Keith Urban Says He Wants Fans to Have the ‘Best Freaking Night Of Your Life’ as He Kicks Off New Vegas Residency

The third time’s the charm for Keith Urban.

On Friday, Oct. 4, the county superstar, 56, kicked off his latest, and third, Las Vegas residency show, “HIGH In Vegas” at the Fontainebleau. Coincidentally or not, the daytime temperature in Vegas peaked at over 100 degrees on Friday, but things were hotter on stage.

“We’re back,” Urban happily told the crowd of 3,800 fans inside the BleauLive Theater.

Over a highly energetic two hours, the singer shredded through hits such as “Days Go By” and “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” while intertwining new songs, such as “Messed Up As Me,” “Wildside” and “Chuck Taylors.” 

“We’ve got a lot of requests for this [new] record, so we’re gonna get to a few of them tonight,” he told the crowd, before joking, “and if there’s anything else you want to hear, I’m sure I’ll hear about it.”

As he often does during concerts, Urban showed off his eclectic range, singing snippets of songs by artists including Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran and George Strait to flow into his own hits.  

In fact, fans inside the theater hardly sat down for the first of Urban’s 10 shows inside the three-level venue.

“Anyone who’s ever seen us play knows that we want you to have the best freaking night of your life,” he said from the stage, adding, “We don’t want you to think once about your life between these walls.”

The name of Urban’s latest residency, “HIGH In Vegas,” echoes his newest album High, released in September. The residency also marked the first time Urban has performed some of his new songs. One day before opening night, he told PEOPLE he was curious to see how the crowd would react to the material.

“A friend of mine said a long time ago that every time you find yourself saying ‘nervous,’ flip out the word for ‘excited,’ and it has a much more forward momentum feeling,” the four-time Grammy winner said.

“I’m a little bit excited. It already feels better, and it’s probably truer because I’m really interested to know what works and what doesn’t work. I have no idea. I might think I have a really bulletproof set list, but the opening night might tell me otherwise.”

No stranger to Las Vegas, having previously headlined lengthy residency shows at Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood, Urban appeared to approach “HIGH In Vegas,” differently from his previous performances. It’s still a very rock ’n’ roll show, but more stripped down at times than other iterations of his residency shows and included some personal recollections.

Indeed, before singing his new song “Heart Like a Hometown,” he explained to the Oct. 4 crowd that it detailed his childhood. 

“We all moved around a lot when I was a little kid. We lived in about nine different houses by the time I was 10, went to five different schools by the time I was in the fifth grade, so my idea of a hometown was my guitar, my friends, my family,” he said.

“This song is about anywhere that feels home to you. It’s a place that no matter where you go in the world, you know you can always go back there.”

Considering he’s becoming a staple in Vegas, Sin City might even be considered a “hometown” for the country star.

Urban is scheduled to perform at Fontainebleau’s BleuLive Theater on Oct 5, 9, 11, and 12; Feb. 14, 15, 19, 21, and 22.