Fresh off the release of his 12th studio album, High, Grammy Award-winning superstar Keith Urban is playing 10 nights of live shows at Fontainebleau Las Vegas beginning Oct. 4. Here, the Australian artist discusses his rise to fame, new music and return to the Strip.
PHOTO BY JORDAN CURTIS HUGHES
Whether you know four-time Grammy Award winner Keith Urban for his chart-topping tunes or as a mentor to rising stars on American Idol and The Voice, there are undeniable truths that shine through Urban’s artistry. He’s a musician first, a celebrity second; a guitarist who can rip chords with the best of them; and a champion of fellow artists, collaborating with everyone from Taylor Swift and P!nk to Pitbull and Brad Paisley.
He’s also a no-frills, down-to-earth guy despite the stratosphere he lives in—he skips the publicist introductions and calls me himself from his Nashville home in mid-August for our interview. “My weekend was good; I played a couple of shows in Springfield, Illinois, and then West Chester, Ohio, and here I am, on a Monday, rocking,” he shares excitedly. Urban’s enthusiasm is apropos—he’s releasing his 12th studio album, High, the first he’s put out in four years, and prepping for his third Las Vegas concert engagement. This time, he’ll head to the BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau Las Vegas for High in Vegas, a 10-date residency kicking off Oct. 4, with additional dates on deck through February.
PHOTO BY JORDAN CURTIS HUGHES
“All I ever want to do with any album is take a photograph of who I am right now, and this record captures who I am right now, including who I’ve been,” says Urban of High, which dropped Sept. 20 and features a collaboration with Lainey Wilson. “You’ve got songs like ‘Love Is Hard’ and then songs like ‘Messed Up As Me.’ Even the title, High, has changed what it means to me over the years,” he adds, nodding to his past substance abuse. “I get high differently now than I did when I was making other albums and doing other tours, let’s say.”
Now, over a decade sober, Urban’s highs take place onstage—and off, as he’s known to run through the crowd during his shows. “Hell yeah, absolutely!” he says when I ask him if we’ll see him do it in Vegas. “I’ve been doing that since I played the pubs in Australia. Even if it were 15 people in the bar, I’d jump off the little stage, go through the people, and stand on the bar at the back of the room and play a guitar solo.”
Urban has even played a guitar solo at Fontainebleau Las Vegas’ Bleau Bar—he asked owner Jeffrey Soffer if he could surprise guests with a few songs during the grand opening in December 2023. “I thought we might end up doing a residency,” he recalls of the moment. “They’re like, ‘It will be a little rotating stage, is that OK?’ And I’m like, ‘Whatever, let’s go!’ It was really, really special.”
This time, Urban will fill the BleauLive Theater, and he has a few tricks up his sleeve. “We’re going to find that good sweet spot between a big visual concert blended with intimate moments—something that has a cinematic sort of grandeur to it but also threads moments that are up close and personal. I’m just psyched to get in there. I love the unpredictability of performing in Vegas,” he says, musing that he’d be up for sharing the stage with Carrie Underwood for their song “The Fighter” when she has a night off from her residency at nearby Resorts World Las Vegas.
PHOTO BY GUITAR MONKEY TOURING
Despite his soaring success—he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame last year by Dolly Parton—Urban readily recalls life before the spotlight. “None of these things were on my bucket list,” he says of the awards, which he reveals are hidden on a top shelf in his closet, purposely out of sight. “All I wanted to do was live in Nashville, become a better songwriter, try and make good records, and get on the radio so that I could tour and people would know some of the songs I wrote,” he shares. “It doesn’t feel that long ago that I was doing four hours of covers. To now be putting together a set of all original songs, it’s extraordinary.”
As we wrap up our chat, Urban reveals one more thing he’s looking forward to—his postshow ritual. “I love being in Vegas. I love the energy; I love the whole thing. I send my car out there because I love driving; it’s one of my passions. One of my favorite things to do when I finish the show is to get in my car and drive to where I’m staying,” he says. “Coming off a rowdy, intense stage and getting in the car on my own, sweaty in stage clothes and doing a leisurely drive home with the windows down, just listening to the sounds of Vegas—it is just heaven.” How’s that for riding high?
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