Keith Urban jams with Las Vegas teen in Colosseum event

Keith Urban knows his way around the bass and the six-string. So does the kid from Las Vegas Academy.

Urban hosted a group of LVA music students at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Thursday afternoon. He and his band played a short concert, or extended sound check, in the otherwise cavernous theater.

One of those students was senior Bradley Love, blessed with a great stage name and also a great real name.

Urban invited the teenager to the stage, and the two swapped lead-guitar riffs and tasty bass lines. Love conquered all in this jam session. His classmates cheered on the performance, and one called out, “He’s never going to shut up about this.”

“It’s great to share a moment like that,” Urban said afterward.

“I was shaking,” Love said.

The youngster has recorded a full album, “Better Days,” due on Spotify in May. Love played all the instruments, recording from his bedroom. His first single, “Drowning,” is streaming now on Spotify and Apple Music.

During a quickie, post-event news conference, Urban was asked if he was ever in a similar opportunity as a teenager. He said he had not experienced meeting a superstar, but had been “nervous” in meeting legends later.

Who made him nervous?

“Paul McCartney,” Urban said, smiling. “I mean, he’s a Beatle, right?”

Urban continues his rocking residency at the Colosseum on Friday, Saturday, Wednesday and April 1-2. He’s back May 27 for another swing.

‘After Dark’ lights up NoMad

Trumpet master and soaring singer Brian Newman is returning his “After Dark” late-night hang to NoMad Library in April.

This series of dates is Newman’s most ambitious yet, 24 shows running from April 14 through July 17. Tickets start at $49 (not including fees) and are on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. All shows begin at 11:30 p.m. and end … when it’s over. Plan for about 2 a.m., and please take an afternoon nap to prepare. It’s worth it.

Nine of Newman’s dozen shows in April (and also on May 1) coincide with the return of Lady Gaga’s “Jazz + Piano” show at Dolby Live. But otherwise, and again, Newman is operating largely independent of the “J+P” show, in which he performs as Gaga’s bandleader, foil and occasional duet partner.

Gaga has frequently appeared at NoMad Library after “J+P.” She unintentionally inspired the rename from NoMad Restaurant after remarking, “This place feels like a library,” as she observed the 25,000-book collection from David Rockefeller’s collection.

But Newman, his burlesque-star wife, Angie Pontani, and his band of cats Alex Smith (keys), Steve Kortyka (sax), Daniel Foose (bass) and Nolan Byrd (drums) are chiseling their own scene at the Library. Singing greats Jacklyn McSpadden of “Baz” and Postmodern Jukebox, Skye Dee Miles and Mikalah Gordon; keyboard legend Ronnie Foster; champion tap-dancer Aaron Turner; and Tropicana’s Laugh Factory headliner Murray Sawchuck are among the Vegas entertainers to file into Newman’s show.

Ashanti, Robby Krieger from The Doors, Terence Blanchard, Puddles Pity Party, Morgan James of Postmodern Jukebox, Emily King, Kelsea Ballerini and cast members of “Magic Mike Live” have also hit the stage.

Newman is already on a scouting effort to get Nomad Live headliners Usher and Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak of Silk Sonic to join the fracas.

“I’m excited to do more shows and to keep growing this gig,” Newman said Thursday in a phone chat from his home in Brooklyn. “We’re going to get that room popping. We’re making everything bigger, better, faster and harder.”

Just stay awake, is the advice from here.

Cool Hang Alert

Catch the vocal acrobat Angelina Alexon at any of her many gigs (she plays the middle bar at Rampart Casino and Golden Nugget’s Rush Lounge, among other Vegas resorts). At 8 p.m.-midnight, April 1-2, Alexon is at Desert Star Bar at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. No cover, and you’ll hear some serious international and genre-bending vocal work.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.