Keith Urban is The Man. He's one of country music's best live performers, and, on Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena, he showed why he's always nominated for all those "entertainer of the year" awards.

Urban is a unique creature, melding rock-star pizazz with country-music warmth. One of his biggest assets: He clearly loves performing in concert. That joy is contagious. 

Urban has a high, true voice that conveys yearning especially well. That was on full display when, during his encore, he sang and accompanied himself on guitar — no band at that point — on "Memories of Us" and "Stupid Boy." Those were starkly emotional moments.

And he's a hell of a musician, to boot. His guitar work was wonderfully expressive, whether in hard-driving solos that Eddie Van Halen would envy or in, say, the eerie atmospherics for "Cop Car."

Friday's set list was heavy on songs from his newest album, which can sometimes be the kiss of death for a performer in concert. But "Ripcord" is Urban's strongest collection since "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing" a decade ago. It's stuffed with tunes bubbling with personality, from the buoyant enjoy-life vibe of "Wasted Time" to the cool simmer of "John Courage, John Deere, John 3:16" to the 21st century version of a swaying 1950s sound in "Blue Ain't Your Color."

Unfortunately, that meant a few old favorites like "You'll Think of Me" were left out.

Urban certainly cut a music-superstar figure on Friday. He moved as if he felt the music viscerally. His shaggy hair perpetually danced around his face. He burst into a brilliantly white smile at just the right moments. He dressed down in artfully distressed black jeans and T-shirt.

For most of the night, though, over those jeans and T-shirt, he wore a peach-and-blue plaid shirt he got from a fan in the audience. Said fan was dressed as a football referee, and Urban, struck by the unusual attire, invited her up onstage. That was the reason she dressed that way — to meet and be onstage with Urban; mission accomplished. She had a bag of items that included the shirt, which Urban gamely donned.

On Friday, Urban stayed true to certain elements of his past tours. He ambled through the crowd, making his way down an aisle to get to a small, secondary stage at the opposite end of the arena. And he once again signed a guitar and gifted it to a fan.

At one point, Urban asked audience members for applause if they were from New London and Norwich, which might seem like hackneyed musician shtick — get the hometown crowd enthused by tossing out local references the musician actually knows little about. Urban, though, has been around this area. During previous years' tour stops at Mohegan Sun, he's turned up at The Shack in East Lyme and Friendly's in Norwich. Geez, how down-to-earth can one superstar be?

Performers often thank fans for coming out to see their show, but Urban did it in a different way. He saved that message until the absolute end of the night, after he wrapped his encore with "Raise 'Em Up." He thanked the crowd for jumping through whatever hoops they had to in order to get to the show. It felt like an earnest moment from a sincere performer.

The night's two opening acts were winners, too. Brett Eldredge, who noted that he'd performed in the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den a couple of times, certainly earned his way into the big room. His set was a burst of energy, powered by his husky voice and compelling pop-country songs.

Maren Morris, meanwhile, is like Nashville's Selena Gomez — girlish looks, mature vocals. She sounded strong Friday, especially on her signature "My Church."

Urban brought both Eldredge and Morris out for duets during his set, with Morris sitting in for Miranda Lambert on "We Were Us" and Eldredge joining in on "Somebody Like You." Nicely done.

k.dorsey@theday.com