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Date Posted: 11:41:24 10/28/08 Tue
Author: Feathers
Subject: CHARLOTTESVILLE REVIEW posted inside - click here!
In reply to: Feathers 's message, "HOLY AFTERGLOW, Batgirls!" on 00:42:13 04/12/08 Sat

***Official Charlottesville Review***
First of all, the WEATHER was BEAUTFUL!!! Sunny and 75. Delish! The girl who sat next to me on the front row in Roanoke, “hokie97”, was two rows below me and she said she saw Keith out and about on his bike earlier in the day. Yay! I’m so glad he got to ride. Maybe that’s why he was feelin’ so good last night, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I took a friend with me, Claire, who only knew a few of Keith’s songs from the radio and that he was married to Nicole. She was more interested in Carrie, initially, simply because I think she was more familiar with the songs, but she was excited to see Keith, too. We ate at Panera in a shopping center near the arena and met up with CWalker (you may see her name credited for photos in the calendars!) and her friends there. Within ten minutes of us getting our food, Panera had 30 people in line, mostly women in “concert attire”! LOL

We parked in the $10 garage because I didn’t pre-pay online for parking, but that was okay. We had a nice two block walk to the arena and I saved about $8. The John Paul Jones Arena is basically brand new – maybe 18 months old since the first concert. It’s beautiful. The bathrooms look like something from a 5-star hotel lobby – all pretty marble and nice fixtures. The seating was comfortable and the event staff helpful. We DID find the Monkeyville table this time, and got passports stamped – yay! We met lots of nice folks in the lines outside and around us in our seats. The man seated in front of us works for the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, and he escorted Carrie for 8 days when she was in Iraq recently. That was pretty cool. He and his family had a BSE w/ Carrie at the show.

While waiting for the show to start, Jerry walked down the floor aisle in front of us to seat some of his family/friends, and I saw him and shouted “Jerry Rocks!” LOL Not loud and crazy, just enough for him to hear. He looked up at me and smiled and waved! DJ Debonair (aka Scotty) had parked his rig at the end of our row, even with the front of the stage, so we got to watch him do his thing. I think he was down in the “audio pit” near the satellite stage in Roanoke. Last night, he was in a more prominent spot. The mix last night was more hip-hop/club music and less 70s/80s rock like in Roanoke. Guess they based that on the type of crowd they expected (college age? College town?). In profile, Scotty looks like Chad Knaus (NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief). I think it was during intermission Brian Nutter walked down the aisle, too, but I didn’t see him in time to holler at him, and then missed him walking back.

I was a little worried about the big screen because they had a smaller screen up that was similar in size to the one in Roanoke where they had “size issues” and had to cut Keith’s big screen in half to fit. The JPJ is even a bit smaller than the RCC (by about 2000 seats), so I was concerned. Plus, the screen they had up for Carrie was just a bunch of little dots – kind of like the backdrop Keith used for that summer festival/rodeo tour. But that screen came down and Keith’s Urban-Tron was on full display. Hallelujah!! Wow, is that sucker amazing!!

By the time Keith came out, the place had filled in completely, tho there were still some empty seats in our section. (guess those were the $1000 e-bay tix no one wanted to pay for….) It bothered me that there were empty seats all around the arena, and a HUGE hole about 8 rows high by 12 seats wide directly in front of the small stage at the back. I knew if Keith came out and saw that he’d be somewhere between concerned and pissed. LOL But it filled in with a group that had bought a whole block of tix.

Keith arose at the back of the stage on that platform in front of the star field, and the house went nuts. OIAL, Blacktop, Shine… Rock, rock, rock! Keith sang “Lookin’ down the barrel of THURSDAY night…” and said, “We made it back, Virginia!” From the first note to the last, he was feeling that Fine as Wine Virginia Love! My friend Claire said, referring to the humongo screen, “He’s got a mighty fine smile.” I knew from that moment that she had begun the long slide down the slope into complete Urbanitis. Before the show, I had given her some background on some of the songs and stuff, RoS in particular. I told her how it used to be electric, how he used to change up the lyrics on the last verse to something, ah, more descriptive, and try to get away with it in concert because people were singing too loud to notice that he wasn’t singing “love wash our souls”, but “love ourselves sore”. Well, lo and behold, he sang “love ourselves sore”, and he didn’t hide it or disguise it (not that he could have with an acoustic version), but belted it out! Claire and I looked at each other like, Oh, my gosh, he actually said it! Then we laughed and cheered!

In that early part of the show, he saw a huge fabric sign some people were holding that read “3 Teens want hugs from you”, and he said, “Well, come on!” So down they came from the other side of the stage. Chris R broke into the guitar lead of the old Marvin Gaye song, “Let’s Get It On”, and Keith actually started SINGING it!! Holy moly! I was sorta shocked, considering it was a trio of teenagers, and considering how he’s “tamed” his shows a bit over the last two years, but he was ALL jazzed up last night. I even observed a cameo “appearance” by his “closest friend” peeking out from behind his guitar during the first two numbers. Yep, Keith was having a VERY good time! So anyway, these three girls came down on the stage, with an old curtain that they’d made into a sign, and Keith gives them each a hug. Then he asks their names: Courtney, Courtney and Taylor. They each get a second hug. Then one of the girls showed him she was barefoot because she’d taken off her shoes at her seat and wasn’t able to put them back on before being called to the stage. She said, “I left my shoes for you.” I think Keith was wondering if they would fit him or not! LOL Then they each got a THIRD hug before leaving the stage. (Three kids @ three hugs each, that’s *9* Urban hugs in less than 5 minutes for the price of a couple Sharpies. How much do you guys pay for those BSE auctions??).

The move out to the satellite stage included some new twists, as well. After Better Half (love that acoustic version!), Keith introduced Brian, Jerry and Chris R., and for each he rattled off a list of instruments they played and ended by saying, “and a little bit of singing, too,” after which each of them sang a bit of a song. Brian pealed off the first verse of “Lights” by Journey. Jerry belted out the chorus to “Believe” by Brooks & Dunn, and Chris R. crooned the first verse of “Let’s Get It On” (I think Chris was in a good mood, too! LOL), at the end of which Keith dipped into his lower register to add “Let’s get it ow-n”, sending them all into fits of giggles. Someone directly across from the small stage had a professionally-made banner/sign that said “Virginia is for Keith Urban Lovers”, and it was in the same style as the Virginia is for Lovers campaign with a stylized heart. Keith really liked that one.

MMOU was about the only song in the whole set that Keith didn’t do much with in terms of expanding it in style and volume and power as he does with most of the other songs he does live. He kept it pure and simple like the recorded version, and it came across sweet and tender. As an intro, he asked, “Any married people in the crowd tonight?” Cheers. “Any single people?” More cheers. “Anybody not saying?” Laughs and cheers!

Then he went right into YTOM – what an emotional switch between those two songs. Keith has really matured with YTOM. From his Crossroads performance (which was the first time I saw him do it “live”) until now, it seems there's so much more depth to it. Everyone asks me "is that the cat-sweater song"?? Well, yeah, and when you say it that way, it sounds so cliche' and trite, but when you see it live it's no longer cliche' but ART. Any triteness about the cat-sweater thing just falls away behind the power of Keith's emotive delivery. And I'm not talking about the "angry ending" either. I’m talking about the whole song. When I first started paying attention to it three years ago when I first discovered Keith, I was trying to decipher what the emotions were – pain, bitterness, relief, regret, what? It was complex and engaging. After a few years it kind of became a comfortable old shoe that was still very good, but after wearing it for so long I’d kind of taken it for granted. Last night, it was like a whole NEW song. Same great shoe, but with a new “soul”! I didn't get the same feeling for it in Roanoke that I got last night. Yes, he still does the fist in the air - generating loud cheering - and the ramped-up ending has come down to a 20 degree angle from a 45 degree angle (i.e. the angst isn’t as steep). It's still forceful, but it's not as blasting as it used to be. It's much more controlled and focused, and it seems directed toward something "outside" of the arena, and "outside" of Keith's life even. He still seems to draw from personal experience, and you can see his demeanor change as he wraps his spirit around the song before opening his mouth. Maybe that's why he does such a nice long intro - he needs time to wrap that cloak around him and get comfortable with it before "explaining" it to the crowd. Then he delivers it as if it's a "sad story from his past" instead of a raw nerve (as he used to do). The accompanying instrumentation from "the guys" is so beautiful, too. Chris R delivers the "wah-wah" guitar sounds from the recorded version that give it that touch of "lonely and desolate" (like the empty house in the video). The performance was masterful and I loved it, and it was more like the record emotionally.

After that, Keith stayed out at the small stage while the band went back to the main stage, and Keith was handed his gold Gibson for “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Carrie. It was VERY well done. Keith REALLY seems to enjoy live collaborations with other artists, and Carrie is no exception. His experience and confidence seem to give her the on-stage support she needs to come across as a real entertainer – something I think she lacks when she’s on stage by herself. Something about the give and take between them pulls her performance level up a little closer to his. If you’d never seen either of these two before, it would be visibly obvious that Keith is the stronger performer during the duet, oozing casual self-confidence, but also giving her plenty of room to do her thing, encouraging her with his eyes and nodding his head. His way of bringing her along is very much in the vein of a mentor and teacher, and I really like that about him – it fits him very well. I hope he has opportunity to work with other young artists in the same manner, and maybe someday with his own son and/or daughter (oh, that would be too cool…).

ITYS included the UVA Cavaliers Drumline. They were very good, very loud, and there were a LOT of them. There were a handful of girls on cymbals on the other side of the stage, and they just couldn’t stop hopping up and down with excitement! LOL When they were done and we cheered for them, they just soaked it in as if no amount of cheering for them at a football game meant anything compared to this. Congrats to them!!!

For TIWC, Keith began with some beautiful piano work. I’m so impressed with how much better his piano work is getting – seems to get better by the week. I don’t recall him being that good just two months ago in Roanoke! In the LRN DVD, he just sits down and plays that song from beginning to end, no deviations and rather methodically, and is very purposeful about where his fingers go and stuff. Now... he noodles around like an Elton John or a Billy Joel. And he engages the audience much more because he knows the song so much better now. He can concentrate more on the emotion and lyric. As much as I disliked the song when it was a single, I've really grown to love it in a new way after seeing it live, and I'm glad. (Thanks, Keith! You’re the only one who could make me see the light on this one!)

I know this is going to sound like sacrelige, but there were a few times when I even sat down – I know: Horrors! But the people in front of us were seated for the slower songs, so we didn’t need to stand to see. Plus, it was really WARM in there, so it was good to sit for a little. Of course the “warmth” may have been from all the raging estrogen in the room! About this time, my friend Claire said, “I wanna see his thighs.” Oh, sisters, she was displaying full-blown raging Urbanitis by then!! What fun to attend a KU show with someone who really “gets” it!

Soon it was time for WWWBM and SLY, accompanied by Clarence II, signaling the homestretch. Keith’s energy was peaking and he was all over the place. Up and down the catwalk, kneeling to slap hands between chords and toss away picks, showing off and goofing off. He do-si-doed around the guys on stage, and grinned from ear-to-ear the whole time. During WWWBM, we noticed him engaging someone in the front on the other side of the catwalk. Next thing you see on the big screen is this HUGE security guy lifting a teenaged girl over the rail to sit on the edge of the stage next to Keith. She had a cast on her lower leg from her knee to her toes, and it was hot pink. A Sharpie is produced from somewhere (I wonder if Keith's got the same "storage spot" as Cinderella's fairy godmother - she just reaches into the air and produces her wand with a twist of her wrist! LOL), and Keith autographed her cast. Then he stuck the mic in her face for her to sing "Who wouldn't wanna be me" at the end of the chorus, but she was in such shock she just looked at him and he laughed while the audience picked up the slack for her. Then the big burly guy lifted her off the stage and back into the crowd.

When Keith and the boys finished and took their (first) leave of the stage, the crowd was loud in its appreciation and, dare I say, lust for more! Certain sections of the risers where we were seated were removable, so we were all stomping on the metal flooring all around the arena. It was deafening, but good! Keith came back out and plopped himself at the piano again. With a “whew”, he thanked us for our enthusiasm, and said, “whatever’s in the water here, keep drinking it!” You bet, Keith! Between the warm welcome in Roanoke and the exceptional greetings in Charlottesville, I’m SURE he’ll be back this way. Don’t know when, but hopefully next year. Plus, the JPJ was designed for shows as well as basketball, so it’s probably a performer’s dream backstage!

He gave only the briefest intro to GIRTT, but sang it beautifully. I like the more “produced” version – “The Celebration”. To me, it’s so Keith. It takes the song from an awe-filled little “demo” about finding the right person, and turns it into an anthem for finding that Once In A Lifetime love. I like both versions, but in concert, the “celebration” version is the better choice, IMO.

Then he rocked through Better Life, simply having the time of his life on stage. At one point he was just jumping up and down like a pogo stick, and he got Brian doing it, and then people in the crowd were doing it. I was doing it! LOL How could you not? The energy was radiating off him in 10 foot swells and crashing on our beaches with wild abandon. Personally, I felt Keith’s joy of music more than once last night, and really connected with him in a way I hadn’t in Roanoke. Don’t know what it was, but maybe the adrenaline rush of winning those front row tix in February, combined with simply BEING in the front row, overshadowed my ability to “feel” any more. My tank was full, so whatever Keith was pouring out that night wouldn’t fit. But last night…. I was an Urban Sponge, soaking up each grin, each wink, every little furrowed brow, every deep breath, and each and every hum and growl. Not to mention the shoulder rolls, the foot stomps, the hip sways, the panther-like strides, and the tight torso.

“Everybody” filled the house with those long, lonely notes and Keith’s rhythmic acoustic, and I do believe we were all fully ready for our “cool down” after two and a half hours of Keith-ercize! “And if you just can’t bear to go home now then we’ll stay!” Aw, Keith, can’t you sing that for us a little sooner in the show? Also, he included something new about believing that someone’s watching over you, which I thought was a wonderful addition because I’ve lately become reconnected with “You’re Not Alone Tonight” (tho I change a few of the lyrics in my head to make it more personal). If I happen upon a YouTube vid of this, I’ll point it out to you, but for the life of me I can’t remember exactly what he sang. At the very end of the song, when he does that paradoxical snippet of “Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me”, they showed brief images of “starving kids in Africa”, I suppose to drive home the point that the “everybodys” who need “somebodys” are not all that close by or that much like us. The moment didn’t last but 15 seconds at best, and then we were all just screaming like banshees in appreciation as they took their bows and tossed all their picks and sticks into the crowd.

Wow. *sigh* Wow, again. I was spent and energized at the same time. Claire and I sat in our seats for 15 minutes watching the take down crew and waiting for the crowd to clear. We were in no hurry. The crew now has bright colored t-shirts based on their jobs (I didn’t remember that from Roanoke.) It looked like the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan! LOL As we were leaving, I stopped to say thanks and “great job” to DJ “Scotty” Debo, and he was clearly surprised that someone would do so. He shook my hand, asked for my name, and handed me a copy of his CD, which I discovered this afternoon is all euro/techno/club stuff. Not something I’d listen to a lot, but it would make great background music for a fashion show! LOL It’s actually pretty good. I told Scotty that he reminded me of Chad Knaus, which he thought was excellent! Then I asked him if he did anything else besides DJ. What I meant was, did he do anything else as a part of Keith’s crew, but he took it as “what’s your day job”? So he tells me he works for Ticketmaster. “Oh, no! The enemy!” I said. He laughed. He told me he’s familiar with the plight of the fan club members, as he does a lot of work for Echo (the company that manages the fan club). I told him how glad I was that both Roanoke and Charlottesville were “Will Call” for fan club tix and that it really made a difference in what seats the actual fans were able to get. At the end of our short conversation, I told him to say “Hi” to Keith for me and he promised he would.

On our walk back to the car, Claire and I enjoyed not only the lovely evening, but some spicy conversation about her new-found Urbanitis. A few of her comments and questions: 1) Boxers or Briefs? 2) “I like a man who can fill out a pair of jeans!” 3) “I didn’t mind when he was at the other stage. I could look at the screen and see his face, and look at the stage and see his butt. I was good either way.” 4) “Do you think my husband will mind if I wake him up for um, you know, when I get home?” She’s got it BAD!

We were hungry, so in the block between the arena and the parking lot we stopped at this all-night greasy spoon named the Villa Italia and Pancake House. Um, huh? I guess in a college town, you can get away with a combo like that! An hour later we hit the road for home. She wanted to listen to “anything Keith”, so I put in Golden Road. She really liked the pictures in the CD case! I pointed out a few tidbits about the songs, and she loved each one. When we got to “Song For Dad”, I didn’t give it any intro, but just kept quiet while she listened. You don’t really know who/what the song is about until the first chorus when Keith sings “But he loved my mother and my brother and me”, so it kinda snuck up on her. When Keith got to “a little more of my father in me” at the end of the first chorus, she said, “awwww!!” Then when Keith sings, “…You already have,” she said “AWWWW!!!!” I think she used the word “uplifting” thee or four times to describe Keith’s music. For me, it was such a cool experience to watch a complete Urban-conversion happen in a few short hours. Look for a spike in sales of Keith CD’s in Lynchburg, VA, in the coming week! LOL

This show was, for me, such a moving and enthralling experience, so much more so than I could have expected. When I woke up this morning, the “afterglow” only increased with every sip of coffee. What a night, what a show, what a performer, what a man! Good thing, too, cuz who knows when I’ll see him again. Unless something out of the blue happens, it won’t be until the next time his tour is in Central VA. I truly believe that my 2008 KU experiences will last in my heart and mind for a LONG time!

THANKS, Keith, and thanks to you guys for reading!

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