By By Emilia Benton
“No Frills” was the perfect title for country singer Keith Urban’s sold out concerts held Nov. 13 and Nov. 14 at Irving Plaza in New York City’s Union Square.
The Australia native Urban and his five-member band began the two-hour show without an opening act. The crowded and tightly packed venue made it plain to see that Urban has a mostly-female fan base in New York. Many women carried handmade signs requesting kisses from the singer, all of which he enthusiastically obliged to. It’s crazy what can happen when country music comes to New York City. The guys in the audience weren’t as loud as the girls were, but they were definitely into the show.
Urban’s show consisted mostly of songs from his latest album, Be Here and 2002’s Golden Road. However, he did play two hits from his self-titled first album, which jump-started his career: “Where The Blacktop Ends” and “But For The Grace Of God.”
Urban opened with his recent hit, the energetic “Days Go By” and continued to play other up-tempo songs like “God’s Been Good To Me,” “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me” and “You Look Good in My Shirt.” This begged the question-is Keith Urban really a country star? He definitely is, but his live show is more of a rock concert with country elements rather than a traditional country concert.
Urban also showed his romantic side when performing ballads “Making Memories of Us” and “Raining on Sunday,” along with the upbeat “You’re My Better Half” and “Somebody Like You.” He also included a brilliant longer version of his downbeat hit “You’ll Think of Me,” which started off slow and built up to a tremendous turning point. While downbeat songs like “You’ll Think Of Me,” “Tonight I Wanna Cry” and “Nobody Drinks Alone,” show off Urban’s killer vocals, his overall performance radiated happiness.
Urban also paid tribute to his old band, the Ranch, by performing their hit “Homespun Love.” After performing 16 songs, Urban returned to the stage for an encore of “These Are The Days” and his current single, the hopeful and upbeat “Better Life.”
Even after selling millions of albums, Urban must have feared his audience might be more curious than hardcore. If he did, the audience proved him wrong. His eyebrows skyrocketed when the crowd immediately flipped out at the opening bars of “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me.” He didn’t even have to sing the first verse because the audience sang it for him.
Urban admitted early on that he would be winging his two shows, but nonetheless, his uncanny charisma engaged even the people in the back (scattered industry types, though most of the Nashvillians mingled in the VIP balcony). No doubt, some of them were wagering his odds at winning the Country Music Association’s (CMA) Entertainer Of The Year award-if not at this year’s awards show, then some time soon.
By the end of the show, it was hard to say if it was Urban or his dedicated fans who enjoyed themselves more. Somehow, it didn’t sound like a rehearsed comment when he spoke these well-received words: “We’ve got to come back here more often!”
Those in attendance at this well-received and energy-charged concert were probably not able to see Urban at the CMA Awards held at Madison Square Garden the very next night. He went on to win Male Vocalist Of The Year and Entertainer Of The Year.
New York City took a chance on country music last week and it seems to have turned out well. Maybe New York City will become country music-friendly soon enough and this style will have just as much of a place here as it does in Nashville.