Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
On Monday night Australian Musician had the opportunity of experiencing Keith Urban live on his High and Alive Australian Tour 2025 at Rod Laver Arena Melbourne. The show was being filmed so we knew we were in for something extra special.
As fans waited with anticipation for Urban to appear, a giant stage-high light grey curtain completely hid the stage and band. As the show commenced, a white spotlight shone on the curtain displaying a silhouette of Urban and his guitar. The curtain dropped and the band launched into STRAIGHT LINE, followed by WHERE THE BLACKTOP ENDS with Gabi Louise jigging on fiddle next to Urban on guitar. It was the perfect intro to kick start a 2-Hour, 26 song set that featured material from most of his albums along with numerous covers.
Just two songs in and Urban had already started engaging with the audience, asking for a show of hands how many people had been to one of his shows before. The majority put up their hands. He spoke to a number of fans that were near the stage. One young girl held up a sign saying it was her birthday. Keith jumped down into the crowd, wished her a happy birthday, gave her a hug and had a selfie taken with her.
Urban then suggested that things have been a bit crazy in the world lately and promised fans that for the next 2 hours that not one of us were going to think about work or life outside of this arena. That feel-good vibe flowed into the crowd for the remainder of the night.
Fans soaked up Keith’s hits like LONG HOT SUMMER, KISS A GIRL, COP CAR, SOMEBODY LIKE YOU and MAKING MEMORIES LIKE US. Pete Kuzma on keys played a beautiful intro of ‘The Way It Is’ by Bruce Hornsby that led into PARALLEL LINE as the big screen displayed it raining behind the band. The visuals and lightwalls created an intimate stage setting but still gave the band members plenty of space to move around and shine. Especially Gabi on fiddle who joined Urban front of stage on several songs.
Urban unveiled a new band on this tour but you would have thought that they had all played together for years. The new line-up consisted of:
Katie Ohh – Guitar / backing vocals
Gabi Louise – Fiddle (only Australian member)
Jimmy Paxson – Drums
Kevin MacIntire – Bass / Backing vocals
Pete Kuzma – Keys
Josh Kearney – Guitar
Urban gave the show a bit of an Aussie flavour with his humour and incorporated a few Aussie classics. He delivered a fun cover of The Angels iconic song AM I EVER GONNA SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN with the crowd chanting back “No Way, Get F*cked, F*ck Off” with passion. He also played a snippet of Men At Work’s ‘Down Under’ during DAYS GO BY and during the encore sang a cover of BURN FOR YOU saying “I love you John Farnham!” at the end of the song.
I thought Urban’s main backing vocalist Katie Ohh was amazing and really complimented Keith’s songs. Katie sang a wonderful duet with Keith on THE FIGHTER. The other duet of the evening was ONE TOO MANY with P!NK (pre-recorded) singing her parts, as she was displayed on the big screen.
Overall, I thought the show was diverse and well-balanced with a mix of country rock and pop, covers, ballads. We also saw Keith perform some of his songs solo, just one man and a guitar. Urban changed guitars often throughout the show and his solos were incredible to watch, showcasing his virtuosity.
In a touching moment, Keith talked about his mum and showed old footage on the big screen of he and his mum when he was a young boy during HEART LIKE A HOMETOWN.
Later in the show, Urban made his way through the crowd up to a small stage at the back of the arena where he performed PINK PONY CLUB and YOU’LL THINK OF ME.
The encore had Keith performing solo without the band. He performed four acoustic songs and got quite emotional singing TONIGHT I WANT TO CRY. The crowd loved his cover of David Dundas JEANS ON too. The band returned to the stage and joined Urban to close out the show with a cover of the New Radicals YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE, with confetti flowing from the ceiling and covering fans below.
SET LIST:
Straight Line
Where The Blacktop Ends
Long Hot Summer
Messed Up As Me
Parallel Line (with ‘The Way It Is’ by Bruce Hornsby intro)
Better Life
You Look Good In My Shirt
Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again (The Angels cover)
Somewhere In My Car
Cop Car
Days Go By (with ‘Down Under’ by Men At Work snippet)
‘Til Summer Comes Around
Heart Like A Hometown
Kiss A Girl / Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me
The Fighter
Somebody Like You
One Too Many (includes pre-recorded verse with P!NK)
Pink Pony Club (Chappell Roan cover)
You’ll Think Of Me
Blue Ain’t Your Color
Wasted Time
Encore:
Burn For You (John Farnham cover)
Making Memories Of Us (The Notorious Cherry Bombs cover)
Jeans On (David Dundas cover)
Tonight I Wanna Cry
You Get What You Give (New Radicals cover)
