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      Savvis show demonstrates why Jackson's tops in country music 
      By Amanda St. Amand 
      Published: Sunday, Apr. 04 2004 

      Next month when the Academy of Country Music hands out awards, Alan 
      Jackson 
      stands to pick up a slew of them.

      He's won the rival Country Music Association's entertainer of the year 
      award 
      the last two years and he showed why during his packed show at Savvis 
      Center on 
      Saturday night.

      Jackson puts on a straightforward concert: a bunch of hit songs from his 
      15-year career with few frills. But he merges his stand and sing approach 
      with 
      video clips most of his audience has watched on country music networks. 
      His 
      current "Remember When" single video shows Jackson slow-dancing with his 
      stunning wife, Denise, interspersed with video of young couples, old 
      couples 
      and babies to illustrate the theme of growing older together.

      The Georgia native mixed ballads like "When Somebody Loves You" and "Where 
      Were 
      You (When the World Stopped Turning)" with his up-tempo efforts like 
      "Don't 
      Rock the Jukebox," "Drive" and "Little Bitty." His 20-song set, including 
      a 
      brief encore, kept him on stage for 90 minutes.

      His nine-piece band, The Strayhorns, provided exceptional backup. They've 
      toured together for nearly as long as Jackson and it shows with their 
      tight 
      lead-ins and perfectly timed intros as Jackson stopped for a drink or 
      threw 
      guitar picks to fans.

      And, thankfully, Jackson skipped the tired tradition of putting on a local 

      team's cap or jersey. Instead, he paid tribute to the St. Louis crowd with 
      his 
      last song of the night, "Where I Come From." While he sang, the five video 

      screens filled with fresh shots of everything St. Louis: Busch Stadium, 
      Blueberry Hill, the Zoo, the Hill and of course, the Arch. What a 
      wonderful 
      change of pace.

      The only weirdness with the video screens came early in the show and more 
      from 
      the audience than from Jackson. When the cameraman zoomed in for a shot of 

      Jackson's jeans — his trademark including raggedy frays around one knee — 
      some 
      of the women in the audience hooted and howled. Maybe Jackson's hairy knee 
      is 
      to country what Britney's belly-button is to pop. 

      Martina McBride opened for Jackson with a 15-song set of her best-known 
      hits 
      and a few from her most recent album. Her voice strained on a few of her 
      belt-it-out notes on "Independence Day" and "Concrete Angel" but she 
      charmed 
      the crowd with her down-home manner. During "In My Daughters Eyes," the 
      crowd 
      oohed and ahed over videos of McBride's two daughters.

      McBride slapped on a St. Louis Blues jersey for her encore song, "When God 

      Fearing Women Get the Blues." But given that the Blues had just beat the 
      Nashville Predators to secure a playoff spot, it wasn't as trite as usual.

      Reporter Amanda St. Amand
      E-mail: mdavis@post-dispatch.com
      Phone: 314-340-8341
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