Keith Urban plays late-night show at the Ryman

NASHVILLE — "Thank you for staying up late," Keith Urban told the thousand or so people at the Ryman Auditorium for an invitation-only show that began shortly after midnight Friday morning. The 12-song concert, one of the activities surround this week's Country Radio Seminar, offered the opportunity to see the singer and American Idol judge in an intimate, relaxed setting.

Stripped-down affair. Urban began the show playing his acoustic guitar while standing on a large carpet in the middle of the Ryman stage. As the began playing his first song, Long Hot Summer, he realized that the intro sounded exactly like Rick Springfield's 1981 pop hit Jessie's Girl, so he sang a line of that, too.

Banjo and a beatbox. At one point, Urban sat down with a banjo that he bought in 1995 and a drum machine he acquired about the same time. "These two love each other," Urban said. "They were like long-lost friends." Urban added that he does most of his songwriting using the two instruments. "It doesn't matter what the song is, it just seems to work better with a banjo." As if to prove his point, he proceeded to launch into a banjo version of the Greg Kihn Band's 1981 hit The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em).

Bringing on the band. Urban played half the show solo, accompanying himself on guitar, banjo and piano. When he began singing his recent single Cop Car, the sixth song of the night, he was joined by a rhythm section of longtime bassist Jerry Flowers and drummer Seth Rausch, playing just his second show with Urban.

Kiss this. Perhaps as a nod to his role on Idol, Urban invited members of the audience to join him on stage for a singing competition while he played his 2009 single Kiss a Girl. He wound up with six people onstage with him. One asked Urban the key of the song. When Urban told him it was in D, the audience member sat down at Urban's piano and began to play it with him.

The set list of Urban's Ryman Auditorium show follows.

1. Jessie's Girl/Long Hot Summer
2. Better Life
3. Somewhere in My Car
4. The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)
5. Love Somebody
6. Cop Car
7. Kiss a Girl
8. Walk in the Country
9. Making Memories of Us
10. Tonight I Wanna Cry
11. You Look Good in My Shirt
12. Raise 'Em Up