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!