Keith Urban, August 2011

On August 28th, Lillie and I went to Dallas to see Keith Urban again.  These tickets were thanks to my wonderful hubby.  He bought them for us for our birthdays.  We weren't on the floor this time, but we had excellent seats, very close to the side of the stage.  Lillie was able to walk down and touch Keith this time. 

This was a place right around the corner from our hotel.  It was called the Heart Attack Grill and the small, neon sign says that if you're over 350 pounds, you eat free.  We were disturbed by this...

Spaghetti Warehouse - where we ate dinner before the concert.

Lillie at Spaghetti Warehouse.

We went to the Dallas World Aquarium, which was also just a short walk from our hotel.

These little worm/snake/fish things were very intriguing.  They come out of holes in the bottom of the ocean.  I can't remember what they were called.

Jellyfish in the black light.

This man in the crazy Indian/bird costume came out on a balcony and began dancing and banging a drum.  It was quite the little show.

Now for the REAL show!  We saw Keith in the American Airlines Center.

Jake Owen opened for Keith throughout his whole Get Closer 2011 tour.  I was really looking forward to seeing him again, but no such luck...  Here's my big story of the trip...  Jake Owen comes out, we get out the camera and take the first picture, and the battery light starts flashing.  There was NO WAY I was going to go through another concert with only pictures from my phone, especially sitting that close and with that nice of a camera.  So...  through the middle of Dallas I take off to find batteries.  I walk out of the American Airlines Center (after making sure I would be able to re-enter), and a man working the concert says there is a convenience station just a block over.  So, I start running because I want to get back to see Jake Owen.  I get to the station, and it's closed.  People are parking cars in the parking lot, and a man tells me I could go one way, but the jail was that way and he wouldn't recommend walking there by myself.  He says there's another one not too far away.  So I take off running again.  I run, and run, and walk, and run.  I go down one wrong street and have to ask a man walking his dog where to go.  He directs me back the right direction, and I run and walk and run and walk some more.  I get to the gas station with sweat dripping off of me, my feet hurting pretty badly from running in flip flops, and VERY thirsty.  I purchase the LAST 4 AA batteries they have for the camera and a bottle of water and take off again. 

When I came out of the store, I went the same way I thought I had taken to get there but began to realize it was not the same way when I wasn't seeing the same buildings/landmarks.  I just happened to be a block over from where I had started when I saw the American Airlines Center again.  No worries - I was completely lost in the middle of Dallas, but I WAS going to get good pictures of Keith.  Start to finish, I had run/walked/jogged for 45 minutes in flip flops.  I missed ALL of Jake Owen but was there (drenched in sweat, stinky, exhausted, with a significant blister on the bottom of my foot) to see Keith come out on stage!  The blister was nasty and stayed around for a good month after the concert.  Ugh!  Never again will I travel without an extra set of batteries for the camera.  I am SO glad I ran around to get batteries, though, because the pictures were GREAT!

This was the first picture we took of Jake Owen, when the battery light started flashing.

When I texted Lillie that I had found batteries, she took a couple more shots of Jake Owen.

Not as good as the real thing, but still good!

AND THERE HE IS!!!!

Loved the light-up microphone stand!



When he sang "Jeans On," he twisted all the way around the bottom of the microphone.




The little platform he goes to out in the middle of the crowd started low and slowly raised and lowered.



See him walking through the crowd in the light???

Shot of the stage.

The front part of the stage was a moving walkway with dry ice.  So cool!!

Singing very close to us!

Pulling some peeps on the stage to have a sing off to "Kiss a Girl".

The first contestant was good.

The last contestant missed a few words, and you can see Keith to the side looking a little disturbed.  Ha!!

But the 2nd contestant was a guy, and he NAILED it!  He and Keith ended up finishing the song together.

The "stance".  Love it!

This side sing a little....

Reflecting guitar.

JUMPING!  I love it when he jumps to the beat!

And the crowd sings a few lines.

The light-up guitar!

Playing on the floor!

Let me see you guys at the top!  At the very beginning of the concert, he took a big spotlight and slowly aimed it around the top of the entire arena.  He told the people at the top, "Don't think I can't see you..."

I LOVE this picture!

When he came back out for the encore, he was singing "We are the Champions" and wearing a Dallas Mavericks jersey.  It was hard to see with his guitar strap, but I'm pretty sure it said Urban on the back.



It was Jake Owen's birthday, so he brought Jake back out to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.  Jake came out barefoot with a freshly-showered look.  I loved that he was barefoot, as one of his big songs right now is "Barefoot Bluejean Night".



Always love the confetti!

Still playing in the confetti!

Bye bye, Honey!  See you next time!!

And the group bow...  It was a long, PERFECT show!

It was his best tour of all of the concerts we've seen.  He's always been very "in the crowd," but he seemed to be even more-so this tour.  He did the sing-off with people on the stage, played his heart out, ran down the ramps, sang on the platform (walking through the crowd to get there and back), and went to another mic set up way out in the stands with people.  He was at his best, and I was so disappointed when he didn't win entertainer of the year at the CMA's.  Not that I don't like Taylor Swift, her songs are catchy, I just really thought it was time for Keith to be recognized for his awesome work!  I've decided I don't need some association to tell me who is good.  I know this myself!  Keith Urban is MY male vocalist and entertainer of the year!!