Saturday morning I did not rush to San Antonio since the afternoon rodeo show was not until 1:30. That was a mistake! I did not anticipate a huge traffic jam at the highway exit for the A, T & T Center. We inched along oh so slowly for what seemed like forever. I followed the electronic signs above the lanes of traffic to the numbered rodeo parking lots, only to find that one after another was completely full and admitting no more cars. Finally a state patrolman told me the only lot with spots available was the off-site Gembler Road lot. So I inched my way there, parked and joined a huge line for the shuttle bus back to the Rodeo grounds. With all this delay I missed the entire afternoon rodeo except for the final bull-riding event!
I had bought a cheap seat way up in the nosebleed seats for the afternoon, but did watch with interest as the crew began to set up for the concert. Out came the portable stage to the center of the rodeo floor - a more modest size stage than what was featured at the Houston Rodeo and a stage with no fancy upper portion or background for the performers. I thought that was good because then there would be nothing but the band's equipment (amps, speakers, etc) to block one's view as the stage rotated to face each section of the arena in turn. But I got even more excited as I watched them roll out carts of folding chairs for the "Rodeo Star" down-in-the-dirt floor audience. Unlike Houston, in San Antonio they set up rows of chairs ahead of time for those with floor tickets - just 3 rows deep in most areas around the stage, so there really would be no bad seats down on the floor. Also, unlike Houston, which kept the floor folks down at one end of the arena - a good 30 feet from stage, San Antonio set up the chairs just about 10 feet from stage, encircling about 2/3 of the stage. A skinny little rope separated chairs from stage and there was little visible security (again, a contrast with Houston). It appeared they left the 10 ft gap primarily to allow Keith's camera guys to constantly run around the stage, to keeping him in view as the stage rotated. Watching all this I was so happy that I had purchased a down-in-the dirt seat for the evening show!!
The show itself was great, but an hour is way too short for us spoiled Urbanites! A mere 11
songs and one special extra verse treat:
You Gonna Fly (with 'you can be a songbird at the rodeo" added in)
Blacktop (with "I'm Texas- bound" added in and a bit of fancy guitar play mid-song before Keith lead a slightly altered version of the sing-along from last night " Hey hey, uh huh, feelin' so good, I'm in Texas tonight". I guess San Antonio is just too many syllables! )
Stupid Boy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwhlVFwrkYI
Keith greeted each part of the arena, but since the stage was rotating all the while he joked "If I spin around enough times I'll probably ask the same group how you're doing/"
Put You in A Song with some great little guitar riffs midway
Keith asked "Who is actually from San Antonio? Who is from out of state?" ( I and a number of others gave a big yell)
Long Hot Summer
You'll Think of Me ( which I thought sounded particularly outstanding this afternoon - Keith definitely has his full range back for the high notes at the close of this song!!)
Sweet Thing (Chris did get introduced at this end of this)
Kiss a Girl Keith did pause in the lyrics the way they do before a Kiss-a-Girl competition, but he must have decided, as he looked out at the audience, that he couldn't invite anyone up this afternoon, because he then began to sing a final KAG chorus.
Without You
Making Memories of Us (Keith again said they were dedicating this song to everyone feeling in love. He asked who was married, who was single, but then added "Well, there they are (the single people) - we just want to help out our brothers and sisters...)
Keith: "We're gonna change things up a bit," and belted out a lovely verse of Tanya Tucker's
When I was a child down in South Caroline
Soon as Saturday sun went on down.My folks and sister would go and leave me home all alone,
Going to that big square dance in town.
Well my old radio would play that old opry show,
So I never got lonesome or blue.
I'd fall asleep in my chair and dream that I was right there,
Just singing the whole night through.
When my folks would come home, they'd be humming a song,
Mama'd smile and say: "Child, don't you know,
"There ain't a thing in this world to make you fall in love girl,
"Like the San Antonio Stroll?"
And Keith then commented that every since he heard that song when he was growing up, he knew he wanted to go to San Antonio. : )
Then Keith drove the audience wild http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEXPNvOBG3o by not only leaving stage but climbing through the fence and going way up in the stands for You Look Good in My Shirt, even getting a young girl to sing a line of the song to his proffered microphone, and giving away a guitar. I was excited to see that instead of then making his way around the edge of the arena, as he had in Houston, Keith headed for the down-in the dirt crowd, walking the entire length of the rope 'barrier" slapping hands and even signing a couple things.
After the guys took their bow on stage, they climbed into the truck for their ride out of the arena. But they did not leave right away! Instead the truck rode right along the very edge of the arena so that Keith and the guys could slap hands with those in the front rows of the stands. That was a great idea - much better than Keith trying to run that long distance during YLGIMS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0YMGWOY814
They chased everyone out of the arena during the time between the afternoon and evening performances. I hung around in a nearby display building during the break because San Antonio had experienced a cold snap!! Roses in bloom but it dropped down to 40 and here I was in my sandals and shirt sleeves! (Austin had been 65 on Friday!).
The Rodeo Star down-in-the-dirt ticket includes a steak dinner before the show (in a separate little tent next door), somewhat cushier seats during the Rodeo, and then the trip down to the floor at concert time. People started lining up for the walk down a bit early during the rodeo, everyone hoping to get the front row floor seats. I was in about the middle of the group since I didn't want to stand in line too long. They took us down in an industrial size elevator and were very attentive to maintaining the order of the line to be fair. Then we were lead through long corridors since we would be entering the floor from the same chutes that the bulls and broncos had used. The first 15 or so people in line headed down the chute approach and then I heard a few squeals from some gals in front of me. When I looked up to see what the squeal was for, here comes Keith strolling down the hall!! All by his lonesome, no security or managers. And he doesn't bolt when he sees us - he continues down the corridor and shakes a few of our hands - no introductions but otherwise a little like a meet and greet line!! What a wonderful surprise!! My only regret is that I only got out a surprised "Hi Keith!!" as he clasped my hand, instead of wishing him a great show. Thank my lucky stars for putting me in the right place at the right time! (Later that evening I saw signs pointing down that corridor to the "Keith Urban buses" so I think we caught him in route from the buses to his "dressing room" or where ever he boards the vehicle which takes him out to the center of the rodeo floor.)
After a bit of fanfare alerting the rest of the audience that the lucky "Rodeo Star" ticket holders would next be coming out of the chute doors, the gate finally opened and our line went rushing towards the seats surrounding the stage. Well, rushing as best one could in 8 inch deep damp sand!! (I didn't want to think what else might be in that sand since I was in sandals!) Actually, I just gave in and took off my sandals and ran barefoot to capture a front row seat - yay!! And I held out my naked foot later as Keith rotated by singing "Gonna kick off my shoes and run in bare feet!" during Blacktop : )
The lineup for the evening show was the same as in the afternoon except for a few things:
You Gonna Fly included "a songbird from San Antonio" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSKaWMkeYVw
Blacktop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE5l2fCnP_UA with a very special guitar excerpt that I had never heard before before Keith went into his echo round with the audience
Yeah, yeah (yeah, yeah)
Uh-huh (uh-huh)
Yeah, yeah (yeah,yeah)
Uh-huh (Uh-huh)
Feel so good (Feel so good!!)
In San Antonio tonight (In San Antonio tonight)
A couple great-sounding lines of the last Sweet Thing chorus that Keith sang a cappella, resounding through the arena.
Keith did bring up one gal from the down-in-the-dirt seats about 6 feet to my left to sing during Kiss a Girl. "Anyone want to have a sing with us?" Keith asked. No contest but the lucky girl did get to sing with Keith and she was ecstatic!!
We were treated to You Look So Good in Love instead of San Antonio Stroll (I only wished that the stage would stop rotating so I could keep Keith in sight during this special song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC2OQzyGG1E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC2OQzyGG1E
We got a few fun lines of Deep in the Heart of Texas (like he did on Urban Developments) before the Say 1, Say 2, Say 1, 2, 3 of Somebody Like You. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw5QeyCiUXE
And, yes, after visiting the stands during YLGIMS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9vmObrHbms , he did come down and followed the rope in front of the floor seats, greeting all of us. So I got a second hand clasp for the day! Life is good!
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