Keith Urban brought his Get Closer tour to Penticton’s South Okanagan Events Centre last night and got real close: real close to his audience and real close to delivering a perfect concert performance while creating a near perfect event for all in attendance.Urban played for 2 and a half hours, which is a full hour more than most bands or artists do, and yet he still managed to leave with his fans wanting more. The pacing of the show was flawless, which allowed him to cover material from all phases of his career and everything from ballads to flat out rockers. The floor audience were on their feet within seconds of him taking the stage and remained standing for the entire show.About 30 minutes in, Urban lit up different sections of the crowd and read out signs that they were holding up. “My Dad has a Man Crush on You” was cute, but a young girl near the back of the floor held up one that read “Can I get a photo with you?” that got her just that, with Urban inviting her up onto the stage where his tour photographers took shots of her and Keith with the assembled crowd as a backdrop. Get Closer to his audience.A little further in, Urban ventured out to a small, circular satellite stage in the center of the floor where he played a number of tunes while the platform rotated, giving each audience member a great view of this country music star doing what he does. The journey to and from this platform once again got Urban closer yet to his fans.Later still, three audience members were invited onstage to sing with Urban and the band, giving them up close moments they’ll be talking about for years.The icing on the whole Get Closer cake has to be though his last foray out into the audience late in the show where he sang and played while working his way down the side and then up into the stands where he delivered a song surrounded by people going a wee bit nuts around him, and then turned and gave his guitar to a fan right then and there.I think he got the Get Closer thing done.Now, surrounding all these interactions with the crowd was a musical performance, from Urban and the band, that was simply staggering. This band was tight. As in spooky tight, the kind of tight you see in only the very best bands on their best nights. This was the kind of band you expect the biggest and brightest country stars to have because the tradition of great country artists demands it, and Urban definitely has one!Urban himself was astounding. I mean, the lad can play a little. He soloed with reckless abandon on many of the up tempo tunes, throwing caution to the wind as he scaled into the uppermost regions of the fretboard with breakneck speed. Bending, hammering, pull-offs, funky rhythmic riffs and soaring lead lines weaved in and out of each other in ways that went way beyond just supporting the song. While going there with everything he has, Urban still managed to walk that very fine line of never overplaying the song. His balance in this regard was brilliant. He has a body of great songs that people can’t help but sing along to. Songs like “Kiss A Girl”, “Put You In A Song”, “You Look Good In My Shirt”, “Long Hot Summer” and so many more. He even did an acoustic guitar cover of McCartney’s “Silly Love Songs”. The guitar freaks got to see some fiery playing with stupidly gorgeous tone no matter what axe he was using at the moment. The fans that are into the songs and the lyrics got to hear and sing along with some great live versions. The people that go to these things just to “be there” got to do just that at what is destined to be one of the biggest concert events in years to come for the interior of BC.Keith Urban got close to perfection with this performance. This reviewer can’t think of a single negative, a single thing that could have been improved on or done any better or included that could have improved this show one iota. Get Closer got there and then kept going.
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