Keith Urban: This Never Gets Old For Him
Keith Urban played CMA Fest on Friday night (6/9) in Nashville to a packed Nissan Stadium. Before he took the stage, he told us that playing CMA Fest never gets old, even though he’s attended and performed there for over 20 years.
He offered what he loves the most, “The energy of the crowd. You know, there are people out there that have never been to Nashville, never been to CMA Fest from all over the world. And that is just an invigorating energy. So, even having done it a lot of times, I will feel like every other time we’ve done it, I already know that.”
Keith is back in Las Vegas playing at his Planet Hollywood residency this weekend (6/16-17). We asked him about Sin City and what he loves about playing there. He noted, “I am fortunate to stay close to Vegas and not right on the strip, and with that, I’ve seen a lot of things outside of Vegas as well. There’s just so much to do in and around the greater Las Vegas area.”
He adds, “What I love about being out there and not just the residency is we’ve played Vegas really since the beginning of my career playing at one of the little bars at the Hilton hotel back in the ’90s. And we’ve seen a lot of locals coming to see us play, and that’s the same now with a lot of shows we do there, which is amazing because a town so tourist driven to see a lot of locals coming is incredible.”
Urban plays Vegas through June. He comes back to Vegas in November to finish out his 2023 residency.
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Keith often plays the lead guitar while he sings, which is no easy feat. We asked him recently if there was anything in his guitar-playing skills that he has yet to achieve.
He told us, “It’s constant learning sometimes through simple rediscovery, right back where I started. Like some of these songs on this latest album, I feel like I’ve come back full circle back to these songs that are new in some way.”
He added, “Guitar playing is the same thing, trying different amps on tour, trying different picks, and different string gauges. My guitar tech will tell you I run the gamut of experimenting with things constantly through a tour.”