Keith Urban - Livin'Right Now

Thu 3rd Nov, 2005 in Music Reviews

For many years I have avoided the songs of Keith Urban. Was it due to the fact most of the time that the songs I heard were ballads with an occasional kick arse guitar? Was it the production of the songs which seemed overly smooth and glossy and never veered towards the ditch off the main road? Or was it just that he seemed like the poster boy for Australian country transplanted to Nashville in search of that golden trophy from the ‘star making machinery’? For me the songs and playing on his debut with The Ranch seemed to have a bit more grit, now it’s all well polished.

Or was it just that his songwriting and beautiful jawbone reminded me that he really was the combination of something like Rick Springfield and Bryan Adams and Mark Knopfler?

This DVD, Livin’ Right Now is a proper insight to all of the above and cemented my decision to continue this avoidance. But don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a market for Keith’s music as you can tell by his record sales. Young women in the many hundreds packed the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles to watch, scream, and faint in the glow of their pop/country idol. I had to search the crowd for a male face!

Filled with songs about love, yearning, dreaming and some excellent guitar work from Keith the DVD is a cinematic delight for the legion of his fans. It is a chance to get up close and personal from the acoustic beginning of These Are the Days to the rocking numbers that take us straight down that highway.

And really it is scream fest for the young woman in the crowd who are holding signs, looking adoringly at him and at times in tears as they bow down to their heaven sent idol. You expect security and police to be seen carrying out young women in droves as they pass out from the glow of the golden boy.

In addition to the 18 songs featured in the film, the DVD also contains behind-the-scenes footage including Urban at soundcheck and personal perspectives from Urban about his music. If you want to know more about these songs and the man, this is the place to go.

Keith has come a long way since his birth in Whangarei in NZ in 1967 and his formative years in Queensland where Keith at the ripe age of 7 began his entertainment career. The rise of his band The Ranch in the early ‘90s brought Keith to the attention of people like Garth Brooks and the Dixie Chicks and he made appearances on their releases.

After a period of drugs and re-hab Keith re-grouped in the late 90s and into 2000 and has had a string of seven number one hits in the last six years. His first, and the first by an Australian as a number one on the country charts was But For The Grace of God (2000) is included here in concert along with the three number one singles from his huge release The Golden Road. He sure can pump them out.

Keith is joined by his band of Mark Hill on bass, Chris Mchugh on drums, Chris Rodriguez on guitar and banjo, Steve King on keyboards, and Chad Jeffers on lots of other stringed things. Very able and very professional in all their playing, there is not a bum note to be had. Maybe I would have liked this DVD more if their had been a few flaws?

Keith has a whole swag load of talent and is looking good and strong in 2005. But there are lots of hooks, but not a lot of heart and soul to make me connect.

Definitely for the fans….or if you like to travel this fairly smooth golden haired road with all of his female friends in tow! It’s a Keith Urban-mania in full flight!