Hard-working Keith Urban earns every bit of his fans’ adoration

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This article was published 20/09/2018 (2920 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s almost impossible to dislike Keith Urban.

The New Zealand-born, Australia-bred musician has long been considered a king of country music; with 18 No. 1 singles and at least one of every major music award you can think of, he’s been at the top of his game for more than a decade.

But in addition to the professional accolades, and perhaps more importantly, Urban has crafted the perfect persona as a down-home, aw-shucks, regular Joe who just happens to be a country-music superstar.

So, it was no surprise Wednesday night when Urban, 50, chose to quietly make his presence known by singing the opening lines of Never Comin’ Down from a shadowy riser at the back of the stage. And even without a flashy entrance, by the time he and his precisely ripped black jeans made their way to centre stage mid-song, much of the crowd had risen to their feet to welcome him back to Bell MTS Place after more than four years away .

The opening track is from Urban’s newest record and tour namesake, 2018’s Graffiti U. He loaded quite a few songs from that album into the hugely long setlist, including Coming Home and Drop Top which, along with The Fighter from his previous record, Ripcord, featured video appearances by all the women who duet with him on those tracks — Julia Michaels, Kassi Ashton and Carrie Underwood, respectively.

The massive, angled video screens were used creatively throughout the night, often projecting abstract light patterns and scene-setting background videos, but having the featured vocalists performing their own parts was a nice touch.

Just three songs in and Urban was deep into crowd conversation, picking out signs and customized T-shirts with his handy binoculars and spotlight, which were conveniently within arms reach. It wasn’t long before two female fans were up on stage with him, their neon-yellow poster instructing Urban to plug a local orthodontia business so their boss would give them a day off. Urban obliged, and then proceeded to call their boss on the phone to confirm he had helped the women fulfill their end of the bargain. It was a very fun and funny moment (especially when the boss, when asked by Urban why he wasn’t at the concert, earnestly answered, “I don’t care much for country music”) and personified what it is about Urban his fans love so much — he’ll do just about anything for them.

Once that very long diversion had wrapped up, Urban — quickly ditching his open denim over-shirt in favour of the tattoo-exposing tee underneath — blasted through a stream of bouncy guitar-heavy hits, including Long Hot Summer and You Gonna Fly, his signature one-sided body wiggle in full effect.

Lost in the midst of his almost overbearing charm, it’s easy to forget Urban is actually an exceptional musician. Amongst the three-chord country-pop jams, he injects complicated and precise guitar work and supports that with album-quality vocals. He knows how to put on a show, whether that’s navigating a searing electric guitar solo at the edge of the stage with his stellar band backing him up, or alone, captivating 13,000 people with a solo acoustic rendition of Stupid Boy.

Hour two rolled in with a bang in the form of Somebody Like You, one of Urban’s most popular sunny-day, windows-down tunes, and he kept the momentum going by bringing out duo Larken Poe for an explosive version of Where the Blacktop Ends. The pair of roots-rock ladies from Atlanta were an awesome addition to the set, but it seemed odd their contribution would be so brief.

Near the end of the main set, Urban made his way over to the very on-the-nose U-shaped B-stage near the back of the floor. After a sort-of-medley that felt a bit scattered, he signed the guitar he was using and gave it to a woman in the crowd. He literally took it off of his body, signed it, and gave it away.

Saint Keith strikes again.

After a non-stop two hour performance, Urban — donning one of the new Jets jerseys — returned for a solo encore of one of his older songs, 1999’s But for the Grace of God (for which he used a beautiful guitar previously owned by Waylon Jennings), and Horses, featuring opening act Lindsay Ell, who performs with Urban on the album version of the track as well.

Urban works hard. He appears to genuinely be having a great time. He acknowledges his band and road crew. He thanks his audience for staying for the encore. He remains on stage long after the show is over to autograph anything and everything tossed his way. Take his saccharine country-pop or leave it, but there’s no denying the man has more than earned the adoration he receives from his fans.

Opener Ell and her band set the guitar-heavy tone early. The 29-year-old Calgarian impressed with her blues-pop influenced style and skill as a lead guitarist during a 50-minute set. Ell is hardly a new kid on the block; she has filled opening slots for some of the biggest names in country music, including Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, the Band Perry and Brad Paisley, and her experience shows in her cool command of the large stage and audience. Vocally, there wasn’t anything too exciting going on; she’s a perfectly adequate singer, but compared to the excitement of her fiery guitar chops, her performance fell a bit flat.

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel