A few thoughts about the Keith Urban concert.

Prages

Prages

User Error
1. HOLY CRAP!
2. That isn't country music.
3. HOLY CRAP!









It was a great show. The opening band, The Zac Brown Band was okay, not great. Zac Brown himself was pretty impressive, but the other members of the band weren't quite up to his caliber.

Keith Urban was probably one of the top 10 best live performances I've ever seen. His band was top notch, his singing was top notch, and his guitar playing was in a word, breathtaking. They did one song where you could close your eyes and swear you were listening to David Gilmour in his prime on a good night.

The show itself was stellar. Great light show, great mix. The only complaint I could make about the mix was that his vocals were a little low in places.

There were 6 1/2 stacks, 2 combo amps, and 2 410 bass cabs on stage. I think the 1/2 stacks were 2 Mesas, 2 /13's and 2 Marshalls. Guitar tones were supurb. He played a different guitar on almost every song. Mostly LPs, LP Jrs, and a flamed top Tele. He also played acoustic on several songs.

Our seats were in the 8th row of the lower level, straight back from the stage. During the show, he came off stage, walked down the aisle (while ripping a kick ass guitar solo) and got up on a mini-stage right in front of us. He did two songs on the mini-stage.

Two of his band members are also from WV...one of them from a town just a few miles away from where we live.

It was a great show. Another of my co-workers took the other pair of tickets and had a camera, so I will hopefully have some pics if she ever figures out how to email them.
 
Sounds like fun. Never listened to the guy but I may have enjoyed the show. There ARE a few country tunes I admit to liking, the ones that lean more towards rock can be pretty cool. But I dont know anything about kieth urban.
 
Chihlidog said:
Sounds like fun. Never listened to the guy but I may have enjoyed the show. There ARE a few country tunes I admit to liking, the ones that lean more towards rock can be pretty cool. But I dont know anything about kieth urban.
Click to expand...

I only recognized a handfull of songs all night, but it didn't matter. He was VERY good.

There were a lot of similarities between his show and the Bon Jovi show Mrs. P and I saw in '06. The biggest difference was that Keith Urban pulled it all off flawlessly.

It was in no way a country concert.
 
I've only seen him live at an outdoor festival so we really didnt get the full impact of the show.

I do listen to a lot of country music or music that calls itself country or whatever so I am pretty familiar with him. He gets a lot of respect from players of all sorts of music. I read a comment someone made about his ability to play very complicated riffs while singing. Someone had bought my wife a dvd of a concert he did so I was watching for that specificall and he certainly does play some great stuff and makes it look very easy.

He just did a duet with Brad Paisley on Brad's last album and it was great and the video is hillarious. It starts out with the two of them trying to play Stairway to Heaven and something else I can't remember right now but playing it poorly like they were kids just learning. Later in the video it has kids playing thier guitars. I thought it was cool. The playing in that song is pretty good but a little more subdued than I would have liked. I am guessing they could have gone wild.

That tele he plays is cool too. I think he took the neck pickup out so there is just a hole there.

Glad you liked the show. I'd like to get a chance to see him indoors sometime. From live videos I have seen, he does have some great energy.
 
Johnny N. said:
I read a comment someone made about his ability to play very complicated riffs while singing. Someone had bought my wife a dvd of a concert he did so I was watching for that specificall and he certainly does play some great stuff and makes it look very easy.

That tele he plays is cool too. I think he took the neck pickup out so there is just a hole there.

Glad you liked the show. I'd like to get a chance to see him indoors sometime. From live videos I have seen, he does have some great energy.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there were several times that he was ripping solos and singing at the same time, and on almost every song, he'd be doing really tasty fills all through the song. His acoustic playing was just as good as his electric playing. Even Mrs. P leaned over at one point and said "My God, he really is a guitar player, isn't he?"

The Tele did have a neck pickup. It looked like an American Deluxe to me. Had top binding, flame maple top, 6 saddle American style bridge, maple fretboard. Kind of a Sienna Sunburst color. Very nice.

Yeah, the light show they can pull off at arena shows nowadays is pretty phenomenal, and his was one of the best I've seen.
 
Johnny N. said:
He just did a duet with Brad Paisley on Brad's last album and it was great and the video is hillarious. It starts out with the two of them trying to play Stairway to Heaven and something else I can't remember right now but playing it poorly like they were kids just learning. Later in the video it has kids playing thier guitars. I thought it was cool. The playing in that song is pretty good but a little more subdued than I would have liked. I am guessing they could have gone wild.
Click to expand...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ7iaYKUrBM"]YouTube - Start A Band - Brad Paisley (with Keith Urban)[/ame]
 
Gotta throw this one here too - I love this song. I'd love to catch a live show from him, but I know Mrs Aahzz would not accompany me, she can't take much twang at all....

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ5qU8Atxjk"]YouTube - Keith Urban - I Told You So[/nomedia]
 
Aahzz said:
Gotta throw this one here too - I love this song. I'd love to catch a live show from him, but I know Mrs Aahzz would not accompany me, she can't take much twang at all....

YouTube - Keith Urban - I Told You So
Click to expand...

There really wasn't any twang. I really didn't hear much, if any country in his show. It was a very good pop/rock concert.

And I think the song that sounded like David Gilmour was called 'Til Summer Comes Around. I could be getting it mixed up though, but I thought the lyrics mentioned 4th of July on that one, and that's the song that Google returns when I search for Keith Urban 4th of July.

Honestly, I've been to country concerts. I grew up listening to The Oak Ridge Boys and Alabama. I've seen them numerous times. I've seen Travis Tritt, Diamond Rio, Little Texas, Reba McIntyre, Brooks & Dunn....

Keith Urban does not do a country show.
 
I'm glad the show was good. Like I mentioned - he really is a classic rock guy pretending to be country.

He also paid his dues. Even with his model looks, he played bars and clubs in NashVegas for about 7 years before he got his recording contract.
 
Prages said:
There really wasn't any twang. I really didn't hear much, if any country in his show. It was a very good pop/rock concert.

And I think the song that sounded like David Gilmour was called 'Til Summer Comes Around. I could be getting it mixed up though, but I thought the lyrics mentioned 4th of July on that one, and that's the song that Google returns when I search for Keith Urban 4th of July.

Honestly, I've been to country concerts. I grew up listening to The Oak Ridge Boys and Alabama. I've seen them numerous times. I've seen Travis Tritt, Diamond Rio, Little Texas, Reba McIntyre, Brooks & Dunn....

Keith Urban does not do a country show.
Click to expand...

I agree that Keith Urban isn't country...I've tried to play some of his stuff for Mrs Aahzz - she hears twang there....
 
Denverdave said:
His CD's have a bit more 'twang' than his shows do. Kinda required to get any airplay.
Click to expand...

Ah, that'd make sense. No matter what, if I'm going to see him, it's likely to be by myself - and I'm OK with that, I actually like going to shows alone....
 
Last edited:
the last CD I bought was one of his... I would not mind seeing him live... thanks for the review.
 
Last edited:
I have to say, I am neither a country fan or a big solo guitar girl. But he really did do a good job. He really played the guitar and his band really was aces. There was a lot of talent up there. I really was impressed.

I probably would have had more fun, had I known any of the songs, but since I didn't, I was just listening to new stuff. It was really good. Still probably not my full cup of tea for music, but it was good.

The crowd was pretty entertaining as well. biggrin
 
markwein said:
I'll have to check out some Keither Urban. I'm already a huge Brad Paisley fan...
Click to expand...


I'm a little more familiar with Paisley than I am with Urban.

Mrs. P asked me who was the better guitarist between the two of them last night.

I think Paisley is probably the better technician, but I think I like Urban's style a little more. There's no doubt that both are among the best touring popular guitarists out there, I think I like Urban's blues/rock influenced style more, but that's based on having only heard Brad on CDs and having seen Urban live.

I will say this, though. When Urban was on the mini-stage doing the acoustic number, there was one chord that he played that looked like an E fingered with the D form like this:


4
5
4
2
x
x

And then he left the index finger on the 2nd fret of the D string and slid the other fingers up two frets....while he was singing...without muffling a single string....repeatedly.

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure he was capo'd at the first fret, but still, it was a hell of a stretch and it left me scratching my head.
 
Prages said:
I'm a little more familiar with Paisley than I am with Urban.

Mrs. P asked me who was the better guitarist between the two of them last night.

I think Paisley is probably the better technician, but I think I like Urban's style a little more. There's no doubt that both are among the best touring popular guitarists out there, I think I like Urban's blues/rock influenced style more, but that's based on having only heard Brad on CDs and having seen Urban live.

I will say this, though. When Urban was on the mini-stage doing the acoustic number, there was one chord that he played that looked like an E fingered with the D form like this:


4
5
4
2
x
x

And then he left the index finger on the 2nd fret of the D string and slid the other fingers up two frets....while he was singing...without muffling a single string....repeatedly.

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure he was capo'd at the first fret, but still, it was a hell of a stretch and it left me scratching my head.
Click to expand...

Very much agreed. Paisley is a bit better technically but I prefer Urban's music, as it's a whole lot more rawk.
I'd really love it if he did a less radio-friendly proper classic rock album (as in more like his live shows), I'm sure that would fookin rule.
 
Prages said:
I will say this, though. When Urban was on the mini-stage doing the acoustic number, there was one chord that he played that looked like an E fingered with the D form like this:


4
5
4
2
x
x

And then he left the index finger on the 2nd fret of the D string and slid the other fingers up two frets....while he was singing...without muffling a single string....repeatedly.

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure he was capo'd at the first fret, but still, it was a hell of a stretch and it left me scratching my head.
Click to expand...

Yowza!

I can maybe (maybe) get one fret on a good day - two will never happen. That is one heck of a stretch...
 
I'm going to have to check out some more of Urban's stuff. I was a really big Paisley fan, still kinda am just got a little bored with modern country, so I know he's a monster player. I keep hearing the same about Urban but never get around to checking him out.

Btw Paisley's cover of sharp dressed man is impressive in a twang meets blues-rock way.

Brad Paisley - Sharp Dressed Man on CMT
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top