RYMAN MARCH 2005

Friday night, we saw quite a few celebrities in the audience...Dan Huff, Wynona, members of Pin Monkey, Mark, Keith's former bass player and others... Well, that set the tone. I mean Keith put on a performance like no other! He played over 2 hours for us. And gave us his heart in every song. Teena, it was phenominal! He opened every song with an intro like I have never heard and ended playing on and on and on... He is absolutely the best at adlibing right there on stage and going on and on with his music...painting that picture for us, with all colors...OMG!...how can anyone do what he does so beautifully on that instrument....it sings, it cries, it dances, it struts...it brought me to tears several times....I had chills many times....I lost my breath...I held my breath...I danced on and on and on and on right there in my little space...Man, his music goes straight into my soul...it was just the most awesome, sweetest thing...I did not want it to EVER end...
Anyway, aside from that...for these shows, Keith had a surprise guest for us each night. Thursday night he had Kenny Chesney drop by. Funny, he had joked that he was trying to get Martha Stewart, but she was stuck in her house and couldn't get out : ) So Kenny came in a pinch. The crowd erupted when he walked out onto the stage. They joked around and Keith had a hard time singing...he was laughing so much : ) Kenny was so cool to do that...they must be great friends. Friday night, his guest was Mindy Smith. Keith told us how he cannot get enough of her cd...plays it alot. The two of them sang Dolly Parton's song, Coat of Many Colors. Then Mindy sang Come to Jesus, with Keith backing her up. It was incredible. Her voice, her passion...Keith supporting her...Awesome! Seriously, I don't know how she did it...knowing Keith was right there beside her...that must have been an awesome feeling!
Keith made this night very special for me personally...He has started this new thing during his show of turning on the lights and reading everyone's signs. I think it is a great idea...he can dedicate a part of the show where everyone can show their sign at one time and he can take time to read them one by one with the lights on and not try to read signs while he is singing a song...I just think it is good he does that. Well, I do like to make signs...it's my outlet for being creative : ) Well, Friday night, Keith actually read my sign...outloud, right in front of everyone. See, I had to make a tough decision to go to this show or not. My daughter was having her 10th birthday and you know how BIG birthdays are for little girls during this time of their life. It was a tough decision for me not to be with her but how often does Keith come to The Ryman... So anyway, I made a sign saying I had missed her birthday to come to his show...it was my way of letting him know what I gave up to come see him. Well, he asked me a couple of questions...like was this supposed to appeal to him and where my daughter was and I yelled out my answers, but he couldn't hear me. He told me to wish her a happy birthday...(and I did) But the fact that he saw my sign and it stood out enough for him to read it outloud was very special...That was pretty cool and personal! WOW!! I got to talk to him...it may have been one sided and from afar, but I got to talk to him in some sort of round about way : )
OK, back to the show...he sang all the songs he sang on the Be Here tour. Of the 2 shows of the Be Here tour that I went to, he did not sing But For the Grace of God; guess what! he added it back in during the acoustic set! It is nice having that song back in the set. I LOVE that song! He actually changed it around a bit...hard to explain it...it's different in the way he emphasizes some of the chords or "notes" on the guitar. A highlight of the show for me is when he plays The White Trailor Trash song...then breaks down on the guitar pounding it like a drum...then goes into I Hear You Knocking...that just blows me away everytime! THAT is worth just going to the show in itself! You will not hear that ANYWHERE else except at a Keith Urban concert. OH! And that reminds me. Jerry Flowers, Keith's bass player from The Ranch days has joined the band. He is so fun to watch...rocking back and forth to the beat all night long! That man has as much energy as Keith...it is good he is back...I think Keith is very happy to have him again. He is very talented. They have added Walking the Country (from The Ranch cd) to the set list. And during the acoustic set, Keith had Jerry come join him and they sang Desiree off The Ranch cd. OMG! That was incredible! Keith needs Jerry to sing that song...it is happening now! WOW! What a VERY GOOD addition he is to the team. During one of the songs...I can't remember which...Keith was opening or closing a song...I'm telling ya...he was playing out of his mind that night...he played the music by playing the frets on his guitar...with his left hand...his right hand was just resting there on the guitar...but his left hand was picking away at the frets...it was amazing...the talent that man has is more than I can even imagine! Maybe I am just naive, but I have never seen that before. It was amazing! I am so glad I was there that night to see that! WOW!!
Keith looked great! Healthy and glad to be there! Thursday night he wore that t-shirt he wore in the Better Half video...that dinosaur/monster shirt. I'm sorry, I can't remember what was on his shirt Friday night...it was brown...his bottom half was covered in jeans, our favorite piece of clothing...LOOKING GOOD! The new merchandise t-shirts are saying ALIVE IN '05...I guess that might be what the name of this tour is? Well, the night was magical in The Ryman...I think Tinkerbell sprinkled her pixie dust everywhere.... I thank God I was there and I thank God for Keith Urban!! Thanks for some great shows, Keith! As my 10 year old daughter would say...YOU ROCK!!

Keith Urban Meets His Fans at the Ryman
Kenny Chesney Makes Surprise Appearance During First of Three-Show Series

Calvin Gilbert

Despite the stacks of guitar amplifiers onstage, Keith Urban's music became more powerful during the quieter moments of his Thursday night (March 17) concert at the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville.

It was just one year ago when Urban sold out his first headlining show at the world's most hallowed venue for country music. This time around, he and tourmate Katrina Elam are doing a three-night stand that continues through Saturday (March 19). As an indication of Urban's growing popularity, he sold out all three shows at the auditorium that seats a little more than 2,300 people.

With many of his adoring female fans holding homemade signs, Urban looked up into the balcony to jokingly thank those who made the short drive from the Middle Tennessee suburbs of Smyrna, Franklin and Bell Buckle. After learning that two young women flew 450 miles to attend the concert, he asked where they came from.

"Chicago?" he said. "I think we're playing there soon, I hate to tell you."

The two fans from the Windy City will be telling their friends the trip was well worth the trouble, especially after Urban invited them onstage for a quick chat and a hug. On top of that, they -- and the entire audience -- got another huge surprise when Urban introduced Kenny Chesney as the evening's special guest.

With the exception of Chesney's involvement, Urban's concert was essentially a slightly expanded version of the shows he's been delivering on the road for the past five months. Opening with a brief acoustic snippet from the song, "These Are the Days," Urban quickly hit the electrical switch as he strutted around the stage performing "Days Go By." He maintained the voltage through favorites such as "Raining on Sunday," "Where the Blacktop Ends" and, from his album with the Ranch, "Walkin' the Country."

Moving back to the acoustic guitar, Urban was obviously having fun when he performed the redneck-themed "Homespun Love." Offering an array of guitar riffs, Urban carefully moved the instrument in front of the monitor speakers for some experiments in controlled feedback before make a segue into Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knockin'" and finally ending the song.

The power of Urban's performance was heightened with his acoustic version of his first No. 1 single, "But for the Grace of God." Stripped from the more intricate instrumentation, it was easier to become immersed in the subtleties of Urban's voice. He's a fiercely talented guitar player, but he also possesses one of the most recognizable voices in contemporary country music. That's no small accomplishment.

Bassist Jerry Flowers, another member of the Ranch, recently returned to Urban's band. During the acoustic set, they celebrated the reunion with "Desiree," a song from the Ranch's album. It was a stunning performance and a reminder that Flowers has a remarkable voice, too.

Before the acoustic segment was completed, Urban invited Chesney onstage to help him sing Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried." Chesney's comical gestures and facial expressions forced Urban to laugh his way through much of the song. It wasn't a performance that either of them will point to as an artistic peak, but that wasn't the point. It was one of those terrific "Nashville moments" where friends support friends while extending the town's reputation of Music City.

Urban's entire five-piece band returned to the stage to gradually ease back into an electric sound during the concert's homestretch that began with his latest single, "Making Memories of Us," written by Rodney Crowell. Moving through the musical wardrobe with songs such as "Jeans On" and "You Look Good in My Shirt," a night filled with singalongs hit its audience participation pinnacle with his version of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'."

Closing the regular part of the concert with "Somebody Like You," Urban and his band returned for the usual encore of "Tonight I Want to Cry," "Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me" and "These Are the Days."

Elam's set consisted primarily of songs from her self-titled debut album released in October. At the age of 21, Elam is surprisingly assured and authoritative as she works the stage and the crowd. With some memorable songs such as her debut single, "Unbreakable," the Oklahoma native and her band deserved better than the high-decibel audio mix that often overtook her vocals during her debut on the Ryman stage.

Review: Urban delights crowd on first of three-night Ryman run

By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer

On Thursday, the first night of Keith Urban's unprecedented (in modern times, anyway) three-night run at the Ryman Auditorium, cynics might have been forgiven for thinking that the room would be filled in large part with Music Row insiders who were there via freebie tickets.

Forgiven, sure, but also wrong. Urban's sold-out crowd was comprised of little girls wearing pink cowboy hats, big girls in halter tops, a grown man wearing a homemade ''if it ain't country it ain't music'' T-shirt and a Morton, Miss., woman named Rebecca Baker who said, ''He's the only guy I'll travel for, other than Bon Jovi.''

And, make no mistake, these people loved what they saw and heard. Urban's audience doesn't applaud so much as shriek. This may be due in part to his status as the dreamy, lunch-boxable Keith Partridge of country music. But it's also because Urban delivers a consistently entertaining, high energy, hit-packed show with enough guitar heroics to satisfy the six-string crowd and melodies hooky enough to hang a suit on.
''I want to thank everyone who drove from far away,'' Urban said from the Ryman's historic stage, before joking, ''There are people here from Smyrna, and from Franklin.'' There were also people there from Chicago, two of whom were invited to walk up onstage and be briefly interviewed by the man of the hour.

Anyway, there's no disputing Urban's current status as a star of contemporary, pop-leaning country music. When he introduced his superstar pal Kenny Chesney for a surprise duet on Merle Haggard's Mama Tried, Chesney's appearance further upped the star-power ante but did not distract from the crowd's adulation of Urban.

Urban has grown significantly as a vocalist, and he is among the most rhythmically gifted of lead guitar players. Where his instrumental flash used to sometimes overshadow his songs, he is now more apt to use his guitar to compliment rather than to bludgeon. Plus, he has great guitar tone and a willingness to play as a member of the band. (His group now includes former Ranch bass man Jerry Flowers and Dobro/mandolin/guitar player Chad Jeffers of Pinmonkey.)

There were moments in Urban's concert that were perhaps unduly show-bizzy. A version of Tom Petty's Free Fallin' featured an elongated, ''OK, stage left, let me hear ya'' sing-along that was just the sort of cheesy exercise in which Petty himself would never engage. But � trust us on this one � nobody seemed to mind a bit. After a slow and at-times unsteady climb to the top of the country mountain, Urban not only knows himself quite well: he also knows his audience like he knows the frets on his Fender Stratocaster. And by the time he left the stage to riotous applause, he'd given two hours' worth of top-drawer entertainment to the folks who came to see him.

Opening act Katrina Elam seems to have it all going for her: a powerful and rangy voice, a set's worth of catchy melodies, swimsuit issue-ready looks and an opening slot on Keith Urban's tour. What was she singing about, though? Her vocals might as well have been delivered in Japanese, as any English syllables were lost underneath the bluster of her capable but way-too-loud band.