On Thursday night, Keith Urban's Ripcord World Tour took him, Brett Eldredge and Maren Morris to the Staples Center where they put on an incredible show. I can confidently say that last night I also saw the most cowboy boots I've seen in a while.
Maren Morris kicked off the night followed by Brett Eldredge, who jumpstarted the night with an electric energy singing "Lose My Mind." While I'll admit before last night I was only vaguely familiar with Eldredge's music, I now see what I've been missing out on. Eldredge's vocals shone throughout and he gave off the impression of being such a genuine person. He was so excited to be in Los Angeles, and boy was the crowd excited he was there.
Eldredge is quite the heartthrob. The women in the crowd were swooning. For "Drunk On Your Love" he started throwing roses to people in the audience, which was a truly sweet touch. His song "Wanna Be That Song" is heart-melting, and now a favorite of mine.
Other standouts from his performance: "Mean to Me" and "Beat of the Music." Eldredge has fun songs listeners could conceivably line-dance to and other more slow, romantic songs; but above all, I really appreciate his lyrics. They're well-thought out and meaningful. You could say Eldredge's southern twangy intonation is irresistibly endearing.
The country sweetheart's set list had him on stage for close to an hour and really riled up the crowd for Keith Urban. The crowd went wild for the New Zealand-born Australian, Keith Urban, when he took to the stage and started his stellar performance with "Gone Tomorrow (Here Today)." Urban seems to be ever the rocker and definitely infuses a lot of those vibes into his country music. Urban played an eclectic range of his music, but the majority of his songs were from his latest album, "Ripcord."
Urban looked as though he was having a fantastic time up on stage and the crowd was grooving and feeding off of that energy; the feedback loop made the concert's atmosphere phenomenal. And Urban is an incredible performer. He really knows how to command the stage and engage the crowd so that everyone can see him and have a great time.
What I thought was just awesome was that Urban and his band so wanted everyone to enjoy themselves that they went to a small stage toward the back of the arena to connect with fans that weren't close up. Urban indicated that they like to do this for two reasons: 1) He started his career performing on small stages and likes to return to those roots, and 2) Urban likes to comically ask: "Now who's got the best seats in the house?" And to top that off, he took one of his guitars he was playing, autographed it, and gave it to a fan near the stage. Now that's better than any gift-shop T-shirt or keychain. What an incredible memento.
To further surprise fans, Brett Eldredge came out and sung "Somebody Like You" with Urban, and then the craziness began. Urban and Eldredge approached the camera right off stage and put on a show – in extreme zoom. They got very close to the camera and started fooling around and having fun. From camera interaction to audience interaction, a student had a sign saying that she'd ace her midterms if she could sing onstage with Urban. He invited her onstage and she requested they sing "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, so that's exactly what they did.
Another highlight: Urban brought out Nile Rodgers to perform "Sun Don't Let Me Down." The performance was incredibly dynamic as the two moved with the beat and had fun with the song. Plus, there was a disco ball, which always makes things 10 times more fun.
Nile Rodgers commented that Keith Urban is such a true gentleman, and based on his performance and interaction with the audience, I believe it. He wanted to make sure that every single person in the room was having a good time, not just the people in the front row. And let me tell you, they were. Fans new and old were dedicatedly singing along and dancing. Urban was in his element, and it was plain to see that Urban is a natural musician and rockstar.
I enjoyed all of the songs performed, but my favorites were (amongst others): "Somewhere in My Car," "Cop Car," "Sun Don't Let Me Down," "Little Bit of Everything," and "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16." While I was disappointed that some of my favorites weren't played, like "Come Back to Me," when an artist has such an extensive catalogue of music, it's impossible to play everyone's favorite songs.
Urban was onstage for about two hours. The show kept going…and going…and going. It was amazing. And just when you thought the band had left for good, Urban came back out for an encore and performed three more songs and for most of it, there was no fancy lighting or special effects. Just a man and his guitar. It's wonderful going to a concert where the artist's performance doesn't inhibit their singing abilities.
It was also refreshing to see how gracious and thankful Urban was to be there. You'd think that someone who's achieved such success might let it change them, but even after so many years in the limelight, he showed such genuine appreciation for the crowd.
Before the show, I'd heard that a Keith Urban concert is not to be missed because he's such a phenomenal live performer. And after seeing his performance first-hand, I agree 100 percent. It was definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to because of the fun energy. You can dance to Keith Urban's music and when you see him rocking out on stage with his guitar, it makes you dance even more. While I'm not a traditional fan of country music, I really like Keith Urban (and now Brett Eldredge). Perhaps that's because Urban's music doesn't sound completely like traditional country music and some of his songs definitely have rock-infused vibes. Whatever it is, keep up the good work, Urban.
Not only is Keith Urban an engaging performer and vocalist, but he has a wonderfully kind personality that shines through onstage. Urban's stage presence is dynamic and when you watch him perform you know he was born to be a musician. There's no question this talented Australian country artist is the full-package and delivered a 5-star performance.
Reach Staff Reporter Emily Deissler here.
Annenberg Media