The country superstar’s crowd-pleasing show at Van Andel Arena was part of a music week that also featured the likes of Clutch, Dave Bruzza, Insiders, Big Something and much more. The images at Local Spins.
‘Good Thing’: Keith Urban at Van Andel Arena. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
Country star Keith Urban made headlines on Thursday when he made a pre-concert stop at a Toledo hospital to visit a 25-year-old fan with an inoperable brain cyst and other health issues, serenading her with a bedside version of “Blue Ain’t Your Color.”
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Opener: Kelsea Ballerini on stage in Grand Rapids. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
The next night, at Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Arena, serenaded a capacity crowd of thousands with that very same song in the middle of a set that boast 28 Urban classics, from “Never Comin Down” that kicked off the night to “Horses,” which wrapped up the singer-guitarist and band’s encore.
Fast-rising 25-year-old singer Kelsea Ballerini got the evening started with what Local Spins photographer Eric Stoike called an “awesome” set, followed by the 50-year-old Urban, who delivered an energetic, wide-ranging show that “makes the job look easy” while working dual stages.
“The production was top-notch,” Stoike observed. “Easily one of the better ones I’ve seen there.”
The set list, courtesy of setlist.fm: Never Comin Down, Days Go By, Coming Home, Somewhere in My Car, Long Hot Summer, Parallel Line, Put You in a Song, You Gonna Fly, Worry ‘Bout Nothin’, We Were Us, Female, Stupid Boy, Somebody Like You, Good Thing, Love the Way It Hurts (So Good), Blue Ain’t Your Color, Drop Top, Cop Car, Little Bit of Everything, The Fighter, Kiss a Girl, Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me, You Look Good in My Shirt, Gone Tomorrow (Here Today), John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16, Wasted Time ENCORE: But for the Grace of God, Horses
PHOTO GALLERY: Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini at Van Andel Arena
Photos by Eric Stoike (On the Run Photography)
Friday’s Urban spectacle was just part of West Michigan’s week of live music that also boasted Clutch, Sevendust and Tyler Bryant at 20 Monroe Live, The Insiders Tom Petty tribute at The Instersection, and Dave Bruzza (Unsafe at Any Speed) and Big Something on different nights at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo. Browse the photo galleries below, with a video of Bruzza and band performing in a special night at Bell’s.
And Saturday was the final soiree for Grand Rapids’ electronic/pop band AOK, playing an album-release and farewell show at The Pyramid Scheme with Lipstick Jodi, Lady Ace Boogie and Bevlove.
PHOTO GALLERY: Clutch, Sevendust, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown at 20 Monroe Live
Photos by Anthony Norkus
PHOTO GALLERY: The Insiders Tom Petty birthday tribute at Elevation (The Intersection)
Photos by Benjamin Howell Photography
