The Denver Post
      review

      2 country stars, 1 ecstatic crowd
      By Ed Will 
      Denver Post Staff Writer 

      Friday, April 02, 2004 - 
      Music fans lucky enough to be at the Pepsi Center on Thursday night got a 
      twofer, with Martina McBride, a headliner in her own right, opening for 
      country superstar Alan Jackson. 
      McBride's curriculum vitae includes being reigning female vocalist of the 
      year for both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country 
      Music. She has a Top 10 single, "In My Daughter's Eye," which she 
      performed for the appreciative audience.
      The song and her beautiful, soaring voice garnered her one of three 
      standing ovations during an hour-long set.
      Another came after she did her signature song, "Independence Day." It 
      tells the story of an abused wife who strikes back on the Fourth of July. 
      The 1994 single put the Kansas native on the country hit map.
      Other McBride songs that wowed the near-capacity crowd included "Broken 
      Wing," "Concrete Angel" and "Wrong Again."
      It is unusual to start a review of a Jackson concert by writing about the 
      opening act, but no more unusual than a crowd jumping to its feet and 
      demanding an encore from that act.
      But that's what happened when McBride left the stage.
      She set the bar high for Jackson, but the excitement that rippled though 
      the crowd as workers set the stage for the headliner made it clear fans 
      knew he would be up to the test.
      And he didn't disappoint.
      Wearing his trademark holey jeans and white cowboy hat, Jackson had the 
      audience on its feet before the curtain opened. He stood, guitar strapped 
      around his neck, in front of the microphone. He wore a tan cowboy-cut 
      shirt that hung outside his light-blue jeans.
      The jeans, of course, feature one ripped-out knee.
      He started the show with "Gone Country," getting a huge response from his 
      fans when he threw "Denver, Colorado's, gone country" into the chorus.
      Jackson, in his Sept. 11 song "Where Were You," calls himself "a singer of 
      simple song," but anyone who knows his music knows that those simple 
      songs, many of which he writes himself, offer wisdom and insight into 
      love, living, family and even having fun.
      He included oldies, such as "Don't Rock the Jukebox," "I Don't Even Know 
      Your Name," "Here in the Real World" and newer hits, such as "Drive," 
      "It's Five O'clock Somewhere," and his current hit single, "Remember 
When."
      Jackson, as everyone knew he would, easily cleared the bar set by McBride, 
      making this a twofer that several thousand people will remember for a long 
      time.