By the Time I Got to Phoenix (it was sweltering..):Keith Urban at the Jobing Arena

I arrived in Phoenix on a hot and sunny afternoon. As Keith quipped late last night “It was 112 today but it felt like 107. That;s what I love above Phoenix!” : ) His venue here last tour was the US Airways Center right in the heart of downtown, but this year the show was at the Jobing Arena, way way out in suburbia so it was quite a shuttle ride to get there. After dropping off my suitcase I headed over to the KNIX pre-party just outside the arena, I submitted my name to their drawings (for 2 pair of BSEs, second and first row seats) and waited in the heat until all the prizes had been awarded (no luck today). Sarah Buxton, who had been scheduled to play at the preparty before she got the opening gig, to her credit, did not cancel out on KNIX and she did 3 songs on their small stage including Stupid Boy. I was hoping to get a call from someone who had emailed about my extra ticket before I went through the arena gates, but finally retreated to the air-conditioned interior. Whew!!

Although the Jobing arena was not noticably larger than the usual venue they had the floor set up slightly differently tonight. The sound mix area was smack-dab in the middle of the floor area, with the small stage just slightly beyond the middle. There was what looked to be a large fenced in general admission area beyond the small stage but it didn’t extend all the way to the risers at the end.  That left an almost as large unfenced empty floor region beyond what I thought was GA. I say “thought” because unlike the other shows with GA, no one was present in that fenced in area early in the evening (no one or few there for Sara). It filled up during the break (like the front stage and catwalk areas) so maybe it was just folks who had seats who moved into that area for Keith’s performance rather than true GA.

The arena was almost full when Sarah Buxton came on. I thought (and it appeared the crowd thought) she was terrific in her first big show. She was as full of energy as Keith - constantly moving and dancing, very interactive with the audience and talking a lot during her set.  She made it clear how thrilled she was to be there, with at least a half dozen comments like “ This is probably the best day of my life!” or “ Don’t want to be mean but I’m sure glad Sugarland canceled this gig.” She was dressed in a short sundress (with shorts underneath I believe), a floppy sunhat, and bare feet from the very start. She twice went down each of the ramps, greeting and shaking hands with fans in the front section while she sang. During her first trip down a ramp she seemingly spontaneously found a male dance partner and they kind of jitterbugged for a few moments. They did so well together that I then thought maybe this had been planned (she did say her family was in the audience) but it was still very fun. I enjoyed all of her songs and she is pretty darned good on the harmonica. She did not, in deference to Keith I’m sure, sing Stupid Boy in the Jobing. She did a great job of warming up the audience; much as I like Sugarland I did not miss them last night because of Sara. She closed by reving us up once more “ Are you all ready to see my very favorite country artist, the amazing Keith Urban??” Yes we were, but congratulations Sarah on a great show!

Of course for multiple reasons I don’t think the audience needed “warming up”!! They seemed to be wired from the start. During the break, for the first time in all my concerts,  this crowd spontaneously and successfully did a huge wave (involving all levels of seating) that went around the arena about six times!!! It was quite amazing and only ended when Keith’s opening music began. During the pre-encore blackout there was a huge number of cell phone lights waving and flickering - nearly as many as when, in the “cell phone wave” days Keith would ask everyone to take our their phone (but nobody needed to ask this time!). What an audience!

The first couple songs I was watching Keith for any signs that he was still having pinched nerve problems. He did a great job but (to my practiced eye) I thought he was just a little more tentative, or reserved in his moves during Hit the Ground and Days Go By. Most would never notice it but I thought he was limiting his shoulder roll type and head movements. And maybe he was sort of “testing the waters” for what he could handle. When he did chat with the audience after Stupid Boy, he began with his usual “We made it back! Its been two years but we made it back!”  He then said he had “to stop and give special thanks to someone right here in town.” Apparently someone in the pit piped up at that point because he then said “No, not you baby.” “But thank you anyway.” hee hee He went on to tell the story of how he had been playing in Sacramento and  about halfway through “My neck just went insane and suddenly seized up” (his words) He said that after that it was one of the most difficult shows he had ever done (poor baby!). They flew down to Phoenix after the show and someone put them in touch with chiropractor Dan Morgan. Keith said Dan “snapped me around a bit” and that, after working on him for a while, Morgan had said “Son, your head was not on straight.” And Keith replied “My dad has been telling me that for years!” (I love when he tells stories!!) He thanked Dan again and praised him saying he was so damned good and wished him a happy birthday in 2 days. Anyway it seemed that Keith was feeling good and once he got his confidence that there wasn’t going to be a recurrence Keith was in fine form all night, as active as usual, doing his back bends and having a great time. I’m so glad he was feeling better!

We were treated to one of those crazy “bird calls”  in Blacktop (see clip) and Brad and Brian thrilled some of the ramp crowd by taking a running leap and sliding all the way down the left hand ramp into the crowd. Keith added some really high whoo-hooing to Better Half - he definitely has his range back. He also had some new improvisation to the extended Better Half melody he plays as he travels to the small stage. Interestingly, even though the stage was much closer to the middle of the arena in Phoenix, Keith still went all the way to the arena end to access it.

They seemed to have a few more sound problems (especially on the small stage) so that three or four times during the Keith would have to ask for particular adjustments before he  played a song. OIAL was a big hit triggering lots of singing. Keith again ended it by twice repeating that Stevie Nicks “wild winged dove” line he used in L.A. (see clip), but did not follow those with the “on the edge of seventeen” line as he had before. Instead he said “Here we go now” and went into his fancy guitar “breakdown” as he calls it. Making Memories was dedicated to “everyone here who is in love tonight.” (Does he realize how many of us are in love with him at those shows?)

Keith seemed particularly tickled by the singing last night and kept throwing out encouragements like “Hell yes!” and “Right on!” (that was a new one for me). He closed Only You Can Love Me by shouting out “How about it Phoenix? Do you know what I mean?” He also seemed particularly pleased with his bandmates, giving each an especially affectionate grin and squeeze after their introductions. And he followed Brian’s solo with the compliment “Pretty damned good!” I had to laugh that with each he talked about their vo -CALs, putting a strange emphasis on the second syllable for some reason.

Phoenix was graced with a return of the song improvisation (see clip) when Keith came out on the catwalk for Raining on Sunday. I believe it went like this:

Hey Phoenix are you feeling alright tonight?

Are you feeling alright tonight?

Tell me one more thing --

Are you feeling as good as you look?

Do you feel as good as you look?

I don’t even know what that means

Kinda just making up this song as I go along

They said today was 112 and it only felt like 107!

That’s what I love about Phoenix!

No skimping on emotion and passion tonight - there was enough power to the music for goosebumps and chills galore. In Til Summer Comes Around there were three longing, heartbroken “I miss your love!”’s preceding that wondrous guitar solo. And in You’ll Think of Me Keith once again ended with those lines he used in L.A.: “I hope when you see my face it gives you hell! It gives you hell!!”

But light-hearted, silly Keith was there too - with his ululalic cries and hamming it up in I Told You So to his “Chorus leader”antics as he had each part of the audience sing You look Good in My Shirt  (see clip) while he was up in the stands. “ I can’t hear you-u-u” he taunts one group, “Helloooo” (sort of a “anybody there?” hello) for the end of arena singers.

Keith’s thank yous to the audience for making it to the show seem more heart felt each time. Tonight his assessment of the evening was that “it was the most magical, the awesomest night ever!” (awesomest! : ) )

I overheard a couple near me talking about Keith’s “incredible showmanship”. He had us with him to the very end when, during the band bow, he blew a couple kisses (see clip) and pointed to someone in the audience (?) (me perhaps?). He slapped or ran his hands across hundreds of hands at the edge of the stage, indicated a final thank you and then disappeared off the stage. Tonight the “Believe” collage continued over the credits at concert end. I do believe one can never get enough of the man and his music!

Videos to come....

A few longer clips I put on Youtube:

Hit the Ground Running

Stupid Boy

Once In A Lifetime Love

You Look Good in My Shirt