Keith Urban, Canberra

Multi-Grammy and ARIA Award winning artist Keith Urban’s eighth studio album RIPCORD is a 13-track, heartfelt collection of songs, including “The Fighter”, featuring Underwood, and is the result of collaborations with an eclectic group of Award-winning writers and co-producers.

Keith Urban, Canberra 2016 © Andrew Hennell

The RIPCORD album continues Urban’s decade-plus of top ten hits, cementing him as the artist with the longest continuous streak of such hits on the Billboard country charts.

“The last time we brought our tour to Australia the energy level was off the hook – unlike anything that we’d ever seen before,” said Urban. “And I can tell you now, that the music on this album RIPCORD, is born of and made for playing live. It’s gonna go to a whole other level and I can’t wait to get it airborne!!”

Keith Urban, Canberra 2016 © Andrew Hennell

With those expectations, I headed to Canberra’s GIO Stadium to see what the fuss was about. Wow was I in for a huge concert.

Opening with his latest high-energy hit, “Gone Tomorrow (Here Today)” the audience was instantly propelled into what was a non-stop, electrifying roller-coaster ride featuring world class production and a set-list jammed with his biggest hits – no wonder he is known as one of the industry’s best live performers.

Keith Urban, Canberra 2016 © Andrew Hennell

Urban played well-known hits including “Long Hot Summer”, “Break on Me”, “Somewhere in My Car”, “
Days Go By”, and the audience went absolutely nuts when Carrie Underwood returned to the stage to join Keith for “
The Fighter”. The duo then offered a spine-tingling rendition of the Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty song “Stop Draggin”
, before Urban launched into more well-known hits including “You Look Good in My Shirt” and “
Somebody Like You”

Keith Urban, Canberra 2016 © Andrew Hennell

Rounding out the main set with “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” and “
Wasted Time” the audience were screaming for more, and again Urban didn’t disappoint with a strong three-song encore.

Many know Urban from when he was a judge and mentor on ‘The Voice’, while many others remember him as a young Australian country star trying to make it here before following his dreams to Nashville. Well, Urban has made it – this is as polished a performance as any megastar offers. You don’t have to love country music to enjoy a Keith Urban concert – his live shows are a high-energy explosion of brilliant lighting, effects and great sound to match that will thrill any concert goer.

 

Keith Urban, Canberra 2016 © Andrew Hennell

Keith Urban, Canberra 2016 © Andrew Hennell

Keith Urban, Canberra 2016 © Andrew Hennell

Grab Keith’s latest album on iTunes!