Seeming to follow
Chesney’s example, Keith Urban kicked off his 2009 “Escape Together World Tour”
on May 7 and 8 in in Uncasville, Connecticut, but that’s where the similarities
ended. Playing for a sold-out crowd, this performance out paced Chesney’s and
proved that it’s time Entertainer of the Year was Urban’s.
From the moment the Urban rose through the floor, the arena roared with approval that never stopped throughout the two-hour set. Urban opened, appropriately, with "Hit The Ground Running." The stage included lots of video screens, but Urban spent lots of time on the catwalk and in the seating area singing on both sides and back of the arena.
Urban ran around the stage and arena with a huge smile on his face and a guitar slung like a western cowboy. His excellent band kept up and only quieted during Keith's numerous extended guitar solos.. He interspersed six of the 11 songs from his new album Defying Gravity with many of his biggest hits. The frenzied crowd brought Urban back for encores "Somebody Like You," "Tonight I Wanna Cry" and, finally, "Better Life." The finale concluded with a blast of glow-in-the-dark confetti that for a few moments obscured the entire stage.
Urban left the crowd smiling as much as he had. You can’t help but feel that here is someone who is following his dreams – and loves his life.