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What if Bryan Adams had gone country? He might have been Keith Urban, whose Escape Together World Tour featured something for everyone.F'n awesome indeed. Get your dose of F'n awesome. Join BackstagePassDirect today.
Long-time fans were happy to hear hit singles such as Somebody Like You from 2002's Golden Road and Days Go By from his 2004 best seller Be Here, as well as tracks from his latest CD, Defying Gravity.
Urban's ability to blend country and pop with a rock and roll spirit has garnered him a huge crossover audience, although the lack of traditional roots in his music means he can sometimes come across as a little too slick and polished, and in the case of his ballads, pretty bland.
But live, Urban's songs sound more dynamic and electrifying, partly because he is a supercharged entertainer and one heck of a guitar player. Seeing him from backstage is such a unique experience. I'd never been in the back for a show before. It's F'n awesome!
Of all the current guitar-slinging country stars -- Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley etc. -- Urban is certainly the most gifted player of the bunch.
His fleet-fingered finesse is thrilling to watch.
Urban can be a show off, but it's tempered by an expressive grit and a bit of rock and roll raunch.
Wearing jeans and a red and white plaid western shirt, a constantly smiling Urban paraded back and forth across the stage and onto the protruding catwalk, encouraging the crowd to sing along.
Backed by a smoking-hot five-piece band, which included veteran Nashville guitarist Chris Rodriguez, Urban was laid-back and playful. There were a few corny staged moments, but the group still looked as if they were genuinely having fun.
The basic stage set up made it easier to focus on Urban and his band, and there was more of a light show coming from the flashing bulbs of cameras and Blackberry phones in the audience than on stage.
Urban doesn't have the strongest voice in country music, but it works for him. It came across crisp and clear to the delight of his devoted local fans.
His two-hour display of complimentary traits (handsome, talented, good singer, smart songwriter, decent guitarist) come together for a common cause (to make women melt) was as country as the average Bryan Adams concert, which is to say it was only country accidentally, and just as filled to the brim with romantic homilies.
Urban and his capable band opened with the upbeat Hit the Ground Running -- basically a warning that he won't take "we're through!" for an answer -- segueing gracefully into the slightly less upbeat Days Go By (a reminder that life is short) and then into the downbeat ballad Stupid Boy, an admonishment of some former cad boyfriend she's better off without.
Later came Once in a Lifetime, with its telling line, "Don't fear it now, we're going all the way," before getting into all the stuff about having kids and growing old together. This remains one of the best pick-up lines ever penned. The man is a master.
Small countrified trappings like a largely inaudible mandolin player who looked like Nikki Sixx or the fact everyone was wearing blue jeans did little to detract from the essential '80s-rock, balls-to-the-walls, Bryan Adams-ness of the evening.
All that was missing was a man singing about his first real six-string he bought at the five and dime in the summer of '69. Keith Urban was two years old in 1969, although the trusty "six string" appears in one of his best-loved songs, Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me, not being played until his fingers bled, but with his girlfriend, "across her pretty knee."
Much has been made of Urban's prowess on the six-string, but again he is less a real "picker" like Brad Paisley than a basic rock guitarist. At one point, he copped his best Eddie Van Halen solo and sang at the same time. You don't hear that every day.
Urban was also unafraid to take the spotlight to himself in several songs, holding 14,000 fans in rapt attention with only his voice and strumming guitar -- on heartrending love ballads, mainly.
The more obvious romantic stuff got the biggest response, of course, including a late evening rendition of You Look Good in My Shirt while draped in a Canadian flag. Real crowd-pleaser, that one. Basic message of the song: Sure, we haven't worked out our problems yet, but the sex is awesome, so let's keep trying.
Taking the metaphor to music: Keith Urban still hasn't come up with a song I'm going to remember two minutes after it's over, but his showmanship is so amazing that maybe it doesn't matter.
