Keith Urban brought his “Light the Fuse” tour to the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach on Saturday, October 5th for the final show of the tour.  It had been six years since he had performed in South Florida (Bank Atlantic Center, December 2007), so needless to say the crowd was pretty amped up for this show.

Dustin Lynch got things started with a set that included his hits “She Cranks My Tractor,” “Cowboys and Angels,” and his new single, “Wild in Your Smile.”  The 28-year old may be small in stature, but he is one of the best new voices in country music, and I expect to see him develop into a headlining star one day.  The highlight of his set for me was when he covered David Lee Murphy’s “Dust on the Bottle.”  If you missed this show, you’ll have a chance to see him next month at the Kiss Country Stars and Guitars show at the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood!

Little Big Town hit the stage next, kicking their set off with “Little White Church.”  One of the most underrated bands in country music, they have finally earned some well deserved respect with several recent award nominations (and wins!) thanks to the success of their Tornado album.  I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise then that most of their set list was comprised of songs from this album.  Besides “Little White Church,” the only songs they did that weren’t from the Tornado album were “Bring it on Home,” a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” a cover of The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Elvira,” and the set-closing “Boondocks.”  From the Tornado album, they played their hits “Pontoon,” “Tornado,” “Your Side of the Bed,” and their current single, “Sober,” as well as other album cuts such as “Pavement Ends” and “Front Porch Swing.”  I am always amazed at how great their voices blend together and how well they harmonize.  They put on a fun show and showed why they are the reigning CMA and ACM Group of the Year!

Normally when a headliner takes the stage, it is after a big intro with huge production value…the lights go down, then there’s flashing lights, pyro, a video, etc…then they come out.  Keith Urban instead came out solo playing a banjo while the house lights were still on, then one by one the rest of the band members came out to join him at the front of the stage.  Once the full band was out, the lights went down and the backdrop fell as they fully went into his first song of the night, “Long Hot Summer.”  He finished his second song, “Sweet Thing,” with a killer guitar solo that got the crowd on it’s feet with a huge ovation.

After playing “Cop Car,” which I expect to be a future single off his new album Fuse, he played “I Told You So” before taking a break to chat with the crowd.  He thanked the crowd for coming out after not playing in South Florida for a few years.  He then got each section (left, center, right, lawn) to yell to see who was loudest, then grabbed a high-powered spotlight to shine on each section.  As he did this, he came across a sign being held up that he tried to read.

He couldn’t read it all, so he invited the woman up on stage so he could read it.

The sign cleverly quoted his album titles, and ended with “How about a hug?”  He obliged, and after hugging her, he offered to take a picture with her with the crowd in the background.  He then signed her sign, capping off an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience for the lucky fan.

He continued on with a great set of his biggest hits mixed in with some new music.  Little Big Town joined him on stage for “You Gonna Fly,” then he called Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town back out to join him for his new duet (w/ Miranda Lambert) “We Were Us.”  Dustin Lynch then joined him on stage for “Kiss a Girl” before he made his way back to a secondary stage set up in the last rows of the seats, looking out to the lawn. We were aware that he was going to do this, so we were able to position ourselves right up in front of this stage from the walkway.  He was joined on the stage by his drummer and guitar player to play “Days Go Bye,” “Once in a Lifetime,” and “Better Life.”

As he made his way back to the main stage through the crowd, he rapped Blake Shelton’s “Boys ‘Round Here,” which was a pretty awesome thing to hear.  He then jumped into fun.’s “Some Nights” before finish the montage with the end of “Better Life.”  He finished his main set with “Somebody Like You” with a camera attached to the end of his guitar for a unique vantage point as confetti fell from the sky.

After taking a quick breather, he came out for the encore and sat down at the piano.  He first played REO Speedwagon’s “Keep On Loving You,” then did a beautiful piano solo of “Tonight I Wanna Cry” that had the crowd shining their cell phones.  What an awesome, chilling moment to witness.  He then launched into Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” which turned into the closing song of the night, “You Look Good In My Shirt.”

This was yet another great show on the 2013 Live Nation Mega Ticket lineup.  Keith Urban is one of the most genuine, kind-hearted artists out there and showed it with his warm and friendly demeanor throughout the night.  I really hope we don’t have to wait another six years before seeing him down here again!

Keith Urban Set List

• Long Hot Summer
• Sweet Thing
• Cop Car
• I Told You So
• Even The Stars Fall 4 U
• You Gonna Fly (w/ Little Big Town)
• Stupid Boy
• Without You
• We Were Us (w/ Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town)
• Good Thing
• Kiss a Girl
• Days Go By (medley w/ “Boys ‘Round Here” and “Some Nights”)
• Once In a Lifetime
• Better Life
• You’ll Think Of Me
• Little Bit of Everything
• Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me
• Somebody Like You
• Keep On Loving You (REO Speedwagon cover)
• Tonight I Wanna Cry
• You Look Good In My Shirt (intro’d with “Locked Out of Heaven)