Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman Updates 08/14/10

Keith Urban concert review, August 13 2010, Iowa State Fair, Des Moines Iowa

Blog post by Sophia Ahmad • sahmad@dmreg.com • August 13, 2010



The first Friday night Grandstand show of the 2010 Iowa State Fair was a time to throw back a cold one, hear an idol and see a star.

Country music singer Keith Urban headlined the concert and was preceded by “American Idol” season eight winner, Kris Allen.

Urban kicked of his set with “Kiss A Girl,” and within the first few familiar guitar strums, the crowd of 10,051 was on its feet, singing along.

A few sound flubs in the opener didn’t phase the seasoned musician. His style was laid back — he sometimes pointed out to fans, other times, he stepped back from the microphone to riff and engage in some emphatic foot-tapping.“Days Go By” ended with a brief strobe-light show, then Urban slowed things down with “Stupid Boy,” the second single off his 2006 album, “Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing.”
“Good evening, Des Moines … Are we feeling alright tonight?” Urban asked, amidcheers.

“It’s not raining, that’s good,” he said looking out to the sky which flashed lighting and emanated a menacing yellowish hue minutes before.

Friday’s concert was part of a three-day break from Urban’s studio sessions. He performs Saturday at the Indiana State Fair before returning back to record new material Monday, he said in a video posted to his website Thursday.

Kris Allen opened the concert with a fresh, bold sound that especially prepped the audience for the rock component of Urban’s country-rock sound. His 40-minute set included hits like “The Truth,” released from his self-titled debut album, and a toned-down version of Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” the first song he sang on “American Idol.” “Live Like We’re Dying” was a crowd-pleaser, eliciting cheers from the stands.

Cy Chandavong, guitarist for Des Moines rock band Gimikk, was in attendance with his wife, Tina. Both are “huge” Urban fans, they said.

“My husband loves him as a guitarist. I’ve always loved his music — he sings great songs and he’s a great singer,” Tina Chandavong said.

In June 2009, Urban and Taylor Swift played to a sold-out crowd of 13,620 at Wells Fargo Arena. Footage from that show was used in the music video for “Only You Can Love Me This Way,” which was released in August that year.

Des Moines didn’t get a video shoot this time, but it still fared pretty well and was treated to an encore performance of the song.

“We shot this video right here in Des Moines!” Urban said, before launching into the ballad.





















http://twitpic.com/2eonu1: Mine and @kyrarae's goodies from the @KeithUrban concert last night!!! We're in love!

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From CMT.com's Chet Flippo, an interesting piece on labels going by a formula of acts that have recently broken through, rather than developing unique country music talent. Keith is not mentioned but Flippo reveals why it's so hard to get a chart-topping single when you're starting out and the battle every week for established artists.

"Radio has only so many slots for new songs, and it's a crowded house. These days, singles seem to take forever to climb the chart. Lee Brice's "Love Like Crazy" has just climbed to No. 5 on the Billboard country singles chart, and it has taken 51 weeks for that song to get there. That's the most extreme current example, but you see what I mean about limited room for newcomers. In 1988, there were 48 No. 1 country songs. In 2008, there were only 20."



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We've got some interesting audio tidbits from other country stars about Keith and Nicole!

Dierks Bentley talks about having a child around the same age as Sunday, and what parenthood has meant to dads like him and Keith. Click HERE to listen.

Emily West talks about Keith Urban and how little it took to get him to sing on her song "Blue Sky" and what the Capitol Nashville family means to her. She also dishes about her time on Celebrity Apprentice. Click HERE and scroll down to the 4/27/10 podcast.

Jason Aldean talks about what it was like to tour with Keith, and to sing an Eagles classic with him, but not the Dierks' way! Click HERE to listen.

Clay Walker talks about Keith Urban being his favorite current artist, the iPhone dad experience they shared, and what Nicole told his wife Jessica who was also pregnant at the 2008 ACM awards. Click HERE to listen.

























The Walkers on the ACM red carpet


And just for fun, since Nicole is gearing up for filming Trespass with Nicolas Cage, here's a clip of Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum, talking about her run-in with the actor. Click HERE to listen.