Alan Jackson hits high points

UNCASVILLE, CONN. - As Alan Jackson took the stage at the Mohegan Sun Arena Friday night, the five big screens in back of him lit up with the words "31 No. 1 hits."

The six-foot-four, blonde-haired country kingpin from Georgia didn't play all those hits during his hour and 15 minutes on stage, but he definitely touched on the high points before a near-capacity crowd on the second night of his two-night stand at the venue.

In a strong pairing, Jackson shared the show with one of country's brightest stars, Sara Evans, and the evening also featured a brief yet well received opening set by the up-and-coming husband-wife duo The Wrights.

But it was clearly Jackson that most of the crowd had come to see. Running cool 'n' easy in stark contrast to the heat generated during Evans' highly-energized outing, Jackson and his seasoned nine-piece band opened with his tongue-in-cheek shot at pop culture's embrace of Nashville, "Gone Country."

Wearing his trademark ripped jeans and a white cowboy hat, the singer seemed even more subdued than usual during much of the night. Always a country traditionalist, he kept the faith through songs such as "Livin' On Love," "Too Much of a Good Thing," his recent single "USA Today," and the fiddle-fired crowd fave "Little Bitty."

As he's done during most, if not all of his tours, Jackson relied heavily on footage from his videos to accompany the songs being played live on stage.

That's fine, but at times it was also distracting, leaving one to wish that he'd use the videos less frequently and save them for a stronger impact. There were exceptions, however, particularly the gorgeous ballad "Remember When," which was greatly enhanced by the nostalgic images on the big screens.

Jackson picked up the tempo midway through the night with his early standout "Don't Rock the Jukebox," and a playful version of his hit with Jimmy Buffett "It's Five O'clock Somewhere."

Latter set highlights included the George Jones' styled "Pop a Top" and Jackson's extraordinary 9/11 ballad "Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)." He encored with "Mercury Blues," though he spent about 10 minutes of that encore signing autographs for fans up by the front of the stage.

Evans was electric from the moment she took the stage. Dressed in jeans and a light blue shirt, the singer who was selected recently as one of People magazine's "50 most beautiful people" delivered strong takes of "I Keep Looking," the rowdy "Momma's Night Out," and one of her major hits from 2003, "Suds in the Bucket."

She kept the pace decidedly uptempo with "Born to Fly," and then turned in her latest single, the lyrically-scathing "Cheatin'," which she's slated to perform on the Country Music Association awards show tomorrow. During that song, it was at times difficult to hear the lower end of her voice, perhaps due to some issues at the soundboard, where they were cranking her six-piece band pretty loudly.

The singer closed impressively though, with the lusty "Coalmine," the big ballad "I Could Not Ask For More," and her huge recent No. 1 hit "A Real Fine Place to Start."

The Wrights, Shannon and Adam, offered a few strong selections from their debut RCA album, including the title song "Down This Road," and "On The Rocks."

Reach Kevin O'Hare at kohare@repub.com