The Iowa State Fair is something to behold; it really is. I wasn’t born and raised in Iowa; I grew up in Rhode Island and in Massachusetts.  New Englanders, at least in my neighborhood, didn’t attend a state fair. In fact today I have to check and see if Rhode Island ever had a state fair.  I was surprised to read that Washington County, Rhode Island does have a fair, but it’s an infant compared to the Bristol 4^th of July celebration and the Iowa State Fair.

So what’s State Fair all about?

Mainly it’s about people, what it means to be a working stiff in Iowa and for everyone to get together over a 10 day period for socializing and for some serious entertainment.

Before the concert I was expecting a rather dull night of entertainment devoid of any of his signature heart and soul that we saw in him when he was last at the Iowa State Fair. He checked into rehab in 2006 and I figured he wouldn’t be nearly as good. I wrongly assumed whatever demons he was chasing and that made him so good had been excised out leaving him still talented, but souless. That wasn't the case.

So here last night is Keith Urban singing till his lungs hit absolute exhaustion. This morning the guy must be hypoxic. For those of you who are wondering his soul is just fine and he worked the night with his guitar strings like a born again Jimmy Hendrix or a cleaned up version of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Watching him work the stage, the audience and the music I had visions of Hendrix playing the guitar with his teeth. He may have been born in New Zealand and raised an Aussie, but Keith Urban’s work ethic is as American as any Iowa farmer during fall harvest. And unlike Vaughn or Hendrix he's still here to sing another day.

OFF THE STAGE AND INTO THE NOSE-BLEED SECTION!

This I’ve never seen before; he climbed down off the stage, made his way through the crowd, then climbed to almost the very top of the stands to perform for the people in the nose bleed section. Using technology to its finest he unhooked and then plugged the crowd in while working them into being a part of the show. This is what entertainment is all about. Not even Bruce Springsteen with his Detroit blue collar mentality got so close to and intermingled so carelessly with the audience. He is truly a first rate showman and his show a sight to behold.

And like Elton John, Keith Urban played to the audience’s heart as if thanking them for being Iowans and being so gracious with their hospitality. Songs like, These Are The Days, Days Go By, Making Memories of Us and You’re My Better Half, had the audience standing, singing and dancing throughout the entire concert. I was amazed at how real he is with the crowd. Accepting of their need to sing along with him; at times drowning him out and at other times his taking the microphone and turning it to the audience while the band played on and he laughed at the thought of how much the crowd loves him and his music.  And we do love him. Rural or city folks joined in as one enormous vocal mass pleased to have the experience of seeing Urban perform live. We love him not just as an entertainer, but also as someone famous who shares his craft with us, lets us be who we are, just Iowans and who shares with us this wonderful gift he possesses.

Like Keith Urban, we are all imperfect in one sense or another. There is no day when we are perfect. That said, today we have nothing, but gratitude for Urban and his amazing talent that makes him seem like one of us. Because last night, at the the concert and singing along with Keith Urban, we were all perfect.

For additional information see the following video clips and stories.

• Official Site of Keith Urban (Note litigation is pending with another artist whose name is also Keith Urban over who gets to use the dot com.)   http://www.keithurban.net/
• Keith Urban song lyrics
• More… Tonight I Wanna Cry or Making Memories of Us or
• Directory of State Fairs!
• Washington County Fair – 44^th Year, is said to be the Rhode Island version of a state fair.
• Iowa State Fair first started in 1854. Iowa became a state in 1846.
• Bristol Rhode Island’s 4^th of July celebration started in 1785 and is 225 years in the running! Ya can’t beat that.
• Bristol’s 4^th of July – My hometown
• The Iowa State Fair 2010

And to Barbara allow me leave you with this thought, you are truly my better half!