Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman Updates 09/04/10

Keith Urban proves he's worthy of entertainer of the year accolades with electric Allentown Fair performance


Alyssa Young

Country superstar Keith Urban showed thousands at The Great Allentown Fair on Friday night why he’s nominated for the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award.

“Tonight is all about you guys,” Urban said during the first of several fun interactions with captivated fans. “If you want to sing and scream and dance and completely annoy the people beside you, this is the place to be.”

The male vocalist of the year nominee kicked off a nonstop string of hit songs with “Kiss a Girl” off his 2009 “Defying Gravity” album and juiced up each of his familiar, catchy tunes with electrifying guitar solos.

He showed he knows how to rock and has a great time doing it. He smiled and laughed often, especially while engaging the audience in sing-alongs — sometimes with made-up lyrics.

“I’m making this up as I go along. Something, something, something, something that rhymes with long,” he joked. The next line was “A” through “K” of the alphabet, and he was amused when the crowd repeated after him. “You went with it, I love it.”

The lineup included “Days Go By,” “Sweet Thing” and “Stupid Boy” followed by “Where the Blacktop Ends” and “You’re My Better Half.” He slowed it down for “Til Summer Comes Around,” “Memories of Us” and “Only You Can Love Me This Way.”

When he introduced his bass player and guitarist, teasing that they also play instruments such as the bagpipes and triangle, he divulged that they can sing, too. Each impressed by belting out a few bars.

Kris Allen, the winner of “American Idol” Season 8, returned to the stage midway through Urban’s set to join him for a lighthearted rendition of John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane” (see video below).

Allen had started the show ably, with strong vocals and stage presence. Besides his recent releases currently on radio play lists, Allen pulled from his “Idol” songbook with Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and “Come Together” by the Beatles.

It was hot in the grandstand’s uncomfortable wooden seats, and at least a few ticket holders sitting in the highest rows recalled choosing seats closer to the stage than they actually received. But the conditions didn’t matter once Urban and his band began flooding the fairgrounds with their energetic rhythms.

keith urban allentown fair grandstandView full sizeExpress-Times Photo | ALYSSA YOUNGKeith Urban performs "You Look Good in My Shirt" on the grandstand at The Great Allentown Fair.
Urban got the entire crowd on its feet during “You Look Good in My Shirt,” when he ran off the stage while playing a guitar covered in color-changing lights and moved quickly through the rows of ground-level seating to climb the stairs onto the grandstand. Fans who had been enjoying the show from a distance were thrilled for the special attention.

Back on the stage, he continued with “Who Wouldn’t Want to Be Me,” “You’ll Think of Me” and “Better Life.” A rousing encore of “Somebody Like You” ended the night.

Urban has grown as an entertainer since his 2005 performance at Musikfest in Bethlehem, the year he won the CMA’s coveted entertainer and male vocalist of the year awards. He’s built a richer collection of hit songs and a more interactive show since then, so he certainly persuaded the Allentown Fair crowd he’s worthy of repeat victories in both categories.

Other show notes:

* It was funny hearing Urban say "Pennsylvania" in his Australian accent.
* Female fans didn't seem to care that he said "Memories of Us" was for his wife, Nicole Kidman. They hooted after the line, "I'm going to be there to greet you with a warm, wet kiss."
* It took much longer than normal to get to the fairgrounds due to traffic resulting from another tragedy Friday afternoon on Interstate 78.* Urban introduced his drummer as "born and raised in PA," but a YouTube video search turned up a clip from an Indiana concert during which Urban, coincidentally, said the drummer was an Indiana native.
* The show kept the complete attention of this reviewer's 5-year-old son from start to finish. He sang along and clapped and never lost interest despite the show continuing well past bedtime.


For more photos click HERE


Keith Urban rocks crowd

For an hour and 40 minutes Friday, country superstar Keith Urban kept an Allentown Fair grandstand enrapt with just his voice and guitar.

Yes, Urban had a three-piece band behind him. And his stage had a huge video screen and the usual smoke and lights. But it's not likely the crowd of 8,744 paid any attention to it any of it while Urban was singing.

The Australian Urban was that engaging. Through 17 songs, he sang loose and with abandon, soft and sensitive, and fast and fun. And his guitar playing was at least as good as his voice – and often an inspired match. Early in the show, on "Stupid Boy," his touching vocals paired perfectly with the equally aching whine of his guitar.

Urban had the crowd from the opening "Kiss a Girl," which already had them singing along. Actually, he probably won them earlier by playing Billy Joel's "Allentown" over the speakers right before he came on stage.
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But he had them so completely that at one point, after letting the crowd sing a good chunk of "You're My Better Half,' he sang nonsensical words only to have them echo it back, then did the same with the A-B-C's.

"It was a great time," he imagined the crowd recounting the show. "We went to see Keith Urban and sang the damned alphabet." Earlier, he had told the crowd, "You guys are in a good mood; I can tell." And later, "mighty fine singing!"

But Urban earned that devotion. By the sixth song, less than a half hour into his set, his hair already was matted with sweat. Later, during a seven-minute "You Look Good in My Shirt," he ventured through the crowd and into the grandstand, where he stood singing and playing, then played as he walked back through the crowd. (When he had a woman sing a chorus, the crowd even cheered her.)

The secret to Urban's success may be that, except for an occasional twang, he's essentially a rocker. "Where the Blacktop Ends" was straightforward rock – and harder rock at that. Even his solo on the more country "Sweet Thing" was a hard-rock solo – he lifted his leg in a swimming motion as he played.

But perhaps the best part was a three-song slow section, with him on a stool with an acoustic guitar, in the middle of the show. "Making Memories," which he introduced as "a song for my wife" (actress Nicole Kidman), was lovely, with its soul-bearing lyrics. When he sang the line about meeting her in the afterlife with a "warm, wet kiss," the crowd roared.

The night's best song was "Til Sumer Comes Around," on which Urban was in very good voice. It captured the melancholy of the late summer night, with its lyrics about Ferris wheels, and mournful guitar solo. And talk about special effects: A cool breeze wafted through the arena as if on cue.

He brought his opening act, "American Idol" winner Kris Allen, on stage for a nice cover of John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" – which fit Allen pretty much perfectly; that's the musical style he needs to follow.

He closed with "Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me," the crowd singing the whole first verse, then — again seated and acoustic — "You'll Think of Me," and finally "Better Life."

He came back for an encore of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be With You" [Although, judging by the ages of the crowd, they probably knew the Bay City Rollers' version better] and a rollicking "Somebody Like You," which he not only extended, but mashed up with "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)." He jumped and leaned way over backward as he played and even blew water out of his mouth.

And so strong was the crowd's applause that, two minutes after leaving stage, he came out for a second bow. "Great night, tonight, Allentown," he said, and he seemed sincere.

Allen's set of nine songs in 42 minutes often was surprisingly good. On many songs, his voice was far stronger, forceful and more disciplined than when he was on "Idol" — such as the opening "Can't Stay Away" and a thumping, gutsy cover of Kanye West's "Heartless" that segued into Coolio's "Gangster's Paradise."

Perhaps his best — aside from the aforementioned "Jack and Diane" cover — was "Alright With Me," a loose, jaunty folk-pop song that was so good, it got the audience clapping spontaneously.






Keith Urban covers Dusty Springfield's "Only Want To Be With You"!







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New York magazine already has the 2011 Best Actress Oscar race pegged as a "death match" lol

Oscar Death Match: Is This the Best Best Actress Year Ever?

Typically in these newsless final weeks of August, bloggers look ahead to Oscar season and bemoan the shortage of plausible Best Actress candidates. Not this year, though! Might 2010 be the greatest-ever year for the category? In the past week, Oscarologists Scott Feinberg and Peter Knegt both surveyed the field and found a glut of strong contenders. Already we've seen Oscar-quality performances from Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), Tilda Swinton (I Am Love), and Julianne Moore and Annette Bening (in The Kids Are All Right) — and there are plenty more where those came from.

Other likely candidates include: Lesley Manville (Another Year), Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine), and Naomi Watts (Fair Game) — all performances that have been seen and raved about at festivals.

But they'll presumably have heavy competition from Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs), Hilary Swank (Conviction), Carey Mulligan (Never Let Me Go), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Robin Wright (The Conspirator), Reese Witherspoon (How Do You Know), and Helen Mirren (The Tempest).

And, hey, if any of the above should disappoint, there's maybe Diane Lane (Secretariat), Jennifer Connelly (What's Wrong With Virginia), Bryce Dallas Howard (Hereafter), and Diane Keaton (Morning Glory).

For more click HERE.

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For fun, here's a Jonas Brothers cover of Keith's "Somebody Like You" from their recent VA Beach show

Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman Updates 09/03/10

KU interview with The Morning Call, a publication for the Allentown PA area. Keith is playing The Great Allentown Fair tonight with Kris Allen. You can also check out the fair's press release HERE.

Keith Urban Ready For Anything

Country star quickly follows blockbuster 'Defying Gravity' with new disc
September 01, 2010|By John J. Moser, OF THE MORNING CALL


No one would blame country-music superstar Keith Urban if he took a little time before releasing his next album.

It's been just 17 months since his blockbuster "Defying Gravity" was released — meaning a new disc would the shortest time between albums in a career that has seen all five of his U.S. releases hit platinum sales.

The disc also just gave him another high-charting single, "I'm In," which was at No. 2 on the country charts this week. It's the disc's fifth single, all of which hit the Top 3, and gives him an astounding 21 Top 5 country his in 10 years.

But in a recent telephone call from the Nashville airport, on his way to a show in Minneapolis (he headlines the Allentown Fair grandstand on Friday with "American Idol" winner Kris Allen), Urban says he's already more than halfway done on a new disc that will come out this year.
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"It was time for new music," Urban says in an accent that, even after 18 years in the United States, reveals his New Zealand birth and Australian upbringing.

"I've been writing quite a bit since January, and I felt like we had a strong batch of songs to go; that I was just ready to get into the studio. A lot of the time it's just a combination of do we want to and are we ready to put some new music out. And I felt like we're really, really ready."

These days, Urban seems ready for anything.

He's passed the fourth anniversary of his marriage to Australian actress Nicole Kidman and the second birthday of their daughter, Sunday Rose. And he's approaching four years sobriety after difficulty with substances during the mid-2000s, when his back-to-back albums "Golden Road" and "Be Here" sold a staggering 7 million copies total.

And it's not lost on Urban that, with peace in his life, "Defying Gravity" has been such a hit. A decade after he broke in America with "Your Everything" and then the No. 1 hit "But for the Grace of God" off his self-titled 1999 album, "Defying Gravity" was his first to cross over to No. 1 on Billboard's overall Hot 200.

"It's immensely satisfying," he says. "I just feel intensely lucky and grateful and inspired to keep making new music."

But asked how he's been able to not only continue his success, but also increase it, Urban honestly seems at a loss.

"Part of it, I think, is just I've been doing it for a long time," he says. "And country is my foundation. It's what I started out playing in Australia, and was fortunate to have a lot of success with it there before I moved to Nashville. So I think it's just having a long time to sort of figure who I am musically and what it is that I do.

"And the rest, I think, is just sheer timing. It's just luck and timing and having the right thing to say at the right time. And hopefully knowing how to say it in such a way that it connects with enough people."

When it's suggested to Urban that the soft rock element he adds to country could have put him on the pop charts in the 1970s, he doesn't disagree. But he says that rather than just a reflection of where country is today, it also shows where pop was then. He says, for example, The Eagles' 1970s albums could be country hits today.

"They certainly would be just as at home on country today, just like Zac Brown is," he says. "I don't know why things work when they do and why other times they don't. It's just timing and where everybody's at."

Asked to describe the songs on his new disc he says he finds it challenging to do that.

"I don't know. I think it encompasses whatever it is that I do. It's not a huge musical or subject departure from records I've done prior to this one. I really couldn't define it. I think it's a sexier record, but it's still a tempo record. I don't really know how to define it just yet and I guess, given that we're not finished with it yet …" he says, laughing.

He says all the new songs already are recorded and in post-production.

Urban says he won't play any of the new songs at the Allentown Fair or other dates this summer. Instead, expect hits off "Defying Gravity," such "Sweet Thing," "Kiss a Girl," "Only You Can Love Me This Way" and "I'm In," as well as his biggest hits, such as "But for the Grace of God," "Somebody Like You" and "You'll Think of Me." Also, he and Allen have been dueting on covers from John Mellencamp, Don Henley and others.

Urban says he expects to mount a full, proper tour next year.

"It's nice to get a record out before the end of the year, let people have some time to live with the record before we start touring early next year," he says.

But more than affecting how he writes, his personal happiness has affected his entire outlook on life, Urban says.

"I think for me, it's probably represented more in my love for what I do," he says. "A deeper sense of purpose and less about self. I think anybody who's had children knows that it's certainly not about 'me' anymore," he says with a laugh.

"And I think as a musician, as a songwriter, that's a great thing, because I'm trying to sort of connect people — me to them and them to themselves. And I think making a connection to people is my primary thrust for what I do."


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A behind the scenes look at the making of Nicole's VillageMall commercial




Nashville singer-songwriter Matt Wertz talks celebrity crushes. Guess who one of them is? Watch out John Mayer, you've got some competition!