Keith Urban with Kelsea Ballerini at Budweiser Stage

The best way to spend a Friday night is with live music. Familes, friends and couples young and old did just that as multiple grammy award winning country star Keith Urban brought night One of Two sold out shows to Budweiser Stage in support of his Ninth studio release on the GrafittiU tour.

Joining him on this leg of the tour is the talented Kelsea Ballerini. With a smile as bright as her sparkling outfit, Kelsea blew away a near capacity audience with effortlessly, powerful vocals and a seasoned stage presence by waving to fans, signing autographs mid song and playful banter during a quick microphone issue. Her Eleven song set was full of energy, interaction and stage visuals to match.

The moment she picked up the acoustic guitar and opened up about her journey into music through her love for writing then delivered a raw, flawless performance , the crowd was hooked! Hands high, swaying side to side and singing along for the rest of her set. She is the reason country music has a bright future and I peronally couldn’t have picked a better supporting act, well done!

The stage goes dark on a beautiful night, not one seat open and no visual evidence of greenery on the lawns, anticipation builds as the man everyone came to see hits the stage. He appears centre stage backed by a stunning diagonal screen which pails in comparison to the bright smile on his face. He starts off the 24 song, 2 encore night with ” Never Coming Down ” a single off his latest release then follows it up with ” Days Go By ‘a fan favourite. This being my Third time seeing him live, this tour brought a new element with his Four piece backing band, all very capable of being solo artists themselves playing multiple instruments including Keith himself who played Bass for Two songs. One thing I’ve always appreciated is his fan interaction. Having fans on stage with him to going out into the crowd to get as close to everyone as possible. He did not disappoint! During “ Foghter” He wanderered out to a Horseshoe platform by the lawns to perform a Three song medley, draped in a Canadian flag given to him by a fan. He also made One lucky ladies night by giving her his guitar, Keith at his finest! With guest appearaces by Kelsea on ” We Were Us’ and introducing Larkin Poe, a two piece sister act from Atlanta who joined him for ” Where The Blacktop Ends ” The night was full of unbelievable performances, captivating visuals and amazing energy.

Keith Urban is an artist who trancends musical genres so if you haven’t see him live, country fan or not. I highly recommend it! In my opinion….. This was an absoute perfect way to start my long wekeend and going by the crowd reaction walking out last night, I wasn’t the only one sharing this opinion.

Kelsea Ballerini Setlist

Unapologetically

Love Me Like You Mean It

Roses

Ger Over Yourself

Legends

In Between

Dibs

Miss Me More

Yeah Boy

I Hate love Songs

Peter Pan

Keith Urban Setlist

Never Coming Down

Days Go By

Coming Home

Somewhere In My Car

Parallel LIne

Long Hot Summer

Good Thing

My Wave

You Gonna Fly

Somebody Like You

We Were Us (Feat. Kelsea Ballerini)

Texas Time

Where The Blacktop Ends (Feat. Larkin Poe)

Blue Ain’t Your Color

Drop Top

Cop Car

Slow Hands/Lights Down Low (Band Introductions)

The Fighter

Who Wouldn’t Want To Be Me/ Kiss A Girl/ You look Good In My Shirt

Gone Tomorrow( Here Today)

Little Bit Of Everything

John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16

Wasted Time

Encore:

But For The Grace Of God

Horses