Backstage with Keith Urban in Kansas City

I have been so inordinately lucky as a Keith Urban fan and blessed with what they call Keith Karma in terms of getting decent seats at concerts and winning meet and greets. Almost makes me feel guilty but, then again, I attend more shows than most so percentage-wise it probably all works out!

I think I got lucky this time because of the recent change in the fan club website management. I believe the diligent new staff is working hard to get things right and to tie up some loose ends from the previous echomusic management. I am a member of the fan club “Street Team” and periodically the former Street Team Manager Fiona would send out “missions” for us to complete to promote Keith with the possible reward of a Street Team Backstage Experience (BSE for short). I completed one of those missions way back about the time that Defying Gravity was just coming out, and sent the required “proof” of my efforts to Fiona. I also included information on this blog and sent her the link to look at it. She thanked me but then I never heard another word in all the months since, so I just guessed that-was-that and someone else had won for that mission.

Barely 48 hours before the Kansas City concert I got an email from the new Street Team managers apologizing for such a late invitation, but did I want to go to the Meet and Greet (their phrasing) at the Sprint Center? Did I!!?? Hell yes! Apparently they are going through Fiona’s old files and making awards that she did not get around to. Over at Monkeyville it looked like quite a few people won Street Team BSEs this last week for various upcoming concerts. Another new rule that may have played a role in my last minute invite - you now must respond to the invitation email within 24 hours. If you don’t you are out of luck and they invite the next person on their list. So maybe I benefitted from someone else not responding in a timely fashion.

When I arrived in Kansas City I stopped at the Sprint Center about 3:00 before going to my hotel to see if the backstage passes were at the box office. They were!  (good sign because previously they often weren't available until about  5 pm). We were instructed to enter the arena via a special VIP door and to be sure to be there by 6:15. Nervous about finding the right door etc, I arrived at 6:05 and got right in. But lo and behold when they took me to the BSE room about 70 people were already there!! I guess I wasn’t an early bird after all. Luckily most were more interested in the BBQ buffet than I was so I still was able to find a stool in the second row in front of Keith’s little stage. By the time things got going there must have been 100 people there - 50 of them with seats, and another 50 standing around the edges or by tall BBQ tables. I guess the size of the BSEs has grown because of all the different groups served. They encouraged us to eat before Keith arrived (I was too excited so I only grabbed a bottle of water). When it was just about time they had everyone line up in the hall and divided us by category for photos, grouping together those related to the fanclub, those who were Verizon winners or guests and those who were Kingsford Charcoal  winners or guests. The Monkeyville line (about 40 of us) got to go in for photos first, but I was near the end of that line. I could tell from the way they were counting us off that I would be at the end of a group of about 10, so I probably wouldn’t be close to Keith in the photo. Oh well - I had a plan. (I figured a plan might help me avoid something like last time’s “Can I smell your neck?” LOL) I wasn’t sure whether to wish he might remember or recognize me as familiar or not! 

As usual there was a sense of time pressure with 100 people to meet, greet and photograph. They had things set up a little differently - we had to pass through a curtain to get to the photo set-up. Keith was on the other side of that curtain, greeting each person as they came through (rather than working his way down a row of 10 people like before). Luckily since I was the last in my group there was no one behind me waiting for their turn.

According to my plan I would not extend one hand for the handshake - I’d put out both arms for a hug. And I did have my wits enough about me to do so, saying “Could I have a hug? This has been a tough week for me.” ‘Of course baby” he said. At which point he wrapped his arms around me in a tight bear hug and held me, I swear, for a count of 10. No quickie squeeze - a big long bear hug. Only problem is that he apparently squeezed the brains right out of me! Because I remember almost nothing but the feel of those arms around me. Like where were my arms? I know I stuck them out on either side of his waist but then what? Did I squeeze him? Or was I frozen in my initial position by the feel of his touch?? I know he was squeezing me against his chest but were we pressed together all the way down?? Was my cheek against his hair? His shoulder? His face? What did he smell like? How could I not know these things when I went in so intent on remembering every second. My memory has betrayed me!! But at least I can still feel those strong arms wrapped around me.

When he let loose a little bit of brain function returned and I prattled on, thinking that now that he has a daughter he could relate “I just moved my little girl, my youngest into her very first apartment.” Keith expresses empathy with something like “Oh that’s a tough time.” And I continue “And she’s moving in with “the boy” as my hubby calls him. We’re worried he might end up being a ‘stupid boy’!” “ He replies “ Well, let’s hope not - we already have a song about one stupid boy, we don’t need another.” Ever the good host he remembers now that despite our clinch he hasn’t properly met me tonight. He takes my hand and says “What’s your name sweetheart?” I manage to say “Linda” before my brain disappears again. He slips into the middle of our group and they take two photos (I think). As the group exits to make room for the Verizon folks I turned back to him once more and just said “Thank you”. He smiled and said “you’re very welcome baby.” I made it back to my stool and just kind of grinned and swayed in my seat (yes there was music playing, although I was also in my own private reverie) until all the photos were taken and they turned on the terrific funny video about the band and the tour.

After the video a staff person introduced Keith. He sat down on his stool and looked us over saying something like “Gosh you all look familiar.” The basement room we were in was rather stark, with a ceiling of concrete beams. So first Keith says he feels like he is playing in a bunker. Or, he then suggests, maybe it is an underpass and we are some of the best-looking ‘homeless” that he has ever seen. He asks for requests and gets at least a half dozen suggestions (I called out I’m In) (“Sounds like we are going to be here two hours!” he says)  He settles on Grace of God and does a terrific job, with lots of guitar flourishes. We please him by singing along on the choruses and he even asks for an extra chorus at the end. He then took 3 questions. First a teacher asked what he thought was the most important thing he could teach his daughter Sunday. “To listen to her mother.” was his reply : ) The second person simply asked “Could I have your pick?” and he complied. And the last was “Are you going to play your new guitar tonight?” and Keith said “Which one? - I have several” The woman was interested in the mirror guitar and Keith confirmed he would be using it. (we didn't know yet that Keith had added yet another beauty of a guitar to the several new ones being used in the 2009 tour). By that time it was 7:35 and we could already hear Taylor Swift singing above us, so he thanked us for coming and said he hoped we would enjoy the show. And how!!

I hadn’t had the chance to ask my question so when Keith’s assistant Randy came in I decided to try asking him. “Are there going to be 2010 tour dates added?” I asked. First he said something like “I would imagine so” then he sort of corrected himself by saying “I can’t confirm (wink, wink, wink, wink) or deny that there will be 2010 dates.” So I’m pretty sure we are in for some new dates after the holidays!! Yay!

Backstage with Sweet Sweet Keith

>I was sitting at my desk at work, grading student exams, when my computer made its “You’ve got new mail” sound and the sender was listed as Monkeyville. Thinking it might be notice of a new concert date or presale, I opened the email immediately. But, praise the Lord, it wasn’t either of those – it was a “You have won a Backstage Experience in Omaha”email!! “Yes!!” I shouted and did one exuberant happy dance in my chair, reading and re-reading the message! My youngest daughter (my concert partner this time) would be a little jealous, but she had won a BSE in Memphis, so she couldn’t complain too much, right? Besides we know those BSE passes are non-transferable, right? Okay, Mom is not going to feel guilty about going to the BSE.

We arrived in Omaha about 4:30 and stopped at the Qwest Center Box Office. “Do you have the Keith Urban Backstage Experience envelopes?” I asked the woman manning the ticket window. “No, we don’t know anything about backstage passes.” she replied and my face no doubt fell. But luckily a voice from the back room of the box office chimed in and said “Oh yes we do!” and another woman carried out a box of envelopes. She checked my photo ID and pulled out an envelope with KEITH URBAN and the tour’s heart symbol on it, with my name written across the top. It was really true! I had a pass!

I arrived about 15 minutes before the stated meeting time, only to find about 50 others with BSE passes were already there. The staff seemed a bit disorganized – I guess every arena set-up is a little different – so first they lined us up one way, then they changed their minds and moved the line to another location. Then they started marching us in, but once again changed their minds, so back in line we went. Finally the staff led us backstage and lined us up once more for pictures. Gosh there seemed to be a lot of us – some with Monkeyville passes, some with radio station passes, some with Verizon passes. While we waited Chris McHugh was talking to some of the fans.

When Keith finally came out to greet the first photo group he looked gorgeous. Dark blue new looking jeans, light brown button down shirt nicely unbuttoned, with pockets on both the right and left sides with pearly looking buttons; hair shiny, straight and smooth - that new haircut is looking great! Sweet shyish smile, hands often going in his jeans pockets when he was not greeting fans. Mmm – fine!

I was in the 3^rd group of ~10 to be photographed. Of course I was hoping to get to stand next to Keith, but in fact I was the very last person in my group so was actually the farthest away from our man. Still happy to be there I hoped the photographer got the far ends of the line of fans in his photo (he promised me that he did : )

No hugs for anyone tonight, but Keith did go down the line of fans, saying hello and shaking hands with each and every person (now I can’t wash that hand again!). When he took my hand I prolonged the moment and said “Thank you for your wonderful music Keith!” (as he continued to hold my hand :) , He replied “You are entirely welcome Sweetheart!” . Sigh – my first “Sweetheart”! Then our group was directed to a dark passageway across the hall leading to the backstage experience room. My group, no offense, kind of moved like an unruly group of cattle. A big guy in front of me, who had been moving forward, made a sudden backstep. I, in turn, had to backstep to get out of his way, bumping into Keith and nearly knocking him over in the process! (really – the full body contact (back to back) was accidental! I swear!) Frightful images of me wounding the star attraction moments before the show popped into my mind! (“We’re sorry to announce the show has been canceled because Linda rear-ended Keith.”) I apologized profusely for nearly toppling him over. “Not a problem Baby!” he replied. Ooh – a “Baby” for me too, in that wonderful accent. I was floating on a cloud.

Down the winding dark passageway was the velvet-curtained, dimly lit BSE room. Considering that I was in the 3^rd photo group I was happy to find a chair just 2 seats away from the stool Keith would be performing from. Klutz that I am however, I nearly fell into that seat but the gallant cowboy in the next chait caught me. I believe the funny and endearing video they showed us about the band and the tour was an updated version with some different segments than what was shown in 2007. Thoroughly enjoyable – all the guys are so funny and Keith was positively droll.

After the video Keith came in, sat on the stool just a few feet away and asked what we’d like to hear him sing. Someone immediately said MMOU (I would have chosen a song that was not in the concert set list). But of course it was beautiful to hear up close and personal. It made me wonder whether he sang it any differently at his wedding.

I so enjoy that Keith never hesitates to make fun of himself. Tonight, before singing, he first reported that he got lost in the dark winding passageway and ended up in a different room before finding us. The he looked at all of us and confessed that he was wondering how in the heck to gracefully get rid of the gum in his mouth in front of 50 people. And proceeded to take it out and stick it to the candle table next to him. (a woman promptly asked if she could have his chewed gum!!!). He then said that when he put the gum down he worried for an instant that he was going to burn his arm on the nearby candles – only to realize they are fake candles, at which point he pressed the “lit” end of a fake candle against his cheek. Too funny!

Then the Q & A. The first question was about his Ipod (most listened to song right now and most embarrassing song). Keith said he had bought an album today and was listening to the music of Ashton Shepard (not sure that is her spelling) over and over. He said he had a lot of “guilty pleasures” on his Ipod but he couldn’t think of what was most embarrassing. One guy piped up with “the Carpenters?” but ever diplomatic Keith said he liked the Carpenters…..

A guy congratulated Keith on his upcoming fatherhood and asked if Keith was hoping for a boy or a girl and did they have names yet? Keith said they felt very blessed and just hoped for a healthy baby. Another guy asked about what guitarists influenced him. Keith mentioned some of the usuals we have heard about in interviews (like Knopfler) but also mentioned he learned a lot from local Australian guitarists that his parents took him to see at local pubs and clubs, starting when he was just 9 (and made a joke about his folks taking him to bars at that age). He also mentioned Vince Gill, a person I don’t recall Keith citing as an influence before.

My question was “Is there a concert DVD coming in the near future?” Keith seemed to like that question and talked about it for a few minutes, saying they had filmed at at lot of the venues on the first leg and thought that they were nearly done, but then the second leg expanded and Keith decided they needed to keep filming. He mentioned they would film at the 2 Atlanta shows and also the Lexington show, and then probably will be done.

But they will have a huge amount of footage to go through to make the DVD and probably will include a lot of bonus segments as well. He didn’t sound like they had a firm date in mind for the DVD’s release.

So our sweet sweet man was such a pleasure to be with, even if I didn’t get to cuddle up next to him in a photo or get a hug and a smell of that lovely neck. Something to hope for and look forward to I guess!

Meet Me in St, Louie

>Your "roving reporter" has arrived in downtown St. Louis with daughters. We drove down to the Arch, circled the venue 3 times, then went over to check into our hotel in the very cool Union Station. Coming from the parking lot we had to ride what looked like a little service elevator and when we got out, who should be standing there but guitarist/mandolinist Sweet B (Brad Rice)!! I asked him for an autograph - he looked shocked that I knew him but gladly complied and offered that I had just missed the other guys! (shucks!) I asked if he was heading to soundcheck but he said "No - that's at 4:00" but I wasn't thinking fast enough to ask what they all were doing this afternoon!

1:00 a.m. Woo Hoo! I am finally back from another terrific night but am plum tuckered out so a full review will have to wait. (I'd like to see a review from the fresh eyes of missourigirl anyway!) But I do have to say that the Keith Karma that was with me early today continued! My 3rd daughter's flight did not get in until 5:00 so we didn't make it to WIL radio's pre-party and giveaways as we had planned. But we did arrive in time to see a big crowd at another station’s ( "The Bull" – not sure of their call letters ) tent in front of the arena. Each of us grabbed one of their yellow raffle tickets. At 6:30 they drew for who would win BSEs with the Wreckers, ticket upgrades, and BSEs with Keith. Well, here we are, probably the only Iowans in a sea of St. Louis folks, and my youngest daughter has the winning ticket for a PAIR of Keith Backstage Experiences!!! She looked totally stunned but claimed the passes and the letter with the LPATWCT heart on it telling her where to go. But I have THREE daughters there - and two passes. Annie, the winner, certainly gets to go, but who else??? My daughters, sweeties that they are, initially say that Mom, who is head over heels about Keith should go. Much as I would have loved to go I tell them I have had my BSE - one of them should go. We flip a coin to make it fair and my oldest daughter (the first real Keith fan in our family) wins, which seems kind of right. Annie and Jen rush off to the fast approaching BSE rendezvous. Good luck continues to shine on them - they end up in the middle of their photo group so that both of them get to be next to Keith!! But they worry about the missing sister throughout and Annie uses her chance to ask a question to request that Keith sign a special autograph for her sister who couldn't attend (which he does, addressing it to Sara:). He sings It's a Love Thing to them and confesses that he caught a "hellacious cold" from Nic while in wintery Oz. (He later apologizes to the arena audience for sounding "like a back-up singer to Mr. Snuffleupagus" :) Although he was a little hoarse in spots he put his all into the show and didn't slack up one bit - the aussome showperson that he is!! Meanwhile, during the daughters' BSE, I am back in the arena with the losing daughter who is not taking it well at all. She may be a college grad but is not yet grownup when it comes to Keithy matters I guess. She wept until the concert started, attracting the attention of several security guards who probably thought she had been robbed or assaulted. She still isn't speaking to us!! (oh well, she's only 22 and I guess older women than that have been sore losers when it comes to not meeting Keith) Hopefully she will cheer up tomorrow! Even my Keith excitement will not keep me awake much longer (ready for some sweet dreams) so I will end with the sign that Keith said was the wackiest sign he had seen and insisted that it and the guy holding it be shown on camera: "Hey there Mate - Slap some of that sweat on me so my wife will really go for me!" Keith shook his hand and laid down on the catwalk to take a photo with the wife! More tomorrow!

Salutations from St. Louis!! Here are some bits and pieces of our concert experience at the first show after his short trip back to Australia.

I imagine this is a function of the venue, but one of the first things I noticed when entering Scottrade Center is that they had several more merchandise booths (good, I guess, because then there are shorter lines) as well as “program venders” set up in the corridor itself. I splurged on the beautiful (but pricey) collection of tour photos. Also St. Louis had rose venders, so we saw quite a few roses (as well as a big bouquet) given to Keith throughout the show. Scottrade is a big venue and does have nosebleed seats. Keith made a point of thanking the audience that was way up high and spotlighted them when he was on the small stage. As usual he also thanked those who traveled a long way to get to the show, but last night he added that he so appreciated those of us who drove for hours just to come to a show, only to have to drive back again – nice! Last night I mentioned the “Slap some sweat on me sign” – I don’t believe he read any others out loud but he acknowledged others with nods and laughs. It was also a big night for fans handing things to Keith (rolled up messages, cards perhaps, a poster size message (with small writing), etc. sp he had quite a pile of flowers and other things up on stage.

It was rather warm and humid in the arena (even the BSE was sweltering according to daughters) – Keith used his “sure is hot in the hot tub” line and toweled himself several times during the show. (I kind of like watching him towel his hair and neck – kind of like a glimpse of Keith coming out of the shower - lol ) ! For a while I could of sworn he had added silver balls to his earrings, but perhaps it was just beads of sweat! (Nope – the silver balls were there in Memphis too!)

How that man can sing and joke and strut and play the heck out of that guitar when he is sick is beyond me! (some of us can hardly be civil when we’re under the weather). He did a fantastic job and if I didn’t know his voice so well I may not have noticed the occasional hoarseness or slight differences in tone. The crowd certainly was with him all night and he noticed. He called the left risers “the rowdy crowd”, later told everyone he appreciated us being in such a good mood, joked with some fans that they must have started partying pretty early. Someone yelled out “I love Nicole” when he made some comment about catching his cold from her and he responded “Well we have a lot in common then!” He also had fun with the band as usual. They really cracked up when he sang “I ain’t slept in quite a while” in Faster Car (probably because he just got back from Oz last night ). He inserted a line in one of the small stage songs about Brad’s crazy hair, spotlighted the “Cue-balls” – Chris McHugh’s 2 boys were in the audience right next to the small stage so Keith brought them up on stage. They look SO much like Chris – really cute. So nice of Keith. I sure wish I had caught the even longer little “rap” that Keith did while introducing Chris Mc Hugh.

Two things were new to me last night and I hope it is not just because I was oblivious to these details earlier. No hat on Brian last night – instead he had bleach blond hair! (was that the case before???). And when the band was on the second stage both the stage and the catwalk were edged in bright red tube lighting – did I miss that before?? I forgot to mention that as the show was about to begin lots of fans gathered along the catwalk and I wondered whether there were going to be some unhappy fans who had catwalk seats that were then blocked by the crowd, but it seemed that security dispersed those standing at the edge of the walk.

There were a few little technological problems but Keith stayed in good spirits when the spotlights briefly wouldn’t go off for his cell phone wave and sang us a little technological problems refrain when his piano had a bad string or something before TIWC.

Although I never seemed to have my camera ready for some of the little gems of the night (like Keith bending down to bite the stem of a rose a woman held in her mouth by the catwalk or later bending down to kiss a hand or head (couldn’t see)) I did catch him playing his guitar with a rose in his teeth. But I missed him backing up the entire length of the catwalk with Brian butting his head against his back the whole way.

Keith you were a real trouper last night and put on another great show!!

Backstage With Keith in Vegas

I worried all day that something would go wrong - I wouldn't make it to Vegas from Phoenix, I'd take a nap and oversleep, I'd go to the box office and my name wouldn't really be on the BSE list. I stopped at the box office during the afternoon to see if they had the BSE passes yet - they didn't, so I was anxious until 6:15, when lo and behold they really did have an envelope with my name on it containing instructions and a special blue satin sticky Backstage Experience tag that I was to wear. I was too nervous to eat dinner (but did have a margarita to calm my nerves :). Asked the bartender where the North Suites elevators, where we were to meet, were located and he hadn't a clue. Headed towards what I thought was north in the huge Mandalay Bay Casino and found a security guard to ask. He immediately pointed and said "You're gonna be late to meet and greet!" because I had to enter the arena with the crowd that was already gathering for the concert!:( But of course these events are hard to keep on schedule - everything was running behind schedule and I didn't miss anything. (whew!) It was immediately clear that there were quite a few of us (20-30?) and that we were the second BSE group this evening (I think the radio station BSEs and VIP tickets went first and we had to wait for them to leave before our group could enter.) When it was finally our turn we were lead downstairs by several of Keith's staff and lined up for photos in groups of 9-10. I know some were disappointed at the number in the photo, but I was just amazed and grateful that Keith was doing this for so many fans at every tour stop.

I was in the first group that stood in front of a big Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing Heart banner and tried to make a space in front of me that would call to Keith when he arrived. And there he was, in the flesh, beaming and welcoming us - my first thrill of the evening. Unfortunately he headed for the exact middle of our group rather than "my spot", but I guess that makes sense. But he did tell us to cuddle together so we'd all fit in the shot and put his arms around the 2 lucky gals on either side, one of whom was next to me. Well I put my arm up too - right on top of his, giving a gentle stroke to that great left arm (I'll be damned if I wasn't gonna touch some part of Keith Urban!!)- my second thrill of the evening! They took a couple shots - Keith will probably be the only photogenic one in the group. But as we broke our line to make room for the next group of ten, I stepped up to him and said "The concert last night in Phoenix was just fantastic!" He looked at me with a bit of surprise (probably thinking ‘you were in Phoenix and now Vegas??’) but then thanked me, said the audience was just wonderful in Phoenix, and then he gave me a hug!! OMG!! It happened so fast and so unexpectedly that I forgot to smell him (lol), but I was in heaven!

We were lead into the "BSE room". They obviously had taken pains to create some ambience in what was probably a stark cinderblock room in the basement of the arena. The walls were hidden by velvet curtains, the lighting was low and there were several large lit candles and romantic (maybe fringed) lamps placed around the room. Music and Keith images on the big screen TV. The furniture consisted of low wooden cube-like seats for us and a small stage and stool for Keith. Since we were the first 10 to enter the room we sat on the fron cubes - I was right in front of the microphone.

We had to wait a couple minutes for the others to finish their photos. We weren't allowed to take our own photos of Keith, but Keith wasn't there yet and one guy asked that we take a photo of him sitting on Keith's stool on the stage. Quite a few of us did the same :) before the rest of the group arrived. They then showed us a great video - both interesting and informative and incredibly funny as well. Keith and the rest of the band have such great senses of humor. Keith talked about all sorts of things that they had to do in the 3 months before the tour - visiting the arenas, designing the stage, choosing what to show on the video screen , choosing the set list and so forth, but all the while he and the others were cracking jokes and being real goofballs. It was so good I just know they will add it to the fan club site at the end of the tour.

Next Keith came in to sing us a song. I noticed he had what I thought was his new mini-guitar and just blurted out "Is that you new guitar?" which got him going on really funny remarks about the Aussie maker and also about how he initially felt like he had stole the guitar off some little kid because of its size, but that it has great big sound despite its size. He asked what we wanted to hear, several said Stupid Boy, and he did a great and emotional performance (radio-length version). Then he said it was time for a few of those scary, deeply personal and totally inappropriate questions we had all been waiting to ask (lol). The first woman asked why 2 earrings rather than 3 and he said “See what I mean about those questions!” The woman said that the talk is that the 2 earrings represent Nicole's 2 kids and that the third earring will come back when they have a child of their own (where do people get these things??) and Keith looked like he might laugh and said "Whoa, some people think way too much". A guy just complimented Keith saying "I just love you when you play the guitar" (see even guys can be a little flustered) at which point Keith took off his guitar and started to make a move towards the guy, saying something about “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Hee hee. I asked if he could tell us a little more about the music at the end of Used to the Pain and what those lyrics that we've been straining to hear are. He said he had been playing with that little E-bow instrument and tune and considered it as a separate track, but one day while warming up to record he happened to do it after UTTP and liked it. But he said that ditty does not really have lyrics - that it is another case of playing around with "Vowel sounds" that have no real meaning, just like the words at the end of Somebody LikeYou! A woman asked what he was listening to on his ipod - today he said Dixie Chicks, Reba and Toby Keith! Another asked what he had for dinner (?) and he said whatever lame chicken rice thing the caterer brought. A young girl asked for a birthday autograph (which he personally addressed to her) and then he (and we) sang her happy birthday. He was gracious and sweet and did not seem to be rushing us even though we knew he was on a tight schedule (this went on until the Wreckers were on their last song). He thanked us for coming and said he hoped we would enjoy tonight's show, and then slipped out before a couple of us could give him little gifts we'd brought. (One guy did toss a bib with guitarmonkey on it up on the stage (for a future little Urban), Keith immediately joked that the guy must have seen how he eats.) So even though it was a group meet and greet, it was a great experience with a great guy!! We each were given a little velvet bag with the tour name on it and a Keith Urban 2007 Backstage Experience keychain in it as a souvenir, but you all know what I'll be remembering from this event!