Time for an "Other Adventure"!

My "Keith Urban Journey" will be on hold for a little bit. For the next 10 concerts I will be reading, not writing reviews while my family and I and our best friends take an anniversary trip to Paris that had to be postponed a couple years. But I'm looking forward to Keith coming to Iowa, so I will be back on the road following Keith a little later in the summer.

Radiant in Roanoke!!

The drive from Charleston to Roanoke was gorgeous – winding four lane road through the beautiful misty lush green West Virginia, then Virginia mountains. Sometimes the peaks were hidden in low hanging clouds but it was still a completely pleasurable drive. Passed the New River on which I used to white-water raft years ago, scenic outlooks over valleys and gorges, and places with colorful names like Possum Hollow. No sooner did I arrive at my hotel when I got a call from online friend Feathers and we made plans to meet for dinner at one of the radio station pre-parties at Corned Beef and Company. We entered their drawings. We didn’t win the backstage passes for either Keith or Dierks, but Feathers did win 5 country CDs! Once at the arena I also met online friend Porcelain and made some new Keith-fan friends as well!

Dierks Bentley was a fun opening act! Another cutie (glad his curls are back!) who wears his jeans well! He sang all his hits as well as his most recent single. Because we were in Virginia he did Come A Little Closer as an acoustic performance with a little bluegrass music added to it. He joked around quite a bit. I liked when he sat down on the edge of the stage and started talking to some gals, asking their names, in the middle of How Am I Doin’, and then said “I have to get back to work now” and stood up to continue the song.

I also loved it when Keith brought him out later in the show and they had so much fun doing a duet of Take It To the Limit. The song was great but what was really funny was Keith giving Dierks a hard time for having written out all the lyrics on his forearm (and I saw it – his inner forearm was entirely covered with small writing!). : ) Dierks in turn tried to claim that he so admired Keith’s forearm tattoo that he had gone out and got this as a tattoo in the same spot on his left arm. What fun they were!

I like the Roanoke Civic Center!! Not too big, smoke free AND alcohol free and generally a nice set-up. I had lucked out and got a floor row 11 seat in the presale, just a couple seats from the aisle Keith goes down, so I thought I was set for at least a little close contact. But the evening exceeded my wildest expectations!! It was an absolutely fantabulous concert – Keith was stellar, truly perfect and so on his game last night!! I had such a wonderful experience – another definite Urban high – that I can’t hardly imagine a better concert experience in my future.

The big black curtains were back tonight and they actually used them to create an interesting effect. During the Celtic like music that introduces the show bright ceiling lights within the curtained stage flashed on and off erratically, creating almost the appearance of lightening inside the curtain. When they opened the curtain there was a huge vapor cloud this evening so that Keith could not be seen until he burst out of that cloud several steps onto the catwalk. The little plaid shirt was white/blue-gray/brown tonight and for a good part of the evening only 2 buttons appeared to be buttoned so we saw glimpses of both chest and tummy as he moved around that guitar! J

During the break after Dierks the security people became quite active, clearing the aisles and stage and catwalk edges of standers, giving the impression that they were going to be strict enforcers. Well, they were, during the break, but as soon as Keith came on the security up front pretty much disappeared (can’t speak for the back of the arena). So all those folks who had been chased back to their seats earlier made a mad surge (but still a polite surge I have to say) for the front, myself included. I never went back to my row 11 seat during Keith’s entire 2 hour+ show!! Initially I was on the move – I got to stand about 6 feet from the end of the catwalk where Keith sang the first couple songs, then during Better Half I moved to the ramp where he would exit the stage, then to the opposite side to greet him upon his return. (Gave his back a rub as he passed by and he was already soaking wet only 6 songs into the show!) Surprisingly, even though a lot of people moved up front they were not packed together (I heard that those with seats further back were not allowed to come up so I guess that limited the crowd). So it was pretty easy to move from one spot to another. After Keith returned to the mainstage I was easily able to slip up to nearly the stage edge (in front of the row 1 seats where no one was actually sitting) for the rest of the night. By the end of the show the only person closer to Keith was that camera man who films from the corner where the catwalk hits the stage! Who would have thought my row 11 would turn into row 1?? I was so tickled!!

When Keith made it back to the small stage he started out by saying “It’s nice back here, I think I’ll stay a while". Then, admiring the growing crowd around the stage he yelled out “I love you guys in the back section! Its so funny to watch security clear you away and then you are right back here again. I love that!! What the hell, it’s Friday night!” He put on a proffered hat briefly, said it was a bit small but told the gal “That’s a stylin’ hat you’ve got there."

He closed Once in A Lifetime with a bit of a rhythmic chant: “ You and me, you and me, we gotta once in a lifetime love! You and me, you and me, we gotta once in a lifetime love.” Tonight Making Memories was dedicated to anyone getting married or in love.

Keith told us more than once that we were in for a long night (Yay!) and we should call the babysitter and let her know we wouldn’t be getting home anytime soon. He seemed to be in a devilish and playful mood all evening long, using one of his deep silly voices during part of Blacktop, his ‘tropical bird call noises’ in Better Half, using what sounded like a little Swedish at one point (remember the Swedish chef of the Muppets?), throwing out an impossible to imitate African sounding scat in the middle of doing a little Day-o, Day –ay-ay-o echo round with the audience. And he had faces to accompany each of these auditory jokes. He was in a GOOD mood – I think he felt the wonder of this awesome show and at the end he thanked the audience for making it such a magical evening, commenting that it has been a while since they had such an evening. And thank you Keith for being the wand that creates that magic – we loved every minute.

The cherry on the top of this yummy music sundae was catching a guitar pick as the guys said there final goodbyes. What a night!

Amost Heaven in West Virginia?

Almost heaven, West Virginia” – especially on a spring night when Keith Urban is in town! Well, although it is always heavenly seeing Keith, West Virginia was not quite heaven today. Every time I tried to go out to wander around the Civic Center or to look for the buses there was a downpour! It did stop as concert time neared, so that was good. A couple radio stations had booths set up outside of the arena so I signed up for the “second row seats” drawing. No luck there but actually I had a great seat in the risers close to the stage anyway. I was in line with the ends of the ramps and the runway. The Charleston Civic Center is a venue of mixed blessings. It is small – there were only 13 full rows of seats between the end of the catwalk and the sound mix area, so there really weren’t many ‘bad’ seats. But it was hot and humid even before Keith got on the stage and only got worse most of the evening. Many in the audience were as sweaty as Keith! And although the arena itself is supposedly no smoking, wherever their smoking area is, it must share an air supply with the arena because we had a strong tobacco smoke smell. (I’ve gotten spoiled by all those truly smoke-free venues!). There was a fistfight between some drunken males on the floor during the break after the Zac Brown Band and it took a bunch of security guards to finally break it up and drag off the offenders! Maybe that worried security, because at that point they started chasing away the standers who had lined the catwalk, front stage and runway edges, clearing the crowd away before Keith came out! (Security did not continue to do this though, so once the show began people once again lined up in all these areas.) Finally, at least from my position, I didn’t think the acoustics were quite as good as usual. (Fussy, aren’t I?)

Tonight they got the timing and vapors right for the band’s opening number so we had a great view of Keith rising out of the mist as the crowd screamed. They rocked Hit the Ground but I got the feeling that fewer in this audience were familiar with the Defying Gravity selections than has been the case elsewhere, so were just observers rather than participants during those numbers. But the crowd was loudly into Days Go By (with a special “up the scale” guitar flourish during the song’s closing) and Stupid Boy with its always chill giving guitar solo. I forgot to mention earlier in the tour that Keith has been playing a crystal-like (clear) guitar during this number – that must be the specially designed guitar we read about early on. Has there always been a quiet, about 10 second, perhaps keyboard introduction to Stupid Boy preceding Brian’s guitar strumming? If not, there is now!

Keith then gave his usual greeting, saying they were glad to have finally made it back to Charleston and asking each section of the audience in turn if they were feeling good tonight. I was a little surprised, considering that two in the band are from West Virginia, that this small venue was not sold out. Just over half of the rows in the 200 level risers were full. Strange, huh? Keith then introduced Black Top by saying “Let’s go back a couple records with this one”.He spent time at each of the platforms at stage right and stage left but last night seemed frustrated by the positioning of the sidestage spotlights that are lowered down to stage level during this song. While he was over on my side he kept gesturing to the spotlights while he sang, indicating that he wanted them raised so they wouldn’t block his view of the very first set of risers, but the lighting folks didn’t catch on until too late.

Keith wore a white/brown/black plaid shirt tonight and dark jeans. Despite the ‘break’ he still looked a little tired around the eyes. He was also still a little hoarse on the really high notes and so called on the audience to sing when he got to those points in songs. The West Virginians were a much more polite crowd when it came time, in Better Half, for Keith to make his way back to the small stage (which tonight was almost right up against the rear risers with very little standing room around it). Although thrilled and screaming they didn’t rush at Keith and tended to gently pat his arm rather than grabbing as he passed. So Keith was able to play and smile and nod at fans on both sides without much trouble. After his solo Once in a Lifetime he said “My god it is hot in here!!” (and you weren’t helping the situation Keith!). He only did 2 songs on the small stage, dedicating Making Memories of Us “to two friends out there in the audience somewhere – Juliet and Julia”. His return trip was a bit more congested but he still made it back to the mainstage pretty quickly.

The guys sang their usual solo bits following their introductions. Somewhat surprisingly there was no mention of any family members being present for this West Virginia show. There did seem to be a little extra featuring of some of the guys. Chris M. brought his bongo (I think) drum up to the side platform and was spotlighted as he accompanied Keith singing on the small stage. Brian also, at one point, sat on the edge of that platform, legs dangling, as his playing was featured (I’ll have to check my video to recall what song that was). C-Rod of course plays with Keith during Till Summer Comes Around and all the guys are featured upfront while Keith sings MMOU on the satellite stage. They all deserve that extra attention.

Maybe I’ll catch some flack for this but I don’t know if Standing Right in Front of You is working as well as they had hoped live (much as I love that song on the CD). I’m hoping that they might try I’m In or My Heart is Open or Why’s It Feel So Long instead. Or maybe bring back a little more conversation and a bit of cover song? Just a few words about funny things on the road, or about Nic or Sunday would mean so much!!

Keith did a searing, wailing, wrenching two and a half minute guitar solo in Til Summer Comes Around!! Nearly orgasmic! J I felt wrung out when he finished and let out an almost involuntary “Holy cr_p!!” WOW. Happily the man did a good part of I Told You So from the sidestage platform in front of my seat and my section gave their all in singing, dancing and gesturing back at him. He did a little of the ITYS percussion by slapping his guitar. After Kiss a Girl there was particularly loud and sustained applause and cheering and Keith joked “Thank you so much. I feel like I am on American Idol!” Hee hee. Keith treated Charleston to their own little improvised song before Raining on Sunday (I'll upload a clip) - he's obviously enjoying this little bit of personalization of the concert.

During the evening I felt a little sense of time pressure for some reason. It seemed like Zac Brown was a little hurried and ended a little early. Keith did not leave the stage during You Look Good in My Shirt so that number was shorter!! And the pause after Somebody Like You before the encore songs was definitely brief last night. Maybe Keith was a little under the weather (I saw Brian and Jerry punching his arm during the evening in kind of a supportive gesture) or maybe it is rough breaking down the show, driving 4 hours through mountains and getting it all set up again for tomorrow night. Didn’t they say setup took about 8 hours? So it was a good night that had some special highlights (like that guitar solo) but some things seemed just slightly off. Maybe it was a ‘first night back’ phenomenon and they will be fully in gear tomorrow in Roanoke.

Off on another concert roadtrip in the morning - to "almost heaven" West Virginia tomorrow night and then the Roanoke, Virginia show on Friday! :) I've planned meet-ups with several other like-minded fans and am looking forward to the pre-parties.

A Happy Graduation Day!

On Sunday my daughter Sara received her Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana!! I am one very proud mama!!

Giddy in Green Bay: That Keith Urban High

Well I am on one of those Keith Urban concert highs – what a great night!! My daughter asked me which of our 3 concerts in a row I liked best. They all had their special high points but I picked tonight. I am feeling so good and no alcohol was involved!!

I’m now able to sing along with many of the Zac Brown songs and I broke down and got their album at the merchandise booth. Tonight they were sweet – drumming up support for an organization that works with troubled kids. Zac was funny too – at one point he had us all light up our cell phones, so I was expecting something like Keith’s cell phone wave last tour. But no, Zac stopped right there – once we had our cells open they began another song. Maybe they just wanted to feel that “Bic Lighter” aura of the audience showing support?

There was a big solid block of floor seats that were empty during the opening act which then filled suddenly when it came time for Keith. A special party perhaps? Corporate sponsors?

Keith and the boys totally rocked the house with Hit the Ground and Days Go By. Tonight they created a huge cloud of vapor that totally hid Keith’s ascent through the stage floor. Instead he suddenly burst out of the fog, like a genie out of a bottle, to the cheers and screams of the audience. So it seems they are trying for a different opening effect now. The brown plaid shirt was back (is this the first repeat?) with darkish blue jeans..

Daughter Annie is no longer timid. Tonight she was determined to get a front view of the songs performed on the satellite stage. In Green Bay females started surrounding that stage during the break between Zac Brown and Keith and security did not chase them away. So Annie staked out her spot in that crowd and stood there through the first four songs performed on the main stage. I, not being quite up to the crush of the crowd for that long, stayed in my seat until Better Half began. Then I moved to the rear of the arena and, with some quick moves while others were distracted by the screaming when Keith first began his journey down the side aisle, found a spot just 2 gals away from the microphone on the small stage. But then, in an instant, a huge crowd surged in towards the satellite stage and we were all totally smashed together, body against body. And the screaming of this group made my ears absolutely ring!! It was like the same thought entered everyone’s mind at the same second –“Keith is coming – scream as loud as you can!!!” (I didn’t scream, but I was excited about my nearly “front row” position. Oddly enough when Keith finally reached the back of the arena his security decided not to take him up the small stage steps. Instead they forcefully split apart the crowd close to me and boosted Keith up to the microphone!! Then the crowd immediately snapped back into position, body against body!! I had some trouble even getting an arm up to take photos and would periodically get rocked in one direction or another, the crowd swaying like one amorphous beast. Keith looked pretty amused by this and told us we were all crazy!

Besides the special treat of being up front for his songs on the small stage, I was surprised and delighted when, after Once in a Lifetime, Keith mentioned that they had a new album, Defying Gravity, out and he wanted to play Only You Can Love Me This Way from the album!! So he sat on his stool and sang that song oh so sweetly just 4 feet from me – so wonderful! (except for those dozens of bodies also trying to get 4 feet from Keith!), followed by Making Memories of Us. Of course the crowd once again went nuts as Keith handed off his guitar and left the small stage. Although I’m sure he was touched by many many hands it didn’t seem to be the aggressive grabbing this time. As I walked smiling back to my seat I can’t tell you how many gals were standing there looking stunned, trembling, crying, holding out the hand that had made contact, or just exclaiming in amazement that they had been THAT close to Keith!! Lots of happy happy fans!! Daughter Annie had made her own contact with Keith’s sweaty arm J and was ready to go again if the opportunity arose during You Look Good in My Shirt! ( it didn’t – he went to the other side of the arena).

Back up on the main stage Keith and the guys next played the three in a row from Defying Gravity with one change that I noticed tonight. Although they began Til Summer Comes Around with the video panels forming a low ceiling over the vapor filled stage, during the song the panels lifted, still positioned horizontally but higher now so that the audience could better see the intricate designs being shown on them.

I Told You So gets everyone singing again. I don’t think that I’ve mentioned that during the final percussive closing bars of the song Keith leaves the stage, but a camera (filming now in black and white) follows him down the steps as he towels off some of the sweat and under the stage, where on the final beat comes face to face with the camera for an instant and then the screen goes black. Very interesting ending! This was followed by the half dozen or so videoclips of fans performing You’ll Think of Me as a lead in to Keith singing this song from a stool on the catwalk.

For the second time this week some silly fan toss a bra up on stage towards Keith. Once again he responded like it was a dead rat, gingerly using the head of his guitar to nudge it out of the way, clearly indicating that he wanted nothing to do with it. Good for him!

During Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me, just after Keith kneels on the stage edge with Brad and Brian, playing that distinctive bridge, Keith got silly and leaned in to go nose to lens with the camera filming them, making a funny sideways face at the audience.

Before You Look Good in My Shirt Keith went back to his series of classic guitar riffs, including a couple new ones I couldn’t place. I’ll post my videoclip and maybe one of you will recognize the last couple right before YLGIMS. (In Chicago he included the theme from the Pink Panther in his series – it had been a while since I heard him play that bit!!)

Once again tonight Keith treated us to a little improvised song, just for Green Bay, after he had strolled out on the catwalk to sing Raining on Sunday. I don’t think I can quote it exactly but something along these lines:

Went out riding on my motorcycle today

And the wind nearly blew me right off!

It was a little bit chilly

But this state is sure pretty

During the closing song, Days Go By, someone near the right hand ramp offered Keith a big bouquet of white flowers when he came over to that side of the stage. He not only came down the ramp to accept them, he managed to give the woman a nice hug without a break in the song!

Click here for one video that could not be uploaded here for some reason.

Keith Urban Gets Love Chicago-Style

Sorry to be a little slow posting but 2 late concert nights and 6 hours of driving from St. Paul to Chi-town left me one tired puppy last night, and then this morning we headed to Green Bay. It is past midnight again so I hope I make sense here.

The Zac Brown Band is growing on me. Besides their single hits I really like what they call their “summer song” (toes in the water, ass in the sand…) and also a song written while they were in Byron Bay (Australia) about being “free as we’ll ever be” (sorry I don’t know actual titles) into which they blended a little Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic last night. And then their reggae beat song into which they incorporate a little of Marley’s One Love. I think I will pick up one of the autographed CDs they have at the show.

Take Back the City (which signaled the start of Keith’s show out east) has been replaced by My Love Opens the Door to Your Heart the last two nights. An appropriate lyric to lead into this show, no? Allstate Arena is a little bit smaller venue with no nosebleed seats. The satellite stage only had a small amount of floor space around it and it was partially surrounded by the sound mix area fence tonight.

Tonight Keith wore dusty brown jeans and a brown plaid shirt, shirttails out, which had a metallic thread running through the plaid, so it did sparkle a little all over. His eyes looked a little tired but otherwise he looked great. Chicago just loved him to bits! The entire arena was on their feet for the whole 2+ hours, singing loudly, totally into to it. Keith reminded the crowd "The last time we were here we played a place called Joe's (cheers). Now we have a damn good Friday Illinois Night!"

Allstate Arena and its Ticketmaster seating charts are notorious for mistakes. Last tour floor section 4 was much farther back than pictured so there were quite a few people disappointed with their seats. This year section 4 was “left floor” when I bought the tickets but it became center floor last week when they suddenly changed the seating chart online! So my daughter Annie and I were in row 20 in line with the centerstage mic and catwalk. Pretty good in terms of closeness, but too many moving heads to shoot good videoclips most of the time. The debate about whether floor seats or low risers seats are better continues.

Annie is sometimes a bit timid on her own, but has been following Mom’s rather disinhibited lead during our 3 day Keith Urban Road Trip. Tonight as Better Half was being performed we slipped out of our row 20 seats and walked towards the back of the arena just as Keith was leaving the main stage. We weren’t quite quick enough to get to one of the limited spaces on the front side of the satellite stage, but we did score spots on the fence surrounding the rear of the stage, perhaps 8 feet away from Keith. We all know that the “back view” is nothing to sneeze at! : ) He did turn to face us occasionally so we were more than happy to be there. We had a close-up view of him performing Once In A Lifetime (with a bit of a special ending) and Making Memories Of Us. No sign reading tonight. When he finished on the small stage Keith turned over his guitar to his crew (which he hasn’t done before), so that he could be more closely surrounded by his body guards during the trip back to the main stage this evening. In fact they almost made a pretty tight “Keith sandwich” (body guard-Keith-body guard) to avoid some of the head grabbing of last evening. Because of that his return to the stage was much faster than yesterday.

I don’t think I have mentioned that Keith has incorporated, in the production, a couple of links, if you will, to the LPATWCT tour. We see a colorful silhouetted fiddler (Brad?) on the video screens (a la Shine) towards the end of If Ever I Could Love and then we see the large “cracked” heart of LPATWCT, in red this year, during the “a beating, braver heart” lyrics of that song. These spark a special familiarity and recollection of other wonderful concert nights in those who enjoyed the previous tour.

When it is time for Raining on Sunday Keith gave us some really lovely, new melodic guitar play and then, again, a very percussive intro to ROS as he walks down the catwalk. But then he begins improvising a sweet little song for us:

Are we in a singing mood Chicago?
Are we feeling good Chicago?
It feels real good to be here with you on a Friday night.
At the Allstate Arena everybody’s looking good and I’m feelin’ alright
I’m kinda making this up as I go along
But I gotta good feeling that with you there’s no way I can go wrong!

(and that last line is really the truth in Chicago!) I guess he could feel the love the crowd was radiating.What a treat!

The after show interactions with the audience have gotten longer this week (although not as long as last year). Keith goes from the center catwalk to each of the side platforms, bowing, saluting and thanking the audience, slaps hands along the stage edge and small catwalk, signs a couple autographs. The guys toss out picks, wristbands and drum sticks. And then they are off. I can only imagine that Keith must collapse once he winds down a little with all the incredible energy and stenuous physical work that he puts in the show.“Cardiovascularly challenging” was how he put it, but it is so much more than that! Even I collapse (but then I have very sweet dreams!).