“…without the audience, it’s just one long soundcheck,” Urban points out.
Keith Urban; Photo by Andrew Wendowski
”First of all, without the audience, it’s just one long soundcheck, so the audience is everything, everything,” Urban urged. “The audience has so much power to make or break a show. We as a performer can only do so much, and I’ve watched our audience night after night after night just give so much to me on stage. When that happens, you can just play forever. If we didn’t have curfews, we’d play way longer.”
Urban also recognizes how much goes in for fans attending concerts, including added expenses like babysitters and parking, so he wants to make sure he gives every crowd everything he’s got.
“The other thing that I really am aware of, especially having kids, when you want to go to a concert, it’s a big deal. It’s not like going to the movies. It’s a very different thing (with) parking and babysitters and like, are we going to carpool and tickets… We’ve got to get there two hours to line up. It’s a big, big deal, and then parking — all the expenses, it goes through the roof,” he pointed out. “So, my want is to give them the greatest night and to give them everything I’ve got to not take that for granted.”
“I’ll come off stage and be so fired up and wired that I’ll sit on the bus just thinking, ‘Man, I’m not going to sleep for hours and hours. I couldn’t be more wide awake. I could go and play another show right now.’ And then an hour later, I’m just done. Everything. I’m done. I’m toast. It’s crazy,’ he said.
A true road warrior, Urban is in the midst of his High and Alive World Tour with special guests Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen and Karley Scott Collins on select dates. The trek will come to a close on October 17 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
