Keith Urban in Milwaukee - Mighty Fine!!

(I won’t dampen my Keith high recounting my stressful ticket problems today, but suffice it to say I was very happy and relieved to make it to tonight’s show thanks to the sweet fan who came to my rescue.)

The drive from Iowa to Madison and then Milwaukee on a sunny day like today is quite lovely most of the way. I listened to Counting Crows music for part of the ride, something I haven’t done in a while, to get ready for Keith’s “special guests”. It was in the high eighties during my drive, so I was expecting it to be pretty hot in the ‘open-air’ Marcus Amphitheater and was happy I grabbed my “I (heart) Keith” hand fan that I scored at one of last summer’s Kenny & Keith concerts. But the evening turned out to be surprising comfortable rather than hot and humid (at least until Keith started making us sweat).

My hotel turned out to be across the street from a pub offering a free shuttle to the Summerfest grounds. By the time I worked out my ticket problems it was almost show time so I didn’t get to explore the huge fair. Happily the seat I ended up with, although off to one side, was just 13 rows from the stage on a nicely sloped floor so I had a pretty good view over the heads in front of me. The first thing that I noticed was that there was no catwalk (despite the Ticketmaster seating chart) and no ramps and what looked to be the normal amphitheater stage rather than Keith’s special large stage. But the video walls were in place, so that was a big plus. This venue was distinct from the regular tour stops in other ways – no sign of Verizon or Kingsford/Masterpiece inside or outside the arena. (

I’m afraid the amphitheater was still rather empty when the Counting Crows came on at 7:30. Although it filled up by the end of their set, the audience was definitely a Keith crowd, not a Crow crowd, so the Crows unfortunately got a rather weak response even to their biggest hits like Mr. Jones and Rain King. Adam looked really good, fit and energetic, jumping around like crazy (even higher than Keith jumps) but he never really “had” the audience. I enjoyed how they blended Rain King in with the Beatles’ A Little Help From My Friends and went back and forth between the two a bit. The Crows had a small piano with them to play A Long December and I wondered whether Keith might possibly borrow it for a song, but no such luck.

No big curtains or clouds of vapor tonight but Keith and the boys definitely rocked the house with the opening Hit the Ground. Keith wore the red plaid shirt with the metallic thread through it, so between it, his sparkly guitar strap, and the light shining in those baby blues he was all a-glitter tonight. Fine!

A few changes in the set list tonight – Days Go By was followed by Stupid Boy, then Blacktop and Better Half. Despite the lack of ramps our brave man did head off the stage at the end of Better Half – which especially amazed the crowd (there were fewer “regular” Keith fans there familiar with his tricks than usual)- to a tiny stage set up behind section 2. I’m not sure if the audience was stunned or more polite, but they seemed to allow Keith to play his guitar as he moved through the arena without much interference (except lots of screams of course!). His line about “Whose got the good seats now?” drew a huge response since in the Marcus the rear section is very wide and extends out onto the lawn, so included perhaps 2/3 of the audience. His 3 songs there included Only You Can Love Me This Way, which Keith mentioned as from Defying Gravity, but he did not mention that it was about to be released as a single.

I have been wondering about the filming of the music video for that song in Des Moines because the sound of the solo acoustic performance is quite different from the track that they are releasing for the single. But last night it seemed he performed it more like the album track, even with some of the background music, rather than just the solo acoustic guitar. Maybe that was a practice run for tonight in Des Moines.

Once back on the main stage Keith did Brad’s introduction and then Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me. Apropos to this evening during the final verse he incorporated “She was singing a Counting Crows song to me – Mr. Jones!” He then chatted up the crowd a bit, asking each part of the audience how they were doing. Because of the type of venue he was in he was able to ask “How are all of you on the grass? Followed by And how are you who are sitting on the grass? (laughs and groans at his joke). He reminisced about player Summerfest in years past (on the smaller Briggs and Stratton or Harley stages) and was pleased they finally made it into the Amphitheater.

An interesting feature: there was a young woman just off my end of the stage who presented all the lyrics in American sign during both the Counting Crows’ and Keith’s songs. It was interesting to watch her since she did it with rhythm and expression (kind of rockin’ in American sign). During the Counting Crows security people stood about every 6 feet along the front of the stage, keeping things clear, so she was easy to watch. But Keith had obviously told security to get lost for his performance. During the break between the Crows and Keith security left the front edge of the stage and fans moved up to fill the space between the stage and the front rows as has been happening at many other venues. I was happy to see that several fans in wheelchairs were up at stage edge. But with the growing crowd stageside during Keith’s set it got harder and harder to see the poor gal signing the lyrics. Towards the end of his set, during I Told You So, Keith noticed the problem. He went over, in the middle of the song, and with those amazing muscles, lifted the woman up on the stage with him and sang and played right next to her as she blushingly continued to sign I Told You So in time with his singing. Very sweet. Not only that but at the end of the show Keith vigorously signed a special message back to her – looked like perhaps a special thank you (I don’t know sign I’m afraid) – another sweet moment. I wonder if he and Nic are going to be signing to Sunday before she begins to talk.

I noticed that the music during the break included more Michael Jackson tunes than usual. And when it came time for more band introductions Chris, Brian and Jerry each sang bits of Michael Jackson songs for their solos tonight. Chris did Rock With You (a bit too old for much of the audience), Brian did The Way You Make Me Feel (and the whole arena joined in!!) and Jerry did Man in the Mirror. When they finished Keith shouted “This one is for you Michael” and lifted his arm in tribute. Very nice.

The guitar solos were stellar, of course – Stupid Boy, Til Summer Comes Around, the fancy guitar play before You Look Good in My Shirt – they all blew the audience away. I heard lots of compliments during the show and on the bar bus ride back to the hotel. The stunning ‘cracked mirror’ guitar made an appearance but the guitar whose face is covered with light emitting diodes stole the show as Keith switched the hue of the lights through every color of the rainbow as he played. When it came time for Chris McHugh’s introduction, Keith leapt up atop once of the amplifier cases (so he was up as high as Chris and his drums) to do the intro ! Keith did not leave the stage during YLGIMS but did lead us in a sing along of a couple rounds of its chorus, requesting that we sing louder each time (we did good!) and closing it with a little special guitar flourish. There were quite a few other ‘echoing’ sing-alongs during the evening, with amazing audience participation.

Of course by show end Keith was sweating bullets despite the comfortable evening temperature. He made us laugh by taking a big gulp from his water bottle, then letting it go, face pointing upwards, in a giant spray (perhaps that cooled him off?). He concluded with the usual thank yous to those sitting up high, out on the lawn, to those who traveled a long way, to the hard-working road crew, and to everyone for choosing this show and jumping through whatever hoops they needed to in order to attend in these tough times. Keith and the guys got a huge round of applause, whistles and screams and Keith thanked us with his usual modesty, saying “You guys are the best!!”. Better Life was the only encore song tonight but then they did quite a bit of hand-slapping and pick- throwing so it took a while for their final Band of 5 bow and last waves as they left the stage. A mighty fine night in Milwaukee!! (photos & video to come...)