When Peter Peres and his bandmate decided they would try to get tickets to a surprise pop-up performance by country music superstar Keith Urban at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern earlier this week, neither could have guessed they would both end up on stage performing alongside him.
“It’s not every day your idol invites you onstage to sing one of his biggest hits. It was a surreal moment,” Peres said.
Urban announced the last-minute show on Jan. 10 and tickets went on sale that same day.
Peres said he and his bandmate Angel Gomez both knew they “had to” go.
“He is one of my biggest idols. He is probably the first country singer that I heard of before I decided to take on country myself,” said Peres.
The Toronto-based country music singer/songwriter had seen Urban perform several times before at bigger venues like Toronto’s Budweiser Stage, but this was the first time seeing him in a more intimate setting. The Horseshoe Tavern has a capacity of 400.
“We showed up like 5 p.m. (on Monday) to try to secure a good spot,” said Peres. “Doing that was probably a big reason as to why this even happened, because we were so close to Keith that he was able to spot us in the crowd,”
Peres said when Urban first came on stage, he announced that the show would be like a “jam session” and proceeded to have conversations with some people in the crowd between songs, even grabbing one woman’s phone who was on FaceTime with her daughter.
That interaction was the catalyst for Peres to turn to Gomez and ask if they should try to get Urban’s attention too.
“I got on my phone and wrote, ‘since this is a jam, can I sing with you?’ And then my guitarist wrote on his phone, ‘I play guitar. Can I play with you as well?’”
Peres said other people started trying to get Urban’s attention for them as well and he eventually spotted the pair in the crowd.
“He was like, ‘what song do you want to do?’ I yelled out ‘Somebody Like You.’ And then he brought us up on stage and the rest is history. It was just an amazing experience.”
‘Don’t mess this up’
Despite being invited onstage to perform alongside his idol, Peres said he didn’t let his initial nerves get the best of him.
It also wasn’t his first time on the stage at Horseshoe Tavern. Peres and his bandmates have played shows at the local concert venue before.
“Once the song started, we were like, ‘you know what? We play this song all the time when we play gigs. Yes, we are singing this with Keith Urban but at the same time, we’ve sung this song so many times so let’s put on a show.’”
While the show was still going on, Peres said someone posted the moment on TikTok.
“[The video] instantly went viral while the show was still going on. I had friends messaging me saying, ‘you’re on TikTok’ after we went back into the crowd.”
At the time of publication, the pair’s performance with Urban has over 300,000 views across various platforms.
Peres said despite the exciting night and going viral, he hasn’t heard from Urban or his team for any follow-up.
“It would be amazing if that did happen, but regardless I wanted to again thank Keith Urban for giving me the chance.”
