NICOLE'S CANADIAN ADVENTURE
Nicole Kidman is traveling with new hubby Keith Urban on his new North American concert tour, but she is going to great lengths to stay out of the public eye and out of the camera lenses.
One could speculate that Kidman doesn't want to steal Urban's limelight, but indications at his July 13 show in Sarnia, Ontario -his first concert since the June 25 wedding -were that she wants her privacy and will go to great lengths to keep it.
Kidman was so demanding of her personal space that Shelley Rastin, the singer who opened the show for Urban at the 20,000 strong Bayfest outdoor concert in this city that borders the U.S. at Port Huron, Mich.,said she couldn't even get to her trailer to change her clothes before she went on stage. It was too close to the newlyweds black Prevost tour bus. "She won't let us go anywhere near there," complained Shelly. "I had to change in my van."
Hoping for her big break, Rastin desperately wanted to meet Urban and give him a copy of her CD. "I didn't want her to be here because I knew I wouldn't get to talk to Keith." Urban and Kidman arrived in a private jet at 1:20 p.m., eight hours before he was scheduled to play. Their entourage crossed the border in Urbans tourbus earlier that day.
Traveling with them was Kidman's personal trainer. Local caterer Tim Robertson sent boiled eggs without the yolk to her and he said "she enjoyed them." Robertson caught a glimpse of Kidman as he wandered backstage. "She's beautiful," he said.
Concert organizer Michele Stokley also saw Kidman very briefly sitting outside the bus where picnic table umbrellas had been set up in a public no-access area to block any view of Kidman. "She looks like a porcelain doll. She's stunning," Stokley said. But Stokley, who didn't even say hello to Kidman when she saw the actress, described the big headache she went through trying to keep Kidman and Urban off limits to everyone.
A local radio station had offered $75,000 to anyone who could shoot a photo of the pair kissing. That sent panic through the camp. "We locked down. We were securing the perimeter. People were pretending to be volunteers (to get in)," Stokley said.A large security guard told media covering the concert that the couple's staffers said absolutely no photos were to be taken of the Oscar winner. "If you take a picture, I'll take your camera away," the security guard boomed.
A Canadian photographer was manhandled as he was pushed out the gate and his press credentials swiped for attempting to get a shot of Kidman walking from the bus to the back of the stage at the start of Urban's performance.
During the 90-minute concert, Kidman sat in the wings in the dark.She was wearing a white top, dark pants and her long blonde hair was pulled back from her face. Urban had a glow about him from the moment he stepped on stage. Dressed sloppily as usual in a pair of faded blue jeans and a green T-shirt, the country crooner smiled constantly throughout his performance. Acting cheeky, he even teased the audience into thinking he was going to bring Kidman out. "I'd like to introduce you to somebody . . ." The crowd yelled in anticipation. Urban paused and continued, "My new guitar player." The concert went off without any problems and Urban put on a good show. Surprisingly, he didn't mention Kidman at all. Then the couple left in darkness.
