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.

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman Updates 07/28/10

07.26.2010
GUITAR JAM IN THE STUDIO


Take a listen as Keith figures out the guitar riff for a new song.




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Country Weekly

Keith & The Kids
















published July 27, 2010 by Ken Tucker

Ever dream of jamming with Keith Urban? Some lucky campers got the chance.

On July 23, Keith, a three-time Grammy award winner himself, headlined the Grammy Foundation's signature benefit Starry Night concert at the LA Tennis Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Keith Urban poses with the GRAMMY Campers
at the GRAMMY Foundation’s Starry Night benefitphoto by WIREIMAGE.COM

As part of Keith's sold-out, two-hour concert, six Grammy Camp participants were called up to the stage to perform his No. 1 hit "Days Go By." Katie Gavin of Winnetka, Ill., Savannah Meares of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Brenna Miles of La Canada Flintridge, Calif., sang background vocals; India Pascucci of Burbank, Calif., played drums; and guitarist Kristen Castro of Simi Valley, Calif., and violinist Kevin Schwarzwald of Pacific Palisades, Calif., were both featured with solos during the song.

"Having those kids onstage with us on Friday really serves as a reminder of what is possible when you're lucky enough to find your passion," Keith said in a statement after the performance. "I was so impressed by their talent and their obvious love for playing."

The kids first met Keith onstage prior to the concert during his afternoon soundcheck, when he and his band worked with the campers to put the finishing touches on their performance.

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Keith Urban Encourages Kids to Be Real Guitar Heroes

* Posted Jul 26th 2010 1:00PM by Donna Hughes

Jordan Strauss, WireImage
Keith Urban was in Los Angeles on Friday (July 23) to headline the Grammy Foundation's Starry Night show, which benefits the Grammy in the Schools music education programs for high school students. Keith says it's very important to have music programs in schools, and notes that one of the reasons he wanted to lend his time and talents to the program was because of his life-changing relationship with music.

"I feel really fortunate that I got to start at such a young age," Keith explains to The Boot. "I was six when I started playing guitar and devote the 10,000-hour[s it generally takes to learn how to play]. I was able to rack that up at a good age and get professional at what I did ... I was impacted by, first of all, having an opportunity to play an instrument, which a lot of kids can do, but they don't have any access to instruments. And then if they do, they don't have access to teachers, they don't have environments that really foster that focus."

With the loss of music programs in many schools, Keith feels very strongly about raising money and awareness to assist children in pursuing a love affair with an instrument and finding places where they can develop and nurture their passion. "There's a lot of talented kids that are just looking for that place where they can apply their being to," he says. "They're sort of born to be a guitar player, born to be a piano player, fiddle, sax, whatever it is. And all they have to do is find an instrument, and then they're off to the races ... I'm passionate about continuing that at schools where the funding cuts off the arts and the dramas."

The saucy Aussie also feels passionate about kids actually practicing a real instrument as opposed to video games, and to actually create as opposed to imitate. "It's really important for the kids to put in the time," states Keith. "Right now, we're seeing a lot of kids with 'Guitar Hero,' and I'm not dissing 'Guitar Hero,' but it's not a great use of hours and hours and hours of time ... it's not about 'I've got to create. I want to create. I'm an artist, and I want to create.' Hopefully, getting involved in this [program] will allow kids to be able to create and have the right thrust for this."

Next, Keith will take his passion to the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, Ca., on Wednesday, July 28.


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KC Masterpiece Youtube videos






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"I'm In" Keith's current single, moved up to the #4 spot on the Mediabase charts!

Mediabase


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It was reported Cameron Diaz bought a home in Los Angeles in the same neighborhood as Keith and Nicole. Those really in the know know the Urbans have a home there (despite the skeptics' lies) and it's the same community as a very famous older American actress whose residence has been known for years! Haters, you have no clue!

And speaking of having no clue, there's nomorefan!

Nicole and Keith were spotted seeing Salt, the new movie with Angelina Jolie

JustJared

nomorefan: The paps knew to hang out at some random movie theater in Sherman Oaks . . . yea right!


Clearly nomorefan doesn't know anything about LA. The theater was at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a large shopping complex where celebrities are photographed. How uninformed can one poster be? If you think a cd should cost as much as a kitchen appliance, Kate Spade sunglasses, or a laptop, you might be as dense as nomorefan!

Or you might be as idiotic. For example, E! tried to make issue of the dress Nicole wore to the movies but the readers weren't having any of it!

Caption Nicole Kidman's Granny Style

Normally we don't read E's "fashion" pages but a reader sent this in and we knew the skeptics would love to see the results, especially immature Mimosa.

Mimosa thinks every tweet about Nicole and Keith is coming from Nashville. If she's too dense to figure out how to tell where the tweets are coming from well we can't help her.

But here's a great tweet from the Co-Director of the Toronto Film Festival. He was comparing TIFF films to drinks

cameron_tiff: RABBIT HOLE = pinot noir about 11 hours ago via web



But here's some more tweets from "Nashville"! Enjoy!

jvhdior: Sitting next to Nicole Kidman at the fountain coffee shop at the BHH. Love my life. #fancyallthetime 2:31 PM Jul 26th via UberTwitter

johnnywaiver: In line for Keith Urban Concert. (@ Bradley Center) http://4sq.com/6s3tq7 about 13 hours ago via foursquare

nsure_nvest: Enjoying Keith Urban in concert in Milwaukee with 10,000 of my Northwestern Mutual buddies! about 12 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®


TyMatthews: Keith Urban is doing work in Milwaukee. The energy is contaigious http://twitpic.com/29b62a about 10 hours ago via Twitpic


mwholbrook: Got done with a private Keith Urban concert for Northwestern Mutual. I underestimated your talent as a musician. I apologize & am now a fan. about 8 hours ago via web


ClayWalker: @KeithUrban i didn't know u were still a teenager...LOL...how's the little "BEE"...cw about 8 hours ago via web in reply to KeithUrban