Watch Keith Urban Pay Tribute to Artists We Lost in 2017

Keith Urban rang in the new year by playing a free outdoor show in downtown Nashville, and the [...]

By Hannah Barnes

Keith Urban rang in the new year by playing a free outdoor show in downtown Nashville, and the country star used the opportunity to pay tribute to some of the legendary musicians the world lost in 2017.

Urban began his moving medley with a haunting rendition of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" in tribute to the late Chris Cornell, who fronted the group, followed by Gregg Allman's "Midnight Rider," Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," Don Williams' "Tulsa Time" and Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman." He then moved into Montgomery Gentry's "My Town" in tribute to Troy Gentry before finishing with the guitar riff from AC/DC's "Back in Black" to honor late band member Malcolm Young.

Despite the frigid temperature, Urban's guitar skills were on full display as photos of the late artists flashed behind him on the screen.

After the medley, Urban played a full performance of Tom Petty's "Free Falling" to conclude his tribute to the departed artists of 2017. During the song, he was joined on stage by wife Nicole Kidman and their two daughters.

Maren Morris, Cheap Trick, Carly Pearce, Jonny P, Larkin Poe, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers also performed at the event. Urban also headlined the concert last year, giving fans a memorable moment when wife Nicole Kidman joined him onstage. This year, Urban and Kidman were interviewed by Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen for CNN's New Year's Eve live broadcast, with Cohen asking Kidman about her now-viral clapping at this year's Oscars.

"I wish that there was more important things to be concerned about or that people were focused on more important things than that sort of clapping," she responded. "That's what I would say."

Cooper later called Kidman's comment "well-deserved shade" on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Denis Makarenko / Shutterstock.com

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