Friday was the last class day of the academic year at my university. Although we still have final exams and grading next week, a weekend trip to Las Vegas to see a special Keith Urban/John Mayer concert was a great way to celebrate the end of the semester!
I had to get up at 4:45 am to make it to my 6:45 flight. Being a nervous sleeper I woke up at 4:30 before the alarm even went off (I’m sure hubby appreciated that). Turns out that was a good thing because Delta had emailed in the middle of the night with a 15 minute earlier flight time change! Wonder how many missed the flight because they don’t check email at the wee hours of the morning? The flight to Vegas was full to the gills; Sin City is still drawing the travelers!
Mandalay Bay was too pricey for me since they bump up rates whenever an event is scheduled (been there, done that last time Keith was here anyway), so I decided to stay at the Pyramid shaped Luxor next door (where the rate for Sunday night was only $50!). My room in the Pyramid looks out over the huge Sphinx that guards the main entrance. It is a bit disconcerting, however, to ride to my 12th floor in elevators that are also traveling sideways (to follow the 60 degree slant of the Pyramid) as they ascend - I felt off-balance even though I hadn’t been drinking. Luxor also earned my thanks with the complementary copy of the oversized Mlife with Keith’s photo on the cover and interview inside.
Vegas is in the 60’s this weekend, so some are complaining it is too cold to lounge by pools, but I think it is just perfect. I had a wonderful seafood lunch at Rick Moonan’s restaurant (one of the chefs I had seen many times on Top Chef Masters), then slept for a couple hours to get ready for a show that wouldn’t even begin until 10:30 pm Central time/8:30 Las Vegas time. I noticed Tiger Woods had taken over the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay for a private pre-show Tiger Jam party (but he forgot my invitation: ). I wonder if John and Keith attended?
A younger singer, Tyler Hilton, opened the show with a lot of energy and emotional expression in his acoustic set. Then we saw a short video of Tiger talking about his charitable foundation which helps prepare and send thousands of ‘underrepresented’ kids to college each year. Then Tiger actually came out on stage to thank us all for coming and supporting Tiger Jam and said that “Seven time Grammy Award winner John Mayer” would be out in just a few minutes. (I had wondered whether John might perform first this time around. At their concert at the Gorge John had seemed rather distraught when he slipped and said something about how great it was to have someone like Keith Urban “opening” for him. Although he immediately corrected his statement (since both Keith & John were headlining that show), I had a feeling John might “open” this year.)
Never looking quite the same, John tonight wore a fedora over his quite long hair all night, layered shirts and somewhat raggedy loose jeans. He played several songs that he identified as brand-new and just a few of his more familiar tunes. He does jam with abandon. His whole body gets into his rhythms and his whole face gets into his lyrics, so he is fun to watch. I was a bit disappointed though when he sang Gravity on his own. I do love him singing that song, but had hoped that Keith would be out to join him on that number like last time. But in fact John did not have Keith join him on any of his songs for some reason. At the very end of his approximately hour long set, John did bring out Keith and they performed Cripple Creek together (a bit of an odd song choice for the two of them, in my mind). It was a fun number, but it wouldn’t have been my pick for their first duet of the evening- especially to this Vegas crowd. Then there was a 15-20 minute break while they moved John’s equipment off stage and Keith’s equipment onstage.
It was a mixed crowd last night. No doubt there were fans of both musicians present but others may have been there primarily to support Tiger Jam and others may have just been Vegas tourists looking for a show. As a result there were some ‘standers’ and some ‘sitters’, some who sang and danced most of the night, and others that looked at us dancers a bit strangely. I was a bit appalled when I heard another woman in the bathroom saying “I think he is that guy who sings about cats and sweaters.” Harumpf.
I was surprised that the upper tier of seats was mostly empty - the Gorge show had drawn such an immense crowd to western Washington but this Vegas show did not appear to be sold out unless some folks bought tickets to support the charity and then didn’t come.
Keith has had his hair cut fairly short (for him). The front is still fairly long but the back no longer touches his collar unless he tilts his head back. It looks like the un-buttoned 3 button tee-shirt we have seen a couple times lately is going to be the shirt for this year’s shows. Of course he looks good in any kind of shirt! Tonight’s was dark blue - has that been the case each time this year?
Keith started out with a rousing (arousing?) performance of Put You in a Song. Then Better Half, which I believe he chose to get the crowd involved in one of his ‘echo rounds’ of singing “oo na na na na’s”. He was successful getting a good response from each area of the arena in turn and encouraged us along the way with “Hell yeah Vegas- sounds good!” and “Sounding pretty bloody good!” and finally cracking up the crowd with his deep baritone “oo na na’s”. He also did some nice jamming on the Better Half melody both before and after the sing-along.
Then three more songs from Get Closer (You’re Gonna Fly, Without You and Long Hot Summer. When Keith sat down on his stool for Without You he apparently got some “I love you’s” shouted from the front floor and commented “A dude just said I love you!” and, as Keith is wont to due, he said “I love you too” back to the guy. He then expanded on this “I’m in love with you brother.... What happens in Vegas.....” lol Without You was beautiful and Long Hot Summer kept the crowd clapping and dancing along.
Keith then paused and said “ I want to say a huge thank you to everybody out there tonight for coming out and being a part of this jam this year. We appreciate your support!” He then continued “ One of the most joyful things is to be able to play again with this guy - John Mayer.” So 30 minutes into Keith’s set John returned to the stage so they could play together some more. They had a great time with Sweet Thing, doing a full 3 minutes of melodic jamming after the lyrics ended. Then a seering hot Til Summer Comes Around where the 2.5 minute guitar solo (well, guitart duet I guess) had the audience screaming their approval. After that Keith garnered another round of applause with a parting “Mr. John Mayer” as John left the stage.
The seat that I got in the Monkeyville presale was pretty good - it was in the last row (row Q) of the lower risers closest to the stage, so I had a great view. I had chatted early in the evening with 2 couples next to me in Q. At one point they had walked down the stairs next to us to take some photos from a closer vantage point and then had stayed standing in that aisle when no one had chased them. It seemed some folks did not return to their seats after the break before Keith’s set (stupid people!), so eventually one of my new row Q friends came up and told me I should come down and take one of the vacated seats in the second row of the risers. So I did “Get Closer” for a few songs: ). Not only that - I was able to move to the first row when Keith came off the stage during his final song, You Look Good in my Shirt and managed to get me a little “vitamin K”, stroking his arm as he returned to stage. Normally that might not have been possible if he had returned playing his guitar, but he gave away the guitar when up in the stands, so had his arms outstetched and waving to his fans during his walk back. Some people think it is good luck to rub the belly of a statue of Buddha. I choose to consider a KU arm rub a good luck sign of a great tour to come!
Sadly, only 52 minutes after coming on stage - at 11:30 sharp - Keith and the guys were taking their final bow and the old exit song Marley’s “One Love” was playing on the speakers. I can’t believe he planned to play only 52 minutes - I think either Tyler, John or the set-up crews must have taken too long and the venue had specified an 11:30 ending time, so Keith lost out. It was a great show, but 52 minutes (9 songs) (not counting Cripple Creek) is even shorter than the Houston Rodeo performance!
As long as I had traveled all that distance, I took advantage of my remaining time in Vegas - seeing the Cirque du Soleil “O” show and visiting the restaurants of a couple more chefs I had seen on the cooking shows. I even went to a very educational museum - type ‘show’ (they call everything shows in Vegas) Bodies - fascinating displays of all are various body parts, both in glass cases and in incredible preserved cadavers. Since I teach biological psychology courses including Neuroanatomy, think I can claim this as a business trip???
Videos to come as soon as I downlod my camera....
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