A day after chaos, Ruoff's energy returns with outstanding Keith Urban show
Halfway through his capacity show at Ruoff Music Center on Saturday, Keith Urban floored his audience with a rendition of 2010 hit "Long Hot Summer" that included a crushing solo, a few lines of John Mellencamp's Hoosier ode "Small Town" and a second solo performed only by tapping the neck of his guitar with one hand and his microphone with the other.
As that mid-song journey hit its crescendo, the crowd let out a roar — and some folks around me literally leapt — as Urban brought it home.
I had almost no frame of reference for Urban heading into this show. I knew he was an "American Idol" judge at one point. I had not seen him live and did not recognize a single song Saturday, apart from pop covers ranging from Tom Petty to Hanson to The Beach Boys.
No one told me the man is essentially an Australian Eddie Van Halen also capable of singing practically anything from the country, rock and pop spheres and who just happens to have an arsenal of catchy original songs to pull from.
Apparently, I need better friends.
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Urban was unreal the entire night, from "Tumbleweed" with a little bit of Ram Jam's "Black Betty" spliced in to open the show, to the "Stupid Boy" encore he delivered to an audience bathed in confetti at the end of the night.
I couldn't find a single down moment in the set.
The constant energy kept almost everyone standing for the whole show. Rather than kill the room with a chunk of ballads, as artists often do with those "we're going to slow it down a bit" moments, Urban sprinkled them throughout to keep the crowd at maximum engagement.
And he did it all without a hint of pretention or insincerity. Urban seemed as if he genuinely wanted to be there, as did his band, and he worked diligently to ensure the same of the audience.
"This is a Utopian existence in here," Urban said at one point early on. Again, someone of that talent and fame saying something like that could be a groaner, but he really seemed to mean it.
"Whatever is bothering you out there does not exist in here."
After a few songs, Urban noticed a sign that read something like: "It's my daughter's 21st birthday. She doesn't drink, but she hugs."
He brought the young woman, Jenna, up on stage and gave her several hugs as 20,000+ people joined him in singing "Happy Birthday" to her.
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During the tail end of "One Too Many," Urban ripped out a solo on his guitar while simultaneously walking from the main stage and through the crowd up to a small platform erected in the amphitheater's lawn.
"Front-row seats," he told the ecstatic lawn ticket holders.
He then strummed a mashup acoustic cover of John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and his own somewhat similar sounding "Better Life." After an excellent "You'll Think of Me," he wiped his sweat off the guitar, signed it and gave it to a young woman who looked about ready to pass out in shock.
Those moments are what that lawn was made for. It was a welcome return from what I saw there Friday night, as Ruoff frantically emptied after some sort of disturbance halfway through the Wiz Khalifa show.
Even when something went wrong during his show, Urban could only do right.
"Who Wouldn't Want to Be Me" was selected at random as the set's special bonus song. One of Urban's guitar effect pedals appeared to go out in the middle of the song, leaving a barely audible clean tone. He just shrugged, while playing and singing, kicked on another one and finished out the song.
He shredded an excellent solo for "Somewhere in My Car," and "Where the Blacktop Ends" was incredible.
Singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress, who just released an album, was a solid opening act. She's funny, sings well and has some great original material — and even threw in an Allman Brothers Band cover for good measure.
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If the name sounds familiar, she opened for Stevie Nicks on the same stage in June.
The two acts combined for three hours of energetic and diverse music that defied — even ignored — genre.
Urban was a revelation. He's a regular at Ruoff, and when asked by the singer if they were habitual attendees, many in the audience cheered.
I can sure see why.
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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and [email protected], or follow him on Twitter at @RoryDoesPhonics.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Concert review: Keith Urban stellar in Indiana return
