Sarnia Bayfest - July 13th - Featuring Keith Urban & Adam Gregory

Sarnia Bayfest - July 13th - Featuring Keith Urban & Adam Gregory
Submitted By That's Country
Jul 18, 2006

Since I hadn't seen Keith perform in quite a while because of illness, I made a split decision to go and cover his concert even though it was a 3 hour drive from Toronto. I was told ahead of time that my photo pass would allow me the first three songs of his set in the media pit in front of the stage, which I was fine with. My roommate and I decided to grab a hotel room in Port Huron, MI since we didn't want to drive back after the concert and it was the only place that had rooms available. When we got there, the date should have been a sign of things to come!

First off, it was hotter than hot and 3 pm (gates opened at 6) with lineups like you wouldn't believe already. When I finally made it to the Will Call tent, I found they only put one media pass in my envelope. After much phoning about, they finally brought me another one for my roommate as well as the photo pass (which they said I wouldn't need!) Adam Gregory's manager was having the same problem, so we passed the time by chatting. He was still there trying to get his passes after I got mine. Adam was opening for Keith, btw.

After we got our laminates, we were allowed to go through the gates, which was probably good because we got to actually "see" where this event was taking place before thousands of people descended on the grounds like a bees swarming a hive! Adam was just doing his sound check and he waved when he saw me standing there watching. I didn't take any pictures of the sound check because I like to be respected as a photographer and not gain the reputation of paparazzi. After Adam finished his sound check, I took a few pictures of the empty grounds and stage and then made my way backstage to the media tent.

Dale Porter, Adam's manager finally got his passes for his guests and let me know that I could take pictures for Adam's whole performance, which is what I did. And what a performance it was!!! No longer the shy Adam, this was a talented young man who rocked the stage throughout his entire show. Adam sang some songs from his previous two albums including Horseshoes and The World Could Use a Cowboy. He also got quite a response from the crowd when he sang When I Leave This House, his hit song recorded with Billy Ray Cyrus. I must say I was also singing at the top of my lungs. I think Adam must have seen me singing and gave a little chuckle and another wave. If he could have heard me he probably would have chuckled louder!!! He also sang quite a few songs from his newly released self-titled album including the first hit single Get it On and my personal favourite ballad One Breath. I would give Adam 9 out of 10 for his performance, leaving off the last point for his show being too short!!! Soon after, is when all the interesting stuff started happening.

A good indication of what was to come was when they wouldn't let us go into the photo pit while they were setting up Keith's part of the show. I'd never seen so much security at a country concert and I've been to Keith's concerts before! There had been two girls from Hamilton's Corus station, 95.3FM, who were watching Adam's show in the photo pit and were waiting to get back and watch Keith's portion of the show. Corus is the most powerful entertainment company in Canada, including CMT Canada in its list of assets. When it cam time to line up to get into the photo pit, the security actually turned them away because they didn't have photo passes. So much for not needing them!!! My turn came to be inspected and I was let in.

Keith was already singing his first song so I started clicking away, hoping that some of the pictures would turn out because of the light show. Little did I know that when the second song started, the lights would be turned directly on us and we couldn't focus our cameras at all. After all that, they didn't even let us stay for the 3rd song! Since the media tent was backstage, we couldn't even watch the show unless we took our expensive equipment and took our chances in the "sardine can"! Since I wasn't going to take my chances, we ended up leaving and listening to the 3rd, 4th, etc songs on our way to the car.

Since this has never happened before, I'm assuming Keith's new bride, Nicole Kidman, who was there with him, had something to do with the tightened security. Can't really blame her/them since they haven't had a moment's peace in months and married life has included way too many people for them. And of course the paparazzi were there in full force. Nope...can't blame them at all! Keith...you're not getting older, you're getting better, (if that's at all possible) and I, for one, wish you a long, happy and private marriage. You deserve it!

I came away from the concert feeling a little ripped off, but very satisfied that I was able to at least see some of the concert and watch a truly happy man on that stage!