Keith Urban Somebody Like You

Country superstar Keith Urban connects with fans on Get Closer tour

On his Get Closer 2011 World Tour, which stops Friday at Van Andel Arena, the Grammy winner takes that concept a step farther with an all-new stage production that will give him even greater access to fans.

The new production boasts a main stage as well as four smaller platforms that allow Urban to go out into the audience. His public relations team said in a release that the tour “allows Urban to connect with fans like never before.”

Touring behind his sixth studio album, the aptly titled “Get Closer,” which hit stores in November, the New Zealand-born and Australia-raised singer-songwriter and guitarist recently enjoyed his 12th No. 1 country hit with the tender ballad “Without You.”

The album follows Urban’s 2009 Grammy-winning and platinum-selling “Defying Gravity,” which produced five Top 10 hits, including the chart-toppers “Sweet Thing” and “Only You Can Love Me This Way.”

Fans can surely look forward to hearing Urban’s biggest hits Friday night, such as “Somebody Like You,” “You’ll Think of Me,” “You Look Good in My Shirt” and his latest rockin’ single “Long Hot Summer.”

Academy of Country Music Award-winner Jake Owen , who has opened the show since the tour kicked off last month in Biloxi, Miss., says the stage is like no other he has seen. “It’s really cool,” Owen said during a phone interview from a tour stop in Boston.

“This stage has sloping sides, so it’s not like a regular stage where it’s flat up front and you are six feet above everybody. This (stage) lends itself to where you can just walk right down the stage — it’s like a ramp right into the crowd.”

Incredibly enough, Owen said there are really no barriers between the performers and the audience.

“There are no security guards that stand right in front of the stage like with most tours,” Owen said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, if you want to rush the stage ... and be able to touch not only Keith, but me or our other guitar players, or guys in the band, you can do that.

Since releasing his debut album “Startin’ with Me” in 2006, Owen has been no stranger to sharing the stage with superstars. While his first single “Yee Haw” was climbing the country charts, the 29-year-old Florida native was on the road with Kenny Chesney, learning the ropes and gaining an audience.

Flying High on Life with Keith Urban | TippNews DAILY

 

By Andrea Nay

Confession: I’m a music snob. It’s not about scoring the highest dollar seats or the biggest name shows. No, my bar is set by authenticity.

We’ve all been to the concerts we expected to be bigger than life — only to find performers who’d lost their passion. Some household names treat each show as a cash cow, go through the motions, sing the right (and sometimes wrong) lyrics, and move the circus along to the next town.

Let it be known that Keith Urban is not one of those jaded touring stars. Refreshingly, he’s the polar opposite.

One Summer Night in Indiana

I saw Urban for the first time in an idyllic setting: the grandstand at the Indiana State Fair in 2009. Budding star Jason Aldean opened, the fair’s gigantic ferris wheel was lit up beyond the stage, and a big, shiny, summer moon hung above the crowd.

It would have been a magical venue for any performer, but Urban capitalized on the perfect weather and carnival backdrop, giving fans over two hours of pure energy. He ran at full speed along the track and into the stands, letting fans mob him as he played “You Look Good in My Shirt.” His trademark guitar solos had devout metal heads in the audience proclaiming him a rock god, and his more tender songs elicited sighs from sunburned girls in the audience wearing straw hats, cowgirl boots, and little else.

Everyone seemed to leave the show in a trance, as if we were all thinking the same thing: “How will any other performance live up to  that

I needn’t have worried.

Urban intuitively knows his fans would rather be alone with him in a field down by the river with fireflies, lanterns, and the night sky lighting the stage. He also knows we’d prefer to see him from the front row instead of the upper rafters of a hockey stadium.

Answering those unspoken requests, his team created the “Get Closer” Tour. Regardless of how many others are along with you, the experience still manages to seem intimate. Barriers are elminated, cameras are welcome, and you’re encouraged to stay on your feet.

Some songs are performed in the round under a single pin light. Others have only a few little white bulbs draped above the stage, giving the illusion of a concert in an old barn. Throughout, an enormous high-definition video board allows a clear view for all. There are no commercials for brands. No dancing girls on stage. No pyrotechnics. No costumes. It’s all about you, Urban, his band, and the music.