Keith Urban cannot wait to embark on his High and Alive World Tour. The New Zealand native will kick off the tour on May 22, joined by Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen and Karley Scott Collins. It’s a tour that he has been waiting for, for a long, long time.
“We should have toured last year,” Urban admits to Everything Nash and other outlets, during a recent media event. “That was the plan, but I scrapped an album and ended up making HIGH, and so that pushed me off a year, which is fine because I’m much happier with this album and especially the songs that we get to play live. “‘Straight Line,’ ‘Chuck Taylors,’ ‘Laughin’ All the Way To The Drank,’ ‘Wildside’ — there are so many fiery, energized, up-tempo songs, which I love playing live and especially outdoors, summer. That’s my jam.”
Urban revealed last year that he redid his album, resulting in HIGH. The delay, unfortunately for Urban, meant that he was unable to tour in 2024 like he planned. But now, with his High and Alive World Tour mere weeks away, the 57-year-old is more eager than ever to hit the road.
“I feel like a racehorse at the starting gate, just kicking at the stalls, trying to get out,” Urban reveals. “I can see the track and I’m like, just let me at it.”
Urban has a new appreciation for even being able to tour, after the challenges brought on by the pandemic. The singer easily could have toured without a new project in 2024. But to him, it was a decision that just didn’t feel right.
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“It was so hard during COVID to put out an album, and not be able to tour,” Urban admits. “I realized that it’s not just for me as an artist. And it’s not just playing those songs live in front of an audience and the experience of that that I missed.”
By now, fans know the songs on HIGH, but Urban hints they might be surprised by how he performs them live.
“When I make an album, that’s one version of those songs,” he explained. “It’s just one version. Yes, it’s the recorded version, but it’s just one version. I love getting out on stage and continuing to discover and expand and excavate more of what these song’s potential is. And it happens live. Songs get a little longer, or they have little moments. They evolve over the course of touring. I love that I get to give the song’s more dimension live.”
The new tour also comes with a partially new band, after two of his longtime band members revealed they had been let go earlier this year. While the decision surprised some, Urban says it was just time for a change.
“I’ve always just followed the inner voice that says it’s time to make a change, in any area of my life, and sort of just leap. Just take the leap,” Urban explains. “I don’t always know where I’m going. It’s a little bit like playing live on stage. I don’t always know what I’m going to do next. There’s something exhilarating about living that way, and about performing that way.
“Again, we’ve been really lucky with this band,” he continues, “because we’ve got these five shows in February in Vegas that we got to do as a new band, and get some shows under our belt, before we get into rehearsals for our tour. I’m really looking forward to getting out with the new band, new songs, new production, new everything.”
Find all of Urban’s music and upcoming shows at KeithUrban.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the CMA