Review: Keith Urban makes crowd feel like family at Great Jones County Fair

MONTICELLO - It's going to take something big to make close to 40,000 Iowans gather in one spot in 92-degree heat with a heat index of 101.

Keith Urban was that 'something big.”

Urban headlined the Great Jones County Fair Saturday night with opener Frankie Ballard to a near-sell-out crowd in Monticello. From the opening strands of Ballard's 'Helluva Night” to the closing notes of Urban's 'Wasted Time,” fans were on their feet, singing along and dancing to the music.

But Urban didn't just play to the crowd on Saturday - he became part of it. Despite his superstar status, Urban seems completely down-to-earth and genuine, characteristics that played well with the crowd. Throughout the night, Urban often turned the microphone to the audience for 'help” singing the songs, and joked about the weather, fair food, and the fact that the audience 'sometimes forget the words, but that's OK.”

The concert was even more personal for two lucky fans.

After spying a sign in the standing-room-only track section indicating a fan wanted to meet him, he called her onstage. Lurye Sobaski, of Richland, was helped over the barricades by security and talked with Urban onstage, telling him she was there with friends and her husband was home sleeping.

'Let's call him,” Urban said. 'Better yet, let's FaceTime him.”

So they did. They called and woke Derek Sobaski and put the call on speakerphone for the audience to hear.

Then there was Bryce Zimmerman, 12, of Fairbank.

While singing his 2002 hit, 'You Look Good in My Shirt,” Urban took his guitar and, led by security officers, left the stage, wandered through the crowd and stopped in the bleachers, where a microphone had been set up for him. He sang another chorus of the song, removed his guitar, wiped it dry, and signed it. He scanned the crowd and pointed at Bryce.

When Bryce came forward, Urban placed the guitar strap over the boy's shoulders and told him to play. Rather than take the guitar back, Urban headed empty-handed back to the stage.

'I was standing as high as I possibly could on the bleachers waving my hands, and he took off his guitar and wiped it off and signed it, and then called me over,” Bryce said on Sunday. 'I was very surprised, it was a very lucky moment for me.”

Bryce's mom, Elaine Zimmerman, said she was impressed by Urban's demeanor.

'You know, he said a few times from the stage that he loved the audience, that we made him feel like family,” she said. 'But he did the same thing. He made us all feel like we were part of his family.”