Keith Urban put family first this Christmas as he opted to tour around Australia instead of filming the next season of The Voice. 

The country music star, 54, left the singing show to kick off the Down Under leg of The Speed Of Now World Tour based on the titular album he released in 2020. 

He told The Daily Telegraph on Friday he was trying to balance his schedule with wife Nicole Kidman so they could take their children to visit their grandparents and extended family for the holidays.

Keith Urban, 54, (pictured) put family first this Christmas as he opted to tour around Australia instead of filming the next season of The Voice

'My mum just turned 80 and Nic's mum, who knows how many Christmases we get with anybody ever but particularly with our mums, I really cherish that chance to spend Chrissy with them and our family in Aus,' he said.

'Having the kids in there is great but the extended family as well because we don't have any family in Nashville so it is incredible to have all of the cousins and aunts and uncles and everybody, it is just amazing.'

Keith had originally planned the tour for 2020 but had to push it back due to the COVID pandemic. 

The country music star, 54, left the singing show to kick off the Down Under leg of The Speed Of Now World Tour based on the titular album he released in 2020

He is currently in the U.S. leg, which will wrap up on November 4, with shows playing in Kentucky and Nashville this week. 

The singer will start his tour in Australia on December 1 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.  

'It has been just a banger of a year. This year already feels like two years rolled into one, probably just for how much we have been touring and the fact that the contrast was a-year-and-a-half of a very slow dormant touring period and then just suddenly everything wide open,' he said.

He told The Daily Telegraph on Friday he was trying to balance his schedule with wife Nicole Kidman, 55, (right) so they could take their children to visit their grandparents and extended family for the holidays

'My mum just turned 80 and Nic's mum, who knows how many Christmases we get with anybody ever but particularly with our mums, I really cherish that chance to spend Chrissy with them and our family in Aus,' he said

Keith will play two show at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena on the 5th and 6th of December before wrapping in Melbourne on the 17th. 

Birds of Tokyo will take to the stage with him along with GRAACE and Dallas Woods in Deniliquin on December 10.  

He said he has more music planned for 2023 and will be too busy to return to The Voice alongside coaches Rita Ora, Guy Sebastian and Jessica Mauboy. 

Keith had originally planned the tour for 2020 but had to push it back due to the COVID pandemic

It's not the first time Keith has left The Voice - and he reportedly regretted the decision to quit back in 2012. 

With dreams of making it big in Hollywood, the musician left The Voice Australia after one season to star as a judge on American Idol from 2012 to 2016.

Fans can get tickets for Keith's Speed Of Now World Tour here. 

He is currently in the U.S. leg, which will wrap up on November 4, with shows playing in Kentucky and Nashville this week. The singer will start his tour in Australia on December 1 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre