Private Celebration with Superstar Keith Urban

When a private client sought to celebrate an important birthday party with a unique event in his home, he turned to Empire Entertainment to help him plan a most memorable affair. Working closely with his staff, Empire was able to negotiate and secure the services of Keith Urban, one of the most dynamic performers and all around professionals, we’ve had the pleasure to work with at Empire. Over a period of six months, Empire worked closely with the client and the event’s designer to develop a tented solution in the beautiful waterfront backyard to accommodate the evening’s events.

When the day arrived, the weather was perfect. Guests arrived down a stately gravel driveway, flanked by 10-foot high hedges, and pulled up in front of a cocktail tent overlooking the water in which Empire had programmed light and client’s preferred background music. Guests then moved into a tent to be seated for a dinner followed by remarks and a tribute video. But it was not until the guests moved into the entertainment tent that the full scope of the party’s plan was revealed. Inside this large tent built with a sunken pickled birch wood dance floor and cowhide banquettes, the production and design team had created the perfect environment for an entertainment presentation and after party.

One of the client’s family members performed a 20-minute set with a seven-piece band at the top of the show, wowing the audience. Immediately afterwards, a birthday cake was presented to the sounds of Stevie Wonder's “Happy Birthday”, after which, the main event commenced

Keith Urban took the stage with his full band and played a 90-minute set that included all of his hits, including several covers by artists such as Billy Joel and AC/DC. The audience danced the entire set and Keith Urban even brought some of the guests up on stage to sing with him. At one point, Urban went into the crowd, played a guitar solo, signed the guitar, and gave it to one of the stunned attendees. Towards the end of the set, Urban invited the man of the hour onstage to sing with him to Steve Miller Band’s "The Joker," and ended the show with a special guitar version of "Happy Birthday." After his final encore, Keith Urban left the stage and the evening transitioned into a dance party led by a DJ, spinning tunes until the last guests left at 1:30 AM.

For this ambitious private client project, Empire served as overall entertainment producer. Empire worked closely with the client’s office to secure and contract all performing talent and entertainment, provide all technical production, including a custom lighting rig built to conform to the shape of the tent, and Empire provided all talent logistics, stage management, and onsite production management.

From parties in remote New York locations, to the South of France, Buzios and Bodrum, Empire is the leading producer of private celebrations and events and the world's leading provider of headline entertainment for private events.