Keith Urban

I have to say that last Sunday's Keith Urban gig at The Entertainment Centre in Adelaide was one of the best I've seen at the venue. It was the third time I've seen him play live, twice at this venue and once at Thebarton. The Thebby show was pretty good too but the sound and stage setup was far superior here ... or as superior as you can get for a gig at The Entertainment Centre.

We knew we were in the seventh row beforehand but it felt much closer to the stage. I had a far better view than when I'd been in the second row for another gig last year. To make things better, the stage included a very long catwalk and we were two seats away from it. Jo almost wet herself when we got there and found out how close we were.

Support band The Waifs were superb and I can't wait until their new album is out. I love harmonica and there was plenty of it.

The main show was fantastic - Jo had warned me she should would slip out to the aisle by the catwalk if she had the chance so I was left to my own devices for most of the gig, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. Every so often I glimpsed Jo completely immersed in what was going on and I can now imagine what she was like at those New Kids on the Block shows almost twenty years ago!

The band made full use of the catwalk and we found out that they actually had a small stage at the end where the whole band congregated to play four or five acoustic numbers so the fans at the back got some close up action. The gig included a full drumming band, some impressive lighting and tonnes of coloured confetti at the end which looked amazing under the lights. A mother and daughter were pulled up onto the stage at one stage because of the banners they had created which must have made their night, let alone their year and Keith was incredibly funny and original when he was talking to the crowd.

The ballad songs are little bit wussy for me, but I managed to get through those without bringing up my tea. There was a mother and son a couple of rows in front of us that had a banner saying "you saved my life" but they seemed to be ignored. At one stage they tried to hand him a letter and the banner when he was coming down the catwalk playing guitar. He gave them a brief sign along the lines of "what the hell do you want me to? I'm in the middle of playing?!?!" and he never went back to them despite them waving frantically at the end. The drummer even pointed them out to Keith when they were taking their bows but he didn't go back to them. Maybe he can spot obsessed fans a mile away. Sad really - yes music can assist with keeping your sanity, but going on about it at a gig was just a bit too much to watch and everyone around them thought they were making fools of themselves.

More rock than country. Great show.

No more gigs for the rest of the year, but Angus & Julia have hinted at another Australian tour in October so that's something to look forward to.