Carrie and Keith
April 28th, 2008, 2:39 pm · Post a Comment · posted by journalismrookie
While I may have traveled to Lexington, Ky., and Indianapolis this weekend (for different reasons), it was all for fun. That may not sound like much of a relaxing weekend since I was going all over the place, but it really was.
On Saturday, my mom and I went to Rupp Arena in Lexington for the “Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride” tour stop featuring Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban. It was the last stop of the tour featuring the two country music powerhouses. What was special about this particular show (and I didn’t know it ’til I got there) was that it was the last stop on the tour and they were taping it for a live DVD to be released later. So that was pretty neat to be a part of, and it will be something to purchase later. It was the 107th stop for Keith Urban. Between Carrie and Keith, they put on a four-hour show…that’s right, four hours. I have never been to a show that has lasted that long…but every minute there was definitely worth it.
Carrie Underwood began the show with “Flat on the Floor,” a song she wrote for her newest album, “Carnival Ride.” That was followed by more “Carnival” songs, “Get Out of This Town,” “Just a Dream”
Next came a song about her hometown, Checotah, Okla., “I Ain’t in Checotah Anymore,” which showed various pictures from the small town. Then came “Last Name,” a song reminiscent of “Before He Cheats,” from her debut album, “Some Hearts.”
She then delivered “The Boys I Meet” before slowing the pace down to a hit from her first album, “Don’t Forget to Remember Me.”
Her band gave her a short breather as they demonstrated their abilties on vocals and instruments, before Carrie came back to the stage, as the floor opened up and she came rising up. She came back out with a cover in her set of Guns N’ Roses’ hit “Paradise City,” which got the crowd on its feet as she rocked it out.
Other songs include her smash hit, “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” and new album songs “Twisted,” “So Small” and her current hit “All-American Girl.”
I think Carrie Underwood is one of the great artists of today, and I was very pleased with her performance. Besides the lighting effects in the faster songs, I thought she delivered a great first-half. Then after about a 30-40-minute break, Keith Urban hit the stage.
Urban was onstage about two and a half hours, and I don’t think he left out many of his songs, as he delivered hit after hit.
From his “Golden Road” Album, he sang “Somebody Like You,” “You’ll Think of Me,” “Rainin’ on Sunday” and “Who Wouldn’t Want to Be Me.” Also, he started “You Look Good In My Shirt” onstage, before jumping off stage and walking up into the stands, where he finished the last part of the song. Then he gets out a silver marker, autographs the guitar and gives it to a female fan. How cool was that?
From his “Be Here” album, he delivered “Where the Blacktop Ends,” “Better Life” and “You’re My Better Half.” On “Days Go By,” it featured pictures across the United States I’m guessing that maybe they got from various tour stops or something. It featured people doing a wavy hand motion (which would have to do with how days go by…fast!) in front of different places and things. I thought that was a neat video to go along with the song. Keith also slowed it down and sat at the piano to belt out “Tonight I Wanna Cry,” and sang the emotional “Making Memories of Us.”
Also a neat add-in to Keith’s set was a cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Stop Dragging My Heart Around,” as Carrie joined him onstage for a duet.
With his album, “Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing,” he sang “Once In A Lifetime,” “Shine” (one of my personal favorites), “I Told You So” (my second favorite because of the instrumentation toward the end), “Faster Car” and “Stupid Boy” (a great song that country newcomer Sarah Buxton wrote, and Keith sang too).
I would say the best three moments of the night came with the following three songs.
First, as Keith took a moment after singing two or three songs, he stood at the edge of the stage and looked out. He then saw four women with bright orange signs, three of which said “She Wants to Play Your Guitar” with arrows pointing left. On the fourth sign, a girl was holding the sign that said “I Want to Play Your Guitar.” So what does Keith do? He tells the girl to come onstage! She gets up there and says her name is Leslie and she is from Hazard, Ky. He asks her what she knows on the guitar and she said “Raise the Barn,” which is a song on the “Love, Pain…” album featuring country duo Brooks and Dunn. So Keith hands her the guitar and he grabs another one and they play along. The girl was absolutely amazing, and I think Keith was just as amazed. She looked like she would be in middle school or something like that. It sure was impressive.
The other two highlight moments came back-to-back at the end of the show, which was around midnight. He took to the piano again and said he was dedicating a song to his wife, actress Nicole Kidman, and they then put the spotlight on her…she was there at the show to the left of the stage. “Got It Right This Time” was the perfect song for her, as you could tell after all Keith has gone through (including rehab he went through a few months ago) to get to this point in his life, he’s now right where he needs to be.
Finally, he got a little emotional at the end of dedicating the song, “Everybody,” to his fans, as an appreciation to all they have done in support of his career.
Overall, this was one of the best shows that I have been to in a while. Yeah, I have seen many, many good shows over the years, but this was at the top of that list. I don’t know that anyone expected to be at the show for four hours, but I don’t think one minute of that time wasn’t enjoyed by all. “Absolutely amazing show” is all I have to say about this one.
On Sunday, I went with my brother to Indianapolis and Greenwood to look around and eat, so that was a good day, too. So, for me, it was a great weekend.
