Sing along with me:
“Colorado Rocky Mountain high! I saw him ‘neath that Colorado sky
Shredding that guitar like wildfire, with a smile that’ll make you sigh
Rocky Mountain high - in Colorado
Rocky Mountain high - in Colorado”
I needn’t have worried that Keith’s voice wouldn’t hold up for his Grand Junction concert. Although there was an occasional bit of hoarseness, a crack or two when he pressed his voice, he was in fine form - in terrific form - last night and actually chose to sing extra songs, so must not have been suffering.
But let me back up a bit. The drive from Denver to Grand Junction is stunning - even on an interstate highway (Interstate 70). I would recommend the trip to anyone - I just wish I wasn’t always the driver because I wanted to gawk at the beautiful mountains (some snow capped) and the rushing rivers with the occasional river rafters in their big blue rafts. It was so pretty that I didn’t even mind driving that 240 mile route 4 times in 5 days!
Although Grand Junction was the closest city, the Country Jam Music Festival was actually 20 miles west of Grand Junction, close to the town of Mack, on a desert-y plain rimmed by mountains on all sides, just 5 -10 miles from the Utah border. I enjoyed other performers at the fest (Billy Currington, Trace Adkins, Stealing Angels, Danny Gokey), but was really there to see Keith. He was scheduled to close the festival (8:30 pm Sunday night).
I loitered around the meet & greet line, hoping I might see a disgruntled spouse who didn’t really want to meet Keith (no luck) and sat in the charity auctioning they did between acts in case any meet & greet passes were sold. A pair was, in fact, auctioned off moments before the Masterpiece Backstage BBQ. But even though the auction crowd was small (most folks had headed to dinner so they’d be done before Keith's show at 8:30), the bidding was vicious and the pair of passes went to a young woman for $7000!! Yikes!! Glad it was going to a good cause. Others got to go for free (the usual combination of Monkeys, sponsor-related folks, and media-related folks). In addition Keith’s people distributed passes to about 10 of the security guards on duty (interesting!).
Tonight Keith was in a short sleeved black shirt unbuttoned to mid-chest so we had frequent peeks of the big sun tattoo. He looked great and raved about beautiful Colorado and the lovely evening, now that the blistering heat had dissipated a bit. He also reported that Nicole was there with him, with a nod to his right, but I never caught a glimpse of her. He dedicated Making Memories of You to Nic. The stage was catching the setting sun for the first several numbers (Kiss a Girl, Days Go By, Stupid Boy, I’m In, Making Memories) but dark had fallen for the latter portion of the set.
As you might expect at that kind of festival, the audience was mixed, with some of us rabid Keith fans standing, singing and dancing throughout and others never leaving their seats (although there were fewer of that latter group by the end of his set, as one after another gave in to the Keith charisma!). Here is Stupid Boy and its wonderful guitar solo.
When the time arrived for You Look Good in My Shirt Keith first wowed the crowd as he riffed on his light up guitar. Then it was clear he wanted to leave stage (so I moved out of my row to try to greet him!) but the Country Jam Stage (with a rather high concrete edge and no stairs in front) did not seem to offer an easy exit. I saw a stagehand wave Keith off to his right where I guess there are some stairs going off to the side. But those stairs took Keith behind a 12 foot high chain link fence covered with sponsor advertisements. We waited expectantly but after several moments he re-appeared back on stage - that exit point would get him off stage but with no access to the audience! Disappointed, I started to return to my seat, but Keith was absolutely determined to head out into the audience. So he braved the drop from the front of the stage and walked right by me (getting a little backrub in the process : ) and then went way out past the “reserved seating” fence to the “cheap seats” to finish YLGIMS from a perch out there. I don’t know if this was a spontaneous decision or not but he also performed I Told You So out in that position! With a gaggle of “front men” helping to open a path and a little guidance on how to get back up on stage, Keith made it back up front, with the audience newly energized by his jaunt!
You’ll Think Of Me drew the audience in again in a more emotional way. With each song the audience participation grew. Better Life had almost everyone up on their feet and responding to Keith’s echo rounds. He had us all laughing with his impersonation of what some of the more inebriated beyond-the-fence crowd were likely saying when he tossed out his usual “impossble to echo” gibberish, or when he came out with his psychedelic guitar. He also threw in a bit of his old “Swedish chef” voice counting down to a song. He was definitely in high spirits I would say! When they left the stage after Better Life the audience went crazy witth applause and cheers and very shortly began chanting in unison “We want Keith! We want Keith!”
Keith was obviously pleased with the audience reponse and, when he returned to stage he surpised both us AND the band by asking that, even though they were supposed to finish up, would we like them to stay and play a few more songs? Of course everyone yelled their approval, but Brian, Jerry and Chris did not all seem to know where they were headed - the usual SLY or something else??? So the first few chords and beats were rather discordant as each seemed to begin a different song. Keith had to stop them and say he really wanted to play some extra songs. First they did The Joker, with Keith pulling or pushing Brian and then Jerry to the microphone to each do a verse and then he added a little bit of a new guitar solo before singing the final verse.Then another bonus - Take It to the Limit!! When I realized they were going to do extra songs I was thrilled and yet distraught because I was out of camera memory!! I quickly tried to delete a couple files to try to make some room for these special songs, but was only able to catch a little bit of each. But we loved the surprise Keith!! Then finally the usual closer - a wonderful Somebody Like You.
Not sated yet, some in the audience began a new chant after the guys did their goodbyes and bows: “More Keith! More Keith!” I agreed with that sentiment but knew that all good things must come to an end and slowly left the Country Jam grounds relishing my Keith Urban-induced Colorado Rocky Mountain high.
Here is the first video I uploaded - more to come
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