Urban to launch new Las Vegas act

Keith Urban is returning to Las Vegas for a new residency.

The country music superstar, who completed a successful multiyear residency at Caesars Palace, will play 16 “brand new” shows at the Zappos Theater at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, he said Monday. The title: “Keith Urban: The Las Vegas Residency.”

“That room already feels geared towards a certain energy that’s probably a bit better for what I do,” the Grammy Award winner told People magazine. “I love the sort of club arena vibe, and I think that room already has a bit more of that rock and roll spirit, so I’ll be making the most of that.”

The 13-time CMA winner will pause his Speed of Now World Tour this spring and launch the Las Vegas shows March 3 with the first gigs running through March 18. He’ll take a break then return between June 16 and July 1.

Early ticket sales began Tuesday and sales to the general public begin Saturday.

The singer-songwriter, whose hits include “The Fighter,” “Blue Ain’t Your Color” and “Somebody Like You,” was the first artist to play at the Colosseum after the venue’s state-of-the-art overhaul following Celine Dion’s 16-year run. Urban launched his residency in September 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted parts of the sublet and his tour shortly thereafter.

“I was asked to do it earlier but always said no because to me a residency sounded a little bit like an episode of ‘Severance’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know that I’m built for this,’” he told People. “I need freneticism and unpredictability, and I need a certain energy. When we finally went and did the residency at the end of 2019, I loved it and I was transformed.”

Earlier this year, Urban added more shows to that residency in the wake of Adele’s announcement in January that she was postponing her Colosseum shows. (Adele announced in June that she’d resume her residency on Nov. 18.)