Keith Urban Still Tries to 'Impress' Wife Nicole Kidman with His Concerts (Exclusive)

"It fires me up a bit more," the singer admits when his wife of nearly 18 years is in the audience

If you spot Nicole Kidman at a Keith Urban concert, just know that he’s going to take it up a notch. 

“It fires me up a bit more,” he tells PEOPLE of his wife’s attendance at this shows, one day after the couple made a head-turning appearance at the 2024 Met Gala. “I try to impress her.”

The couple shares two children — Sunday, 15, and Faith, 13 — and they’ll celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary next month, so it’s not farfetched to assume Kidman, 56, is already in awe of her husband. Still, Urban feels the need to get approval from those closest to him, including his father, Bob Urban, who passed in December 2015.

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“I feel like I'm still trying to make my dad proud, and I think my dad was proud years ago,” Urban, 56, says. “My dad's not even alive anymore and I still feel like I'm trying to get his approval. So certain things just stay part of my fire.”

Urban will bring that fire to Las Vegas this fall for his just-announced 10-show Las Vegas residency, dubbed “High,” at Fontainebleau’s BleuLive Theater. No stranger to the gambling mecca, having headlined residency shows at Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood, Urban said he’ll approach “High” differently than his previous performances. 

“The only challenge I get in Vegas is obviously you've got a big mix of people. You've got some hardcore fans, you've got some people that know some of your songs, but you've always got people that don’t know anything that I do, and they're just curious,” he adds. “I try and get everyone connected and into it as fast as possible.”

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Vegas audiences, he says, makes him prove his worth, which he relishes. And, the BleuLive Theater, which opened along with the hotel in December 2023, is set up so that energy spreads throughout.  

"I think the room's quite magical. I got to see it maybe two weeks before the grand opening, so they hadn't even finished. They were still finishing it out and it just felt really special right there and then,” Urban says. “It has a really big [general admission] area, so I thrive off that kind of thing, so I'm looking forward to building the show in there.”

If Kidman is in the audience, expect fireworks.

Urban is scheduled to perform at Fontainebleau’s BleuLive Theater on Oct. 4, 5, 9, 11, and 12; Feb. 14, 15, 19, 21, and 22.

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