Keith Urban brings a 'Little Bit of Everything' to his 2022 Iowa State Fair Grandstand show

Keith Urban didn't light up the Iowa State Fair Grandstand stage on Saturday; he asked his fans to.

Near the end of his performance, the country music star cut the lights on stage and asked 13,711 audience members how they might go about seeing him and his band.

"Iowa, this is proof positive that what we cannot do alone, we can sure as hell do together," Urban said as lights from cellphones increasingly illuminated the night. "Don't fall for the divide and conquer stuff, guys. We are better together."

After years of waiting, thousands of Urban's fans got a little bit of everything from the country artist on Saturday night.

Urban had been announced as a performer at the 2021 Grandstand, but had to cancel, replaced by Dan + Shay. He'd also planned to perform at the 2020 State Fair, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Urban has played central Iowa before, including a performance at Des Moines' Wells Fargo Arena in late 2013.

Over the course of a night on stage filled with dazzling lights and adrenaline-fueled chords, the Australian singer performed his hits including "Wild Hearts," "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16" and "Somewhere In My Car."

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Ingrid Andress opened for Urban, previewing many of the new songs from her upcoming album, "Good Person," which comes out on Friday.

"I had a very large turkey leg today, and I don't know if I'm ever gonna recover. It was delicious though," Andress told the crowd after mentioning that this performance marked her first time at the State Fair. "Guess I'll have to come back."

Andress, who previously came through central Iowa for 2021's Big Country Bash, performed "More Hearts Than Mine" and "Wishful Drinking," a collaboration with Sam Hunt, as well as "Waste of Lime" and "Falling For You," a song she said she'd never played for an audience before.

"We used to stay in Des Moines all the time because my dad was a strength coach for Major League Baseball, so we would have to drive from Colorado," Andress said.

"Des Moines holds a special place in my heart because that usually meant that we got KFC for dinner and got to swim in an indoor swimming pool. So it was a highlight of our road trips, which tells you a lot about me honestly."

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Urban displayed one of the traditions of "The Speed of Now World" Tour at the State Fair.

"Every night when we get to track 10, we do a different song, a random song," Urban explained as a digital wheel spun to the song "Say Something." "Because you all want to hear different things... we could be here for three days playing music."

As the crowd roared approvingly at the prospect of 72 hours of Urban, the musician joked, "OK, I'll call home and tell them I'll be a little late."

The concert ended with fireworks, and after confetti showered the audience, the stage lights stayed up as Urban and his band took bows.

Isaac Hamlet covers arts, entertainment and culture at the Des Moines Register. Reach him at ihamlet@gannett.com or 319-600-2124, follow him on Twitter @IsaacHamlet.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Keith Urban performs in concert at the 2022 Iowa State Fair Grandstand