The hats. The sap. The tight jeans. The screaming girls. Fasten your belt buckle and find some cowboy boots, ladies and gentlemen, because country music isn't the maudlin, conservative crap that you may once have perceived it to be. In Thursday's energized and passionate performance, Aussie-born Keith Urban rocked the Kohl Center, proving that country music isn't just sappy — it's sexy.
The sea of screaming onlookers Thursday could be divided into two demographics, representing the narrow target audience of even the grungiest of country singers. There were the 18-25 year-old girls who had spent hours before the show primping and pluming and plucking. And then there were the 35-50 year-old women, scandalously showing off their shoulders and batting their double mascara-coated eyelashes. They were there to hear some good ol' country music but were distracted by the $5 Miller Lights and the rejuvenating rush of staying out past ten on a work night.
No matter the age or marital status of the core audience, they all came with one united goal — to be spotted by Keith Urban himself, escorted backstage and invited to drink 40s and discover how the vegetation grows Down Under.
Urban isn't just sexy — he's knowingly sexy. The screaming fans weren't driven to the Kohl Center to hear a live rendition of "Making Memories of Us." They came, rather, to get into restraining-order proximity of him, and Urban loved it.
Urban is a natural performer. He has that Bill Clinton charismatic quality of making onlookers feel as if he's singing directly to them. Madison was one of the first stops on this international, three-month tour not so creatively called "Alive in '05," and perhaps that explains his authentic passion and almost undying energy. He lets his audience know that he is sincerely thankful for their appearance, not vice versa.
The show opened with a lively performance by Miranda Lambert, an up-and-coming quintessential country artist who dropped her "y'alls" more often than Urban flirtatiously tucked his hair behind his ears. Although the audience seemed to be enjoying her performance, the biggest applause came in response to her claiming that Urban was even cuter in person.
A half an hour after her performance, the white backdrop, which looked like it could have been Shaq's bed sheet, was drawn, revealing a peculiar set, consisting of a stone wall and what appeared to be a steel bridge. Two huge screens were set up and used throughout the entire show to deliver close-ups of Urban and his band, to show still photos of Urban as a child and to relay such inflated commands like "Live" or "Breathe." But when Urban emerged, singing his hit "Days Go By" all eyes were immediately drawn to his.
Originally known simply for his fitting jeans and over-the-ear hair, Urban has been gaining respect over the last few years for his impressive guitar skills. While most musicians of Urban's sex-symbol status use their looks as a substitute for their musical ability, Urban uses his sex appeal to supplement his ability. He extended his first song with a two-minute guitar solo, strumming his trusty guitar vertically, giving both the screaming fans and the music critics something to enjoy, visually or audibly.
Already with the first song he had seamlessly transformed from a soft-and-sappy country artist to a head-banging rock star. Unlike other country musicians who have, relatively unsuccessfully, tried to cross genres, Urban does so unknowingly. He has always effortlessly played his guitar like a rock musician and sung like a country artist, and that is why, perhaps even more than his unblemished physique and entrancing charisma, he deserves recognition.
To reiterate his position as both a talented musician and a sex symbol, Urban would take little breaks between songs to flirt smoothly with the audience. He invited a fan holding a "Future Mrs. Urban" sign to the stage and planted a kiss on her blushed face — perhaps as a way to displace his alleged rendezvous with Nicole Kidman. He later chose a very enthused audience member to lie down next to him as he serenaded her with "You Look Good In My Shirt." Although it was an encounter this fan will be relaying to her grandchildren, it left the rest of the audience bored and violently jealous.
The trend throughout the show seemed to be that the slow songs were just a little too slow, but they were well balanced with the edgier, yet still lyrically sappy, fast tunes. In a surprise to everyone, Urban jumped on a swing and glided to the other side of the arena, turning his chiseled back to a lucky half of the audience. He sang a handful of songs before swinging back, including "But For the Grace Of God," which he (not surprisingly) dedicated to the men and women overseas. No matter how hard he rocks, he still needs to cater to the country audience.
Urban ended his set with his feel-good song "Somebody Like You." It's a song that normally has the endorphin-increasing power equal to that of Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel," but after two hours of performing, Urban had tapered off and as a result he had lost the energy to perform his most energized song. Although his name establishes a paradox with the home of his core audience, Urban showcases that the country is a little edgier than the long roads and flat fields indicate. In Thursday's performance Urban displayed his mediocre singing, impressive guitar skills and charismatic stage presence, supplementing it all with his Australian good looks.
