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KEITH URBAN – PAVING HIS AUSTRALIAN ROAD
Keith Glass
We are justly proud of the progress and achievements of KEITH URBAN on the huge US country market. Multiple number one singles, near platinum albums and featured billings on stadium size shows with FAITH HILL, TIM MCGRAW, MARTINA MCBRIDE and lately KENNY CHESNEY playing to 20,000 people a night. It is the stuff that entertainment dreams are made of and of which few get to experience the reality.
Back in Australia however, Keith Urban is still a little underdone, especially in relation to his ability to crack the mainstream Billboard chart at an opening position of #11. Any other Australian act that has done that could sell out domestic arenas in major capitals at the drop of a hat.
Maybe it is the fact that Keith is fair and square a country artist, thus criminally squeezed out of his share of mainstream airplay. Despite nods from ARIA and the MO Awards for his outstanding international achievements, we just haven’t seen the current Keith Urban full production performance in the type of venues that Stateside are now his natural home.
That is about to change with the recently announced Australia only double bill of Keith and LEANN RIMES touted by the promoters as the one "US audiences would kill for."
Urban himself is more circumspect while still enthusiastic. Declaring it "LeAnn’s show" he adds "I wasn’t sure we’d appeal to the same people, especially with her recent material, but you know, I guess with her still having a big country following, together with a new contemporary audience, it could be a good combination."
With Keith now carrying a fairly large band (twice the size of the three piece Ranch) and the same amount of crew (most if not all of which will be coming to Australia), this is the chance to really strut his stuff and get ready for his own assault on the American heartland as a top drawcard. He reminds me that it has only been three years since the public there have become aware of him as an artist in his own right, and that even five or six top 5 singles is barely enough to put enough bums on seats in those dauntingly huge auditoriums.
Chesney, who he has recently been billed with, has ten years of hits to draw on and has helped Keith’s profile no end. He says "I think with the shows we’ve done with Kenny have been a huge help in getting to a lot more people. His audience has turned out to be terrific."
The common ground with LeAnn may appear less solid but it is still intriguing. Certainly Urban is full of praise for his younger co-headliner’s vocal prowess, never in question since she burst onto the scene age 13 and her latter-day ability to grow as a performer. Asked if there is any likelihood of on stage interaction between the two artists Keith quips "I don’t know, maybe we could duet on You Don’t Send Me Flowers or something." While he is joking there is sure to be mutual respect and maybe some chemistry between the two and if anyone has an inkling of what else could happen on the night they are staying mum at the moment.
Keeping quiet is something Urban had to do earlier this year when he once again damaged his vocal chords. Now on a regimen of 4 litres of water a day, he strictly performs vocal warm-ups and says that a lot of his problems were caused by "bad technique" that he has taken some effort to correct.
With a lot of people looking at Keith for steady employment, the pressure is on the key man to stay healthy, but it is indicative of the respect he has that when he was recently sidelined not one person left the fold.
Urban was soon back on track and working the 200 plus shows per year that are now expected of a major league artist in the vast North American market. He remains conscious of the requirements of country radio and retains the desire to experiment within it. One regret is that the great material THE RANCH did is not more readily identified with him but as for revisiting some songs for newer recordings he remains ambivalent saying "it is sort of sacrilegious when you may have got them right already but it’s true people generally are not aware I did them in the first place. That’s what has been so great about doing big shows – people get a chance to connect the dots."
It should all come together on these forthcoming shows. Two hot acts that on paper could be chalk and cheese but my bet is lots of dots will be connected.
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