).They had both scored a couple of the large Verizon posters of Keith that decorate the arena hallways. That tempting idea got stuck in my head so I returned to the empty hallway I had walked through to get to the Verizon green screen and nabbed a poster for myself, rolling it up and putting it under my chair for safe keeping (shame on me!).

I found out that, at least at the Mohegan, maybe at other venues, only those with tickets in the front-most rows were allowed to go up and stand near the stage and ramps. They issued wristbands to those seat holders so that they could identify them. At the Mohegan that included the rows through H but that will probably vary with venue. Section 1 and 3’s rows began with F because of the ramps; section had more short rows next to the catwalk.

Little Big Town as an opening act was just terrific – I really enjoy their music.

I had a much better view of the opening Hit the Ground Running from the floor tonight. But I still think anyone who wants to see Keith rise out of the floor will have to pay close attention, because it only last a second or two and there is much to distract you as the curtains open. You couldn’t miss him in last tour’s opening but you could miss this “special effect” this year.

Before the applause for HTGR even dies down you hear the opening notes of Days Go By. Something new this year – instead of the fan video segments it looks like they are going to go out and shoot a few local scene, because this week we saw images of the Mohegan area during that song. Keith grinned at our hands-out-the-window-in the-wind motions and in the last verse kind of spoke those words rather than singing them. There was a bit of new guitar interlude before the DGB finale.

A new Stupid Boy highlight this tour: At the end of the guitar solo Keith literally falls to his knees and then flat on his back as the song ends! That song generated the first goosebumps of the evening.

“Hey, hey “ says Keith – “You guys are in a good mood tonight! It is amazing to be back here- thanks so much for coming.” He apologized for Sugarland not being there and thanked his good friends Little Big Town for coming to the rescue. Keith said that they were going to change their name to “Little Massive Town”. : )

During Blacktop Keith was constantly in motion, going from the elevated platform facing the left risers to the platform facing the right risers, then going most of the way down the left ramp and then finishing the song down the right ramp with a final shout out of “You know what I’m talking about!”

I knew from the previous evening that Better Half had been the first song where he left the stage to go to the back of the arena. If he followed the same path tonight he would pass right by my aisle seat!! And he did!! As he passed up close and personal, while playing a great continuous melody the whole time (not regularly part of BH), I gave his left bicep a rub right around the “Nicole” tattoo. He was already slick with sweat so I was left with some essence of Keith. (It was a hot night and Keith was soon dripping with sweat and stayed that way the rest of the night, plastering that little shirt even more closely to his body if that is possible!). He went down the length of the arena, his path getting ever more crowded as people realized he was on the move. In fact there was a rush of fans coming down the steps from the stands which security had to try to abate.

When he finally reached the satellite stage he followed the last line of Better Half with a big “Hell yeah! Now who has the good seats!” He looked around at a few signs and picked one held up by a mom. “Come up her baby – let’s see your sign.” It said something like “My son Evan needs your pick to start a band.” So he chatted with the trembling woman about her son (who wasn’t there), gave her the pick and took a photo with her, gave her a couple hugs and wished Evan and his band good luck.

After another wonderful solo Once In A Lifetime Keith asked how many of us had been there Thursday night and got a good number of screams in response. In preparation for Making Memories Of Us Keith asked if there were any lovers in the audience, then asked if there was anyone looking for love in the audience. He dedicated the song to anyone who was “feeling it, wanting it, gotten it, digging it.” After MMOU Chris M played a little drumbeat as Keith worked his way up the opposite side of the arena back to the stage. As he got close Keith began some “Hey-oh-way-ohs” to lead into Standing Right In Front of You.

Another bit of change tonight- when it was time for You Look Good In My Shirt Keith heads in the opposite direction than what was usual last tour or last night! He heads towards my side!! Yes!! Here he is again – inches away – smiling and playing that guitar. This time I rub his sweaty back as he passes and grin right back at him. He also breaks his previous pattern by skipping the first set of stairs and going up into the stands towards the middle of the arena. It also appeared that he actually went into a row several seats rather than staying by the stairs!

Okay, I’ve rubbed a bicep and a back and there is a good chance he will return to stage passing me once again. What should I do?? He does come straight past me again and I can’t resist. He has sashayed this way 3 times tonight! So as he passes I give him a couple gentle pats on the bottom (a second “shame on me” for the evening ; ). Keith surprised us yet again by then going up a second set of stair to another area of the risers before the song ended!! So many happy fans tonight!!

Ocean shots and amusement park scenes showed on the side screens over the risers during Til Summer Comes Around. It seemed that the wonderful guitar work during that song was a little different tonight and oh so wonderful. Expressive and impressive. I saw many men holding up their beers in sort of a salute to his exceptional playing, This was the second goosebump song of the night.

Keith introduced Brad Rice during the intro to Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me (forgot to mention that last night) and Brad did another one of his crazy vocals – Who Do You Love – last night.

Keith once again said it was so great to be back on the road playing live music. During Sweet Thing he scatted a bit and threw in some baby, baby, baby, baby, baby’s and some extra “mommas”.

Keith precedes Raining On Sunday by saying “There is a lot of love in this room tonight!” and when we came in on cue when he wanted us to sing he gave one of his “Yeah, I’m in the right place tonight’s”

A special treat after Kiss a Girl! Keith says “its Friday so we’ll mix it up a little - we’re gonna change it up because there is a special guy here who is the real deal.” And out comes Jamie Johnson to sing his wonderful You Should Have Seen It in Color with Keith singing harmony. This definitely was a third goosebump song of the evening!

Several times during the show Keith called out things like “Are you still with us Uncasville?” And we were! To the very end. Keith concluded we were a real “bad-a$$ audience!” :) A very nice touch during If Ever I Could Love that I forgot to mention in Thursday's review - during that lovely last waterfall of a chorus, couplets of the lyrics in red script sweep across the video screens:

I was scared to love again
Till the day that came
When she walked out of my life
I got hurt so bad
I swear i'd never let another inside this heart of mine
But you touch my hand and every plan that I had
Disappeared like a fallen star
There's a new beginning and i'm moving to the rhythm
Of a beating braver heart
A braver heart!

After the same encore songs as last evening there was a slightly more extended goodbye with Keith going to each side of the arena to wave and bow and indicate thanks. Keith also teased us all by saying they would be jammin' in his room after the show and we were all invited. "I'm on the (static sound) floor in room (static sound)." :) Quite a few picks and drumsticks were thrown out and the entire band looked happy and content with the top-notch show that they had put on.

(By the way, both nights the Verizon folks were at the exits passing out 12 x 24 inch posters of Keith (very nice Verizon!) like they did at the No Frills concerts. Be sure to watch for them because many fans missed them in the surge of exiting audience and had to return to the arena to try to get their special parting gift.)

Keith Urban Tour Opener Details!!

>The excitement of a new tour!! A new stage, new lighting, new video screen backdrop, new set list and all the surprises of a new production. But beyond all the fancy effects and technoglitz it is the music that truly reaches us. To paraphrase a wise friend “Keith could be playing sitting on a cardboard box and I would love it!” I think all but the most casual, uninvolved of Keith’s followers would agree. So when I think of my most favorite and thrilling moments of the opening show of the Escape Together Tour, most are special musical moments that did not depend much on the stage fixings. A very special completely solo acoustic performance of Once in a Lifetime, the totally rocking Hit the Ground Running, the moving acoustic guitar rendition of Tonight I Wanna Cry, the standout arrangements of the new songs Standing Right in Front of You and If Ever I Could Love, and of course those sometimes blistering, sometimes heart-rending guitar solos. I’d be hard pressed to tell you much about the fancy effects at those moments when the music and the musicianship totally sucked you into that Urban experience. But I am getting ahead of myself. For those who don’t want wait until their own concert experience to be surprised by the new details let me start at the beginning of the show.

Wow, starting a new tour must be another example of “it’s scary business, your heart and soul are on the line”! Especially when your very popular opening act has to cancel at the last minute. What panic that must have caused. I was sorry Jennifer of Sugarland was still having health problems, but of course I was at the Mohegan for our main man! But some folks had obviously bought tickets just because they wanted to see Sugarland, so there were some who returned their tickets for a refund (silly people!!) leaving a few empty seats in the arena. Jason Aldean did a good job as a last minute replacement. I was only familiar with a few of his singles and was a bit distracted (more about this next time) so I won’t say more about his performance.

The stage did look larger than usual to me and what had looked like stage ”arms” on the right and left in the Ticketmaster seating charts turned out to be ramps leading down to the floor! Interesting!! The lighting guys still made their scary climb up to their lighting chairs in the rafters. No fences anywhere so during the break quite a crowd gathered around the catwalk, the ramps and the front of the stage. There were security guards to keep anyone from climbing up (I guess) but otherwise they seemed inactive. The Mohegan Sun Arena is a nice small arena so the little (15 ft?) center catwalk extended 20-25% into the floor area. Last night there was also a small remote stage set up at the very back of the arena beyond the fenced in “Mix” area.

No DJ handling the before show and break music as far as I could tell, and that music seemed a bit disjointed to me last evening. It included, among other things, some bit of Kiss A Girl, which was then shut off, only to return a little later with the showing of the “green screen” KAG video on the right and left screens above the stands on either side of stage. Verizon also had their text messages appearing on those screens before the show like last tour. I had a good seat right on the aisle in the lower risers right next to the stage so had a great side view (but never a full head on view to appreciate some of the show effects).

The music grew louder so we knew showtime must be approaching. “Take Back the City” was the final song before the curtains opened. We’ll have to see if that continues to be the case.

“The curtains?” you ask! Yes- huge black curtains were pulled around the entire stage during the break (I’ve seen other artists hide the set up this way before to build suspense). So the opening of Keith’s show was marked by some impressive heavy Celtic like percussion/fiddle/vocal (and maybe even a little bagpipe??) lead-in, and a drawing back of the curtains to reveal the stage. Unfortunately my side stage position meant I couldn’t see until the very last part of the side curtains pulled back, so I don’t know what I missed on the opening video screens. But the Celtic lead-in turned into a really terrific Hit the Ground Running that immediately got everyone on their feet. The guys were rocking and then here comes Keith rising out of the FLOOR of the stage (not an elevated ramp like last time). A perfect opening song but one that I didn’t predict!! A sizzling guitar solo set the stage for the rest of the night.

Keith was in one of his very short-sleeved black and white plaid shirts, several of the pearl buttons undone. The back of his hair is now very short (L) so he only has the long bangs in front to flip when performing.

The five new video screens are interesting because they can either project a single image across all of them or five separate images. So sometimes each of the guys had their own screen while they played. They also continued to use the 2 regular video screens above the stands on either side of the stage throughout the evening.

Then Keith went to the familiar for those who didn’t know the new album: Days Go By! No one was going to sit down that’s for sure. But then something that we didn’t really notice (until I played a videoclip) – Keith had a little break in his voice, a hoarseness. And, as he told us later, that made him experience a total freak-out panic (“Am I losing my voice on the second song???!!” ) I think that really scared him and threw him a little off kilter for the rest of the night (he mentioned it more than once later in the evening). Can you imagine what he must have been feeling?? So he wasn’t in full voice at all times (too many practices!!!) but seemed to recover as the night went on. Early in the evening he needed us on some of the high notes and we obliged! Then Stupid Boy (Sidebar: Wow! Brian, with his longer hair was a real cutie last night and really mugged to the crowd all evening long. Since he was right in front of me much of the time I really enjoyed it!. Jerry, too, was quite the ham and a real entertainer. I didn’t get to see much of Chris and Brad up close from my position).)

Keith then took time to say hello to Uncasville, to express regret that Sugarland couldn’t be there, to thank Jason Aldean for doing such a great job and being such a professional and filling in at the last minute. He did his “Are you feeling good tonight?” questions to each part of the arena. Then Where the Blacktop Ends with one of those fastest-fingers-in-the-world guitar interludes. I thought he might leave the stage during Blacktop (like the old days) but he surprised us and instead headed down the ramp after the second verse of Better Half!! He played a really nice “BH bridge” of sorts as he made his way to the very back of the arena, thrilling the delighted and screaming audience, and climbed up on the remote stage to finish the final line of Better Half and give a big “Yee-Haw” to the back of the arena crowd. “Oh yeah - I couldn’t stay away from you guys any longer!” he told them. He began, absolutely solo, the Once in a Lifetime guitar beat but as he plucked he said “ I just gotta say I am nervous as hell tonight - its that first night back out on tour. I swear I almost my voice back in the first two songs and I am freaking out with you guys tonight. But I’m back on the track now so we’re good.” (poor baby!) The solo acoustic OIAL on the remote stage was wonderful!!! Then he read the sign of a couple saying “Making Memories For Us – Our 25^th Anniversary” He invited them up on the tiny stage and congratulated them and dedicated the next song, Making Memories of Us, to them.

The rest of the band, who had been absent during OIAL, returned to stage to accompany Keith on this song. Chris, Brad and Jerry all sat on stools with their guitars and Brian played the keyboards, set for kind of an organ-like sound during MMOU.

The walk back to the main stage was done on the opposite side of the arena (more thrilled fans) with no musical accompaniment. Keith lead a couple rounds of “Hey-oh-way-oh’s” and that lead into a really great Standing Right in Front of You (love the arrangement!!). That is one of my favorites from the new album and Keith had an impressive number of us singing along during the choruses. Keith now had on a black glittery guitar strap that caught the lights the rest of the evening.

Then the arena goes dark and we hear the sound of someone flipping through four or five radio channels with the typical songs of summer. When the lights come back up to the strains of Til Summer Comes Around we see that the five video screens have moved to a horizontal position forming a lowered colorful “roof” over the band. Vapors billowing onto the stage and down the ramps give it the appearance of blowing eddies of snow during a winter storm. What an amazing song - I felt it in my heart and gut and throat!

Sweet Thing followed, then Who Wouldn’t Want to Be Me, and some really fun introductions of the guys. They showed wonderful pictures of each of them growing up during the individual introductions. Each of them sounded fantastic as they sang their little solos – I especially liked Chris’s Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and Jerry’s with Ain’t No Sunshine ( I couldn’t put a name to what Brian sang but he too has quite a voice!).

If Ever I Could Love was next and Keith’s voice was sweet as could be. This is another song I love on the album and love even more live! A Raining on Sunday to please everyone – beginning acoustically on the catwalk with lots of audience participation, and then returning to the stage for an electric guitar solo ending. Then right into Kiss A Girl with some of the music video animation in the background and a very rousing I Told You So, also with loud audience participation. Then a nicely done compilation of some of the fan-submitted You’ll Think of Me videos, with each providing about a line of the song, before Keith sang his passionate rendition.

An introduction of Chris M and his little drum solo lead into some really hot picking by Keith out on the catwalk – kind of 50’s/60’s style – reminded me a little of “Wipeout” – then going into You Look Good in My Shirt. And he headed out into the audience again – this time into the risers like last tour. I don’t think he gave a guitar away but I’m not absolutely sure – I kept losing sight of him in the crowd! Somebody Like You was great as usual with a few more “Hey-oh-way-oh’s” thrown in before the hops and turns of the joyous ending. This was the ‘before encore” closing. The audience screamed and clapped and stomped loudly on the risers. Our cheers finally brought Keith out again front and center for a totally amazing Tonight I Wanna Cry on a wonderful sounding steel string guitar. So beautiful!!

Keith paused to thank the audience “Uncasville – an amazing night tonight! I want to thank you so much – every single one of you! I was freaking out when we came out tonight and somewhere during the show you guys turned on so much love and appreciation for us – it was unbelievable!” He also thanked their amazing roadcrew, all those who traveled a long distance, and the whole audience for choosing to come when he knew it was hard times for so many saying “its especially meaningful to us when you choose to come see us.” And then “You want one more?? How about a little Better Life for you??” Better Life, with its confetti cannons and Keith-led “Yeah, yeah, yeahs” and one final guitar ending, finished off the evening. No extended goodbyes or handslaps from the little catwalk – perhaps they were time-limited by the Mohegan. But interestingly actual credits ran on the video screens to the melody of “Thank You”.About two hours and eight minutes start to end! I let feeling happily drained – I can’t imagine how Keith felt after the stresses of the opening show!

(I'll add video a bit later)

The "Keith Urban Backstage BBQ Experience"

>I went straight to the Mohegan Sun when I arrived in town Thursday afternoon, hoping to pick up the Backstage BBQ pass that those wonderful iLike/Facebook folks had awarded me. It was not yet at the arena box office however and they told me to come back after 5:00. The ticket windows were busy even early in the afternoon and I expected it to be even worse closer to showtime so I came back at 5:00 promptly. Yay – the pass was there with instructions on where to line up and a warning that we must be there at 6:15 or risk not getting into the BBE.

I, and several others were in line quite early but we needn’t have rushed. It seemed that the very first Backstage BBQ Experience was also having “first night” problems and was running significantly behind schedule. Keith’s staff told us we could walk around at little if we wanted (and some did) but I stayed in line until we finally got in. Meanwhile I chatted with the staff members responsible for taking photos and keeping the BBEs running smoothly. They had caught sight of the little number 42 that I had stuck on my blouse in hopes that Keith might ask what the 42 was for (last night was my 42^nd show) and started asking about KU roadtrips. They took quite a few photos of me and had me sign a release so who knows where my funny face may show up.

I also chatted a little with Ashley (from Monkeyville) and her mom but I’ll leave it to her to tell her exciting story. Before we went “backstage” they divided us up into groups (Monkeyville, iLike, Verizon, Kingsford, etc.). I think they were keeping a count of some sort and also some (like the Kingsford sponsors) were treated to more individualized photos with Keith like the Verizon folks last tour.

I’m sure most venues won’t be able to offer the kind of facilities Keith had for the Mohegan BBE. It was held in their small cabaret club (I saw Lily Tomlin perform there one year), a room set up like a small night club! There were 5 huge (5 x 8 foot) blow up photos of Keith and the guys in a barbeque setting (like the photo on the Kingsford contest page, but several different ones). The had another large 5X8 poster that only said Keith Urban Backstage BBQ Experience 2009 and they provided sharpies so we could sign the poster if we wanted. Once inside we still waited in line for quite a while before “Elvis” entered the building : ). Late Keith sauntered in, apologizing for his tardiness. He had a long sleeved blue plaid shirt on and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him.

Most of us they photographed in groups of 10 as usual. Even though they were running late Keith shook hands and said hello to each person in the photo, asking our names. He exchanged a few words with some but you could tell they felt time-pressured so he declined a few requests for autographs and it didn’t seem that there was time to ask for a hug even though that had been one of the most frequent topics of conversation when we were out in line. Keith initially thought I said my name was Brenda instead of Linda. I corrected him and pointed out the 42 since things were moving too quickly for him to notice it himself. When I explained what it meant he looked surprised and said “Thank you so much for coming.” and I said his shows were addicting. So I got a little conversation but I was giddy and emboldened and not willing for it to end. So as he stopped shaking my hand to move on to the next person, I touched his arm one more time and asked (though I can hardly believe it now! (lmao)) “Can I smell your neck?” And I did! I leaned in and took one big sniff of his (yes) heavenly smelling neck, close enough that his scruff rubbed my right cheek!! (bristlier than I expected!).(Maybe I’ll have a little scruff burn as a result?) He looked at me with one of his bemused expressions and asked “Are we good now?” Yes, we were very good now!! I was floating on a Keith cloud so hardly minded that I didn’t get to stand right next to him in the photo. But I was just one person away so I took that as the perfect opportunity to run my hand up the forearm he had around the gal beside me and rest it on his back during the shot! : ) Mmm Keithiness.

But every time I replay that scene in my mind I have to laugh out loud now. What is it about this man that makes me act like a silly teenager?? I’m sorry Keith for using you for my own enjoyment! : ) Well, not too sorry!

I know Keith has to kowtow to the corporate sponsors, but it really is such a shame that there are so many loyal loving fans who would SO appreciate being there while many of the sponsor crowd don’t much care. Last night some got the ‘obligatory’ photo but seemed more interested in the free meal. After the photo they headed straight to the food ( barbequed burger and chicken sliders, veggies and dip and a grilled bread salad) and then sat at the back of the room eating while the smaller number of true fans (maybe a dozen of us) ignored the food and rushed to get the stools right in front of Keith’s microphone.

Keith’s microphone was set on a dark red paisley rug on the small stage with tall metal light towers on either side. On each side there was also a big television set on big black Kingsford/Masterpiece BBQ trunks. Way to either side were blow-ups of some of Keith’s Defying Gravity/Escape Together promotional photos. They showed a really funny video about the band on tour. During it each of the band members was shown doing their “second job” on the tour – Brad Rice was washing dishes, Jerry was sweeping the concert floor after a show and folding up the chairs, Chris M. was cooking scrambled eggs backstage – really cute. The video also included some of the funny tour preparation clips that have been posted on KUTube.

He joked about putting on the whole show in the Cabaret room and asked what we wanted to hear. I called out Grace of God and someone else asked for Days Go By. He did an absolutely terrific DGB in perfect voice, He took a few questions – mine was “How do you select which of your many guitars to use on a particular song?” I thought he might talk about their sounds but he responded “whatever feels right”! An Aussie asked how he got into American Country and Keith talked about his Dad’s records. Someone asked who he most liked touring with – he said he liked all those he had been with but singled out Kenny because they are like brothers and Brooks and Dunn because they were so good to The Ranch. Finally someone asked what he played on his guitar just for fun. He didn’t really say but said not his own music because he plays that so much.

Then he said he hoped we’d enjoy the show and slipped away. Some of us grabbed a bite to eat and as we left we were given a Keith Urban/Kingsford BBQ apron as a memento.

(PS I asked if I could have an extra BBE sticker for the next night (joking) but the staff guy told me every night of the tour has a different color BBE sticker)

Off to the Opening of Keith Urban's New Tour!

Well, I am off to Connecticut at the crack of dawn to attend the opening show of Keith's Escape Together Tour at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville. This is my third trip to this venue. I fly into Hartford this year rather than Providence so will see some new sights on the way. I'll be meeting up with quite a few other fans - I'm sure we will be a real lively presence at the Mohegan. This will be show # 42 for me - my U.S. map of my tour stops is getting to be quite a sight! Hmm, "42". I guess for me, for now, "the answer is 42" - just like the Hitchhiker.

Life is Good!!

Only 5 more days to the opening show of Keith Urban's Escape Together Tour at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville!! A LOT of fans (including me) have been counting the days until the new tour ever since the amazing closing show of the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Tour in Lexington, Kentucky in April, 2008. We are so excited to hear the new music live and experience the surprises of the new stage set-up. Reports from the lucky few who have gotten into the Nashville rehearsals have indicated that the new show is amazing.

And, as if the excitement of a new tour were not enough, I just received an email saying that I won a Backstage BBQ Experience with Keith during the tour!! What a wonderful surprise !!
Anxiously awaiting details from the iLike people.