Looking at the country charts, it seems Keith Urban’s star has faded.
The first two singles from his 12th and latest album “High” sputtered their way to No. 18 and 12, while the four that have since followed didn’t chart at all. And this is a guy who, during the ’00s and ’10s, saw nearly every one of his singles make it into the Top 5.
Judging by the 57-year-old’s wildly entertaining show at Grand Casino Arena in downtown St. Paul Friday night, only a fool would count this guy out quite yet.
Going all the way back to his 2000 breakthrough “Your Everything,” the New Zealand-born, Australia-raised vocalist has blazed his own path away from his Nashville peers. He’s always had a pleasant, if unremarkable, voice. But he’s also always been a terrific guitarist unafraid to indulge in the sort of meaty, squealing solos rarely heard on country radio.
His singles are custom-made for arenas, with massive, cheery choruses reminiscent of peak ’80s MTV. And he performs most of them live like they’re the final song of the encore. Urban clearly loves entertaining and, Friday night, he radiated with gleeful, infectious energy.
Urban spent the ’10s experimenting with his sound and produced some of his finest work in the process, including “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” a highlight of Friday night’s show as well as every other local concert of his over the past decade.
“High,” meanwhile, was more of a back to basics affair and about half of it felt, well, half-hearted. Friday, Urban cherry picked the best moments from the record, including his high-energy show opener “Straight Line,” the similarly spirited “Chuck Taylors” (complete with the chorus’ lyrics flashing on the screens) and the autobiographical “Heart Like a Hometown,” which he introduced with a monologue about how he turned his lifelong love of music into a career.
The crowd of more than 11,000 ate up every minute of Urban’s two-hour show, singing along to “Somewhere in My Car” and “Somebody Like You,” cheering for every guitar solo and grinning with delight at his cover of Chappell Roan’s massive pop hit “Pink Pony Club.”
Country music isn’t as ageist as pop — as long as you’re a man, anyway — so it’s entirely possible Urban will regain his grip on the Top 10 with his next album. Friday, though, he proved he doesn’t need to keep scoring hits as long as he keeps turning in such memorable and highly enjoyable shows.
0 Comments