You could feel the anticipation in the air as you emptied your pockets at the PNC Bank Arts Center's gates. It was even felt more as Ingrid Andress performed her opening set. But when Mr. Urban addressed the New Jersey crowd, the sound was deafening. Our headliner for the evening stated how it has been awhile since he was in the state, so he was going to make up for lost time. And make up for lost time he did. While checking out the signs people were holding up in the crowd, he had one young lady come on stage to take a selfie. However, in a move that I never saw anyone at this venue do, he left his band on stage halfway through the set and went out to the railing of the lawn seats and proceeded to entertain out there. As if this wasn't enough, he autographed the acoustic guitar that he was playing and gave it to a lucky fan.
His set went on for approximately two hours with no dead space. Songs that were duets, such as "One Too Many" and "The Fighter," saw Pink and Carrie Underwood appear on the big screen for their parts. It was a clever way of keeping true to the song. Songs like "Blue Ain't Your Color," "Somebody Like You" and "Wild Hearts" were all standouts! Using the entire stage, and then some, he even went over to the person signing for the crowd and sang "You Look Good In My Shirt."
I always knew Keith Urban was a good guitarist. Brad Paisley and Urban have always been at the top of the Axe mastery list within Country Music. However, after seeing him live, I have to rate him in my top 10 of all guitarists. One of the big differences with Urban is that his soloing styles span many genres of music. I heard jazz leads, as well as traditional rock and country licks. Either way, some of the stuff he displayed may want other guitarists to either throw their guitar away or go to Amazon and learn Urban's method.