ATHENS, Ala. (WHNT) — Country music star Keith Urban had a bit of a surprise planned for the city of Athens, Alabama, on Friday.
The singer posted a concert poster on social media Friday announcing a surprise appearance at the Athens Buc-ee’s.
He said the concert was at 8 p.m. Friday at the Athen’s travel center.
“We’ll see ya outside in the parking lot – it’s gonna be a blast!” Urban said on social media.
Despite the short notice, crowds packed out the Buc-ee’s parking lot.
One fan, Darlene Suratt, said she started heading towards the travel center once she heard about it.
“He’s my favorite country music star, so I’m just excited,” she told NewsNation affiliate WHNT. “My daughter in-law called me about two hours ago and said he was coming here to do a free concert. And, I said ‘I’m on the way! Honey, get your shoes on, we’re going.’ And, we just came.”
WHNT’s Ben Smith went out to the concert and got a few shots of the crowd.
The City of Athens said on social media that Buc-ee’s estimated 5,500 people came out to the concert.
The city also shared some photos on social media:
Urban seemed a bit surprised about the crowd size himself. In a video posted by the City of Athens, the singer said he had actually expected only a couple hundred people at most.
“I came down to this Buc-ee’s about a month ago and when I left I went ‘it would be kind of fun to do a show there,” Urban said. “So this is my caveman brain right? So I am like ‘it will be fun we will set up a little stage and some people will come around and hear us play.’ I swear to you, I thought maybe a hundred, two-hundred people.”