Review: Keith Urban thrills in St. Paul with rock-star moves, guitar and courage

He didn’t wear a cowboy hat or ball cap. No cowboy boots or blue jeans, for that matter. Country superstar Keith Urban hit the stage Friday night at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul in his T-shirt, athletic shoes, shredded black bell bottoms, and the prettiest male hairdo in country music.

He didn’t sing about dirt roads, pickup trucks or beer. For more than two hours, the Australia-reared, Nashville-based Urban offered his brand of country about love and life’s challenges. It was one of the more inspired, inspiring and musically satisfying country arena concerts in recent memory.

It reminded 12,000 fans — many over age 40, unusual for a country concert these days — why Urban is the closest thing to a rock ‘n’ roll star in country music. Here are eight reasons why:

1. Urban is the only country star who truly dares to be a guitar hero. His vocabulary is vast, his instincts right, his solos abundant and generous without being indulgent. Similar good things can be said about Vince Gill in concert, except he doesn’t play with the rock-star swagger of Urban, and he lets the other musicians in his large band regularly step into the spotlight. Guitarwise, Brad Paisley used to be in the conversation, but he has down-shifted and hasn’t released an album in eight years.

On Friday at the former Xcel Energy Center, on “Long Hot Summer” alone, Urban showed his vast guitar range, bending blues notes, doing wah-wah without a wah-wah pedal, popping a bass line, tapping percussively and going all Jimi Hendrix to wrap things up.

2. Urban, who turns 58 next month, has the energy and oomph of AC/DC, those veteran Aussie rockers. After a tour of Australia and New Zealand, Urban, on the first U.S. night of this leg of his High and Alive Tour, carried on for 25 songs and 125 minutes. He was so amped he started the show seven minutes early.

3. The country superstar from Down Under reached out and touched his fans — literally. There was no barrier between him and the fans at the Grand (or should we call it the ex-X?). He ventured into the crowd with his guitar (slapping hands with fans) and performed on a tiny stage in the bowl end (after which, he autographed an acoustic guitar and gave it to a fan).

4. Even though he had an elaborate production with mobile overhead video screens and light rigging, Urban seemed more sincere than scripted, more spontaneous than choreographed, more fun than serious. He wasn’t as loose as at last year’s underplay at the Fine Line in Minneapolis. Yes, he performed a club gig for 650 people and spontaneously accommodated a few requests from the crowd that night. But he was in the moment on Friday, responding to handmade signs. “There are so many signs,” he declared early in the night, “it feels like the most beautiful protest ever.”

5. Urban’s revamped six-person band, with new members joining this year, was solid and, like the frontman, not showy but potent. Shout out to fiddler/vocalist Natalie Stovall, who stood out on a duet of “The Fighter,” in the role Carrie Underwood assumed on the 2017 recording, and guitarist Josh Kearney, for his behind-the-head guitar duet with Urban.

6. Urban’s songs — which frankly sound like 1980s pop-rock — fared so much better live, thanks to his heightened energy, emotionalism and enthusiasm. That smile and those dimples might have had something to do with it, too. So did his conviction, especially the way he delivered the impassioned kiss-off “You’ll Think of Me” as a solo acoustic number with a churlish countenance.

7. Unlike many stars, Urban didn’t give a hard-sell to his latest album, “High.” He did only four tunes from it, including “Straight Line” to kick off the show. He never mentioned the new album or that these were his latest songs.

8. Even though he’s had more than 20 No. 1 country songs in the past 25 years, Urban didn’t do all his big hits, leaving out such favorites as “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” and “Without You,” among others. Yet this veteran still seasoned his set with smartly chosen covers.