Even though Keith Urban’s a country star, in concert, he often seems like a rock star, typically grabbing his guitar and going all around arenas to get closer to his fans.
While it might be easy to assume the Aussie superstar’s dynamic charisma was present from birth, he insists that’s not the case.
“I had a bit of an epiphany,” he explains. “I was playing in a band, and the lead singer was an American guy from Florida. This is in Australia. And he was a great entertainer. He was excellent. And I learned so much from him. I was playing guitar and a bit of keyboards in this band and trying to learn a lot from him as a front man.”
“One night he said to me, ‘When you play a solo, how come you don’t like, go to the front of the stage, you know, and like lean into the audience and really play?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I couldn’t do that.’ And he goes, ‘Why not?’ I go, “Cause they’ll think I’m like stuck up, like I’m full of myself.’ And he goes, ‘Well, are you?’ And I said, ‘No.’ He goes, ‘Then they won’t.””
That quick, pointed conversation forever made a difference in Keith’s stage persona.
“It was just like, boom! This whole light bulb went off,” he recalls. “If you are genuinely a down to earth, grounded, good tongue-in-cheek type person, you can do anything and the audience will love it because they know you’re not an arrogant, cocky person at all. You’re just puttin’ on a show.”
“And I did it the next night, and it worked amazing. So, it changed everything.”
Next up, Keith stretches a bit outside his home genre with Flow State, his yacht rock covers record.
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