‘The Road’ has confirmed Keith Urban as the ‘headlining superstar’ for its first season. Photo Credit: CBS
Can Keith Urban breathe new life into music competitions? We’ll soon find out, as he’s signed on to deliver several performances – and help “find the next country superstar” – as part of The Road.
CBS and Keith Urban today confirmed those performances, which will double as tapings for The Road. At least as described by higher-ups, the program is set to offer a breath of fresh music-competition air by doing away with nationwide voting and an abundance of plodding rounds.
Instead, before Urban headlines each of the dates (more on this in a moment), as-yet-unnamed emerging acts will open for him. Then, “randomly selected” audience members, far likelier than at-home viewers to have given the performances their undivided attention, will vote for their favorite openers at once.
On the concert front, the free-to-attend gigs are separate from Urban’s already-announced High and Alive World Tour, which won’t kick off until May. Ahead of a planned fall premiere for Blake Shelton-produced The Road, organizers opened ticketing registrations today.
All told, The Road shows (and tapings) have been teed up for Fort Worth (3/2), Dallas (3/5), Oklahoma City (3/9), Tulsa (3/12), Memphis (3/24), and Nashville (3/28 and 4/2).
A cursory look at the appropriate registration pages – demand is, of course, extremely high for the first-come, first-serve tickets – indicates that attendees won’t have to suffer through marathon filming processes, either.
The Fort Worth opening show, at Tannahill’s Tavern & Music Hall, is expected to run from 7:00-9:30 PM local time, for instance.
“I spent a lot of my underage life playing in some seedy pubs,” Keith Urban added of the competition’s inspiration, “sometimes just for the bartender. So I love the idea of throwing artists into a real-world environment to find out if they are artists.
“Paying your dues sucks,” the High act concluded, “but there are things in this business that can’t be taught, like how to put together a set list, whether to extend or cut a song during your performance or how to work the crowd. For me, touring has always been my first love. It’s where the rubber meets the road. But it’s the only road to take if you want to be a performer.”
Though time will tell whether The Road catches on – with inherent obstacles including long-running music-competition rivals, some taping multiple seasons per year – the idea certainly makes sense on several levels.