Keith Urban performed a song about a former partner finding someone new on Friday before appearing to wipe away a tear in front of a sold-out crowd in Atlantic City.
The 58-year-old country music star became visibly emotional at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino after playing "We Go Back", a track from his latest album, "Flow State".
In exclusive footage obtained by the Daily Mail, Urban is seen crouching on the stage and touching his face. He then looked down, offered a small smile and shook his head as the audience clapped and cheered.
Urban picked up a microphone while his band played an instrumental introduction for their next song in the background. "This is why we keep coming back to Atlantic City," he told the fans.
The album was released five months after Urban finalized his divorce from the Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman. The performance took place just weeks after she was photographed in Italy with a businessman.
Before playing the heartbreak ballad, Urban told the crowd it was about a man and a woman who grew up together in a small town.
"They were the first of their friends to fall in love," he said over the cheers of the audience. "They had a good thing going, until the guy screwed it up. I will do that."
Urban paused briefly before adding that years go by in the song before the pair finally cross paths again.
"This guy can't believe it. He sees the girl, she looks exactly the same," the singer said. "They start talking, they are getting along great. She tells him she's got somebody else."
Kidman photographed on Italian getaway
Urban then explained that the song's chorus reflects the man's regrets. "I know I never should have let you go. I was young and dumb, and I messed it all up bad," he told the crowd.
"You tell me that it's too late now, 'cause there's somebody new around," the lyrics conclude. "But what we've got is the one thing you'll never have. We go back."
Urban played several more songs after the new track before his emotional moment on stage. Representatives for the singer have not responded to requests for comment.
The concert follows the publication of Daily Mail photographs last month showing Kidman drinking an Aperol Spritz by a pool on the Italian Riviera with Michael Reinstein, a private equity executive described as a silver fox.
The pair were joined during the July getaway by Sunday Rose, 18, and Faith, 15, the two teenage daughters Kidman shares with Urban.
Urban was reportedly left devastated by claims that his former wife had sparked romance rumors with Reinstein.
The online gossip site DeuxMoi reported in June that Kidman was romantically linked to a high-profile businessman and that they were taking things slow. A source told the site the relationship had been quietly developing for several months and that the couple were keeping things extremely low-key and largely out of the public eye.
Moving forward after divorce
An insider close to Kidman told the Daily Mail that the actress deserved happiness after everything she went through with Urban.
"She never thought her marriage wouldn't work out and she tried as best as she could to keep her family intact," the source said.
"Her daughters are her best friends, and she seems really content in her life. She's so easy to get along with and kind. She keeps her personal life extremely private."
Kidman and Urban's separation came to light in September of last year following 19 years of marriage. Sources told the Daily Mail they had hit a rocky path in the summer of 2025 and that the split was a long-term development.
The former couple reached a settlement agreement shortly after ringing in the new year and finalized the divorce process in January.
Kidman discussed her love life candidly during an interview with British Vogue earlier this month.
"I can still approach things intellectually," the "Moulin Rouge!" star said. "But my desire is not to be ruled by my head, I've always wanted to live a well-examined life, so what does that entail? Trying things, making mistakes, failing, getting back up, moving on, embracing love, staying open, keeping the heart open and the possibilities."
Kidman told the magazine she had learned to adapt when her life did not turn out as she expected.
"But at the same time I'm like, 'Okay, I didn't expect this. I had a different view of what my life was going to be, but this is what it is now,'" she said. "You make all these plans and you have all these ideas of what it's all going to be like and then it's not. You have to adjust. You adapt. The future, it's completely unknown to me right now."
The actress said she experienced a period when she felt deeply vulnerable and fearful, which she described as exposing.
"And then at the same time I'm going, 'Well, I can either really not confront it and just curl up, or I can just go forward with an enormous amount of hope,'" she said.
Kidman also spoke about her focus in a March interview with Variety.
"What I'm grateful for is my family, and keeping them as is, and moving forward," she said. "That's that."
The "Big Little Lies" actress said she was determined to maintain her family unit. "I'm staying in a place of, 'We are a family,' and that's what we'll continue to be," she said. "My beautiful girls, my darlings, who are suddenly women."
When asked if she was doing all right following the separation, she replied: "I am, because I'm always going to be moving toward what's good."
