Keith Urban officially opened Greater Western Sydney’s stunning new live venue, Sydney Coliseum on Saturday night.
The new theatre is located at West HQ, the new name for the significantly upgraded Rooty Hill RSL experience.
With the recent fires still blazing a shot distance away, Urban thanked many of the people in the crowd (including volunteer firefighters in attendance) who were undertaking activities to help victims and save lives.
Urban said that in light of the current situation, he wanted to give everyone an uplifting evening.
And that he did.
With the help of special guests Amy Shark and John Butler and host Richard Wilkins, Urban used full production at the new 2000 seat venue at West HQ to showcase it’s capabilities.
Eager attendees included former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and wife Lucy.
Most significantly, the sound at the venue was sensational.
It took a just couple of minutes to get a during during peak time on Saturday night.
There doesn’t appear to be a bad seat in the room.
And parking (when arriving just 30 minutes before the opening act played) was effortless.
The extensive variety of dining options at West HQ also enhances the full experience.
It’s fair to say that the old Rooty Hill RSL, famously referred to in the past as the “Vegas of the West” has really gone to a whole new level.
Urban generally only plays in large arenas these days.
In fact, he hadn’t played ticketed shows at a venue of this size in Australia, since he played shows at the Enmore theatre in 2005.
As for the show itself…
Urban mainly played songs from his most recent albums, Graffiti U and Ripcord.
The show also featured sprinkling of hits from earlier albums.
He finished the night with arguably his biggest hit, Somebody Like You.
With Christmas just days way, he also performed his recently released Christmas tune, ‘I’ll Be Your Santa Tonight.’
Check out ‘I’ll Be Your Santa Tonight’ by Keith Urban
Amy Shark joined Urban for a special performance of Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover.’
Swift herself saw a snippet of the performance on social media and responded soon after via Instagram stories, calling it a “beautiful” cover.
“Keith Urban covering ‘Lover’ flawlessly. I am screaming, this is so beautiful,” she wrote, alongside a snippet of the performance.
Earlier in the night Shark played a set of her own material to a crowd, who in the main probably hadn’t seen her play before.
And she won them over.
While Urban and John Butler’s performance of the classic tune ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ was without doubt one of the highlights of the night.
Butler, who played his own ticketed show the night prior, also opened the evening with a 30 minute set.
Urban played additional ticketed shows at Sydney Coliseum on Monday and Tuesday night.
New local country act Seaforth were special guests for those shows.
Urban will now spend Christmas in Australia with wife Nicole Kidman and the family before heading back to the USA in the new year.
