Collins Park, Narrabri
Friday June 27, 2014 :
A cold winter’s night in Narrabri, and Keith Urban‘s “Light the Fuse” tour had come to town. For the region and the 7000 strong crowd, it was the biggest thing that had come to the town in years. Fans travelled from as far as Brisbane, Newcastle and Dubbo to catch this one off show and Urban delivered.
Ignoring the cold (3 degrees) and the shear incompetence of an inexperienced security team, the show went ahead with Urban joining the stage at 8.35pm. Wearing a jacket and expiring steam, Urban looked impressed and humbled by the large country crowd. Fuse, Urban’s latest album was always going to feature in the show and this was evident from the very beginning. Opening to bright red light lights, Urban started with ‘Loves Poster Child’, quickly flowing into ‘Sweet Thing’ complete with a signature guitar solo. From that moment on the 24 song set featured a little old and a lot new. ‘Somewhere In My Car’, ‘Even The Stars Fall 4 U’, ‘Cop Car’, and the recorded duet with Miranda Lambert, ‘We Were Us’ which was sung with former Starmaker, Kaylee Bell. All these songs figure on Urban’s chart topper Fuse. The old consisted of ‘Stupid Boy’, ‘Days Gone By’ and ‘Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me’, a song which allowed Urban to touch the audience, telling the story about this song written for wife Nicole Kidman before they were married.
Urban’s four piece backing band was awesome as you would expect given most have been touring with him for the past eight years. Long term band member, Jerry Flowers, was tight on bass and a particular highlight. Urban himself was memorable on guitar leading the show with numerous spontaneous guitar solos. Urban controlled the show proving he is the master of both lead and slide. Personalising the concert, Urban let rip with “It’s bloody cold Narrabri” echoing the sentiment of the audience.
If anyone doubts Urban’s commitment to fans they truly need to witness a live show. Urban is one of live music’s continual risk takers opting to jump into the audience, run through the crowd and play live to the back of the stage often yelling “who has the best seats now” taking his audience to another level. At Narrabri he called two ladies from the audience to join him on the stage allowing them to tell their own “Keith story”. The 5 minute interview culminated with Urban offering a guitar for a charity auction, and gaving a lucky audience member a personally signed one.
Working through the 24 song set, Urban shivered in his soaked t-shirt, thanking everyone as he left the stage. The four song encore started with ‘Making Memories Of Us’ highlighting Urban’s acoustic guitar mastery and finished with ‘Somebody Like You’, a band introduction and a final thank you which no doubt came from the bottom of the heart.
Overall, having seen Urban live a number of times, his popularity continues to grow. The fact he included both Townsville and Narrabri on his current tour demonstrates his love not only of the country but also its people. Although it was cold after “lighting the fuse” in Narrabri, the heat radiated from a first class performer onto a grateful audience, a truly one off event worth seeing.
Reviewer and Photographer: David Jackson
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