Urban lights Perth's Fuse
Country music superstar Keith Urban was welcomed with open arms as he made his long-awaited return to Perth last night.
Perth Arena was the last stop on Urban's six-date Light the Fuse Tour and diehard fans had clearly missed the Grammy and ARIA-award winner, who hasn't played in Perth since 2007.
Audience members rushed from their seats the moment Urban appeared, wearing his trademark skinny black jeans, a black T-shirt and a wide smile.
Born in New Zealand and raised in Caboolture, Queensland, 46-year-old Urban hasn't lost any of his boyish charm and was as amiable as ever as he chatted to the crowd - living up to his reputation as one of the nicest guys in music.
Some fans came dressed in cowboy hats and others held signs professing their love for the very much taken star. Urban took the time to read many of them aloud.
He is of course married to Nicole Kidman and the pair celebrated their eighth anniversary last week.
Showing no sign of tour fatigue, Urban performed a lengthy and energetic set peppered with new tracks from his seventh studio album Fuse, along with favourites like Days Go By, Kiss a Girl and You Look Good in My Shirt.
Local singer-songwriter Chelsea Basham got the chance of a lifetime when invited onstage to join Urban on We Were Us, originally recorded as a duet with Miranda Lambert.
Urban's remarkable musical ability featured throughout, with the talented guitarist belting out flawless solos on a bevy of different guitars.
It was a hell of a party, the likes of which Perth country music fans haven't seen in a long time.
"It's been a few years but we made it back," Urban told the adoring crowd.
"I'm bloody glad to be here."
Fuse, released in September last year, was Urban's fourth number-one album and marked the first time that a male country artist debuted atop the all-genre charts in the United States, Canada and Australia.
The album's first single, Little Bit of Everything, took the top spot on the country singles chart, as did We Were Us, which gave Urban a streak of five consecutive number-one songs dating back to 2011.
