Kris Allen & Keith Urban 9.5.10 Oakdale Theater, Wallingford CT

Sometimes the best things and times in life are the unplanned, spontaneous ones. Yesterday was one of those days. It was the last show that Kris was doing with Keith, and the end of his summer tour, so on a whim, a friend of mine and I decided to go to Wallingford. I'm not a huge Keith fan at all, but I wanted to see Kris since the last time I had seen him was in December. Needless to say, it's one of the best concerts I've been to - ever.

Reenie and I arrived early and I texted Mer and Kathy, as they were coming to the show as well and we'd discussed dinner. We ended up meeting up with everyone at a great little place in town - out of everyone, I'd only met Mer before, and it was awesome to see her again and to meet Kathy, Barry, Emjay, Laura and Erin. After dinner, we headed back to the venue, and after a few wrong turns and sitting in traffic, we managed to get into our seats at 7:20, and at 7:30, the lights in the theater went down and the show started on time.

Can't Stay Away is the perfect song to open with - its catchy, upbeat, fun, and to watch Kris bounce all over the stage (He's so tiny, really) is fun. There were a couple of platforms out in the audience, and at one point during this song, Kris came over to the one on our side of the stage, didn't realize there was a little step and about took a header into the audience. Heartless/Gangsta's Paradise mashup was next, which is always a crowd pleaser, followed by Alright With Me, which is probably one of my favorite songs on the album. It did take a little while to grow on me though - I will admit. Kris did a great job overall engaging the audience and by the time Kris sang Live Like We're Dying, the entire floor was on its feet. He ended with Come Together, which I'd never heard live, but was awesome. The whole band is really tight, and they all have such a fun time playing together - it absolutely shows.

The entire setlist was as follows:  Can't Stay Away • Heartless/Gangsta's Paradise • Alright With Me • The Truth • Written All Over My Face • Man In the Mirror • Is it Over (with lights in the audience, really cool to see the effect) • Live Like We're Dying • Come Together

This was the first time I'd heard most of these songs live, and I love The Truth way more live, as well as Is it Over. Written All Over My Face has never really been a favorite of mine, but after hearing it live, that will change. Kris puts so much energy into everything and you can't help but love him. Kris came back out later to sing Jack and Diane with Keith, in which Kris forgot the words in the third verse and Keith mocked him.

As far as Keith Urban goes - he put on one hell of a show. I really don't know any of his music, but definitely will be getting some onto my ipod soon. He played for almost 2 hours, and also ran through the audience at one point, including right in front of me and grabbed my hand, which I really wasn't prepared for! Everyone was on their feet for the entire time Keith was on stage and it was a fabulous time. It almost didn't matter that I didn't know his music (I recognized like, 2 songs) and it didn't matter that he's classified as country - because he's more rock crossover, so I felt like I was at a rock show. I'd definitely go see him again. Not to mention, he's easy on the eyes. I took no pictures at all last night - we were too far away - but it was nice to just enjoy the music and the concert and not worry about taking pictures or video - something I do at every show I go to pretty much. This show was the perfect way to end my summer - it's been a summer of music, friendship, and just all around good times. I can't wait for it to carry on into this fall, because while some good times have to come to an end - there are still plenty more to come.

All pictures and the Jack and Diane video are courtesy of Kathy (@kt_cle). She had much better seats (and a much better camera) then I did.