Reviews

GRAND PRAIRIE – Despite writing songs almost exclusively about passionate relationships and their consequences, Alicia Keys comes across on her records as one cool customer.She shed that image Wednesday at Nokia Theatre, stepping out from behind the security of her piano to tart it up in a series of choreographed dance numbers. By the time the concert was over two hours later, Ms. Keys had spanked her backside almost as often as she had slapped the ivory.

The staging and the set – backup dancers simulating coupling, a concave bank of light panels flashing colors – added a new dimension to her considerable gifts as a writer and performer without overwhelming her mesmerizing voice, if that would even be possible.

Ms. Keys has a soulful purity to her singing that somehow leaves room for a little grit. On Wednesday, she added sweat to the mix.

Introduced by Cedric the Entertainer masquerading as a preacher in a video sermon, she materialized at her piano in the first of four outfits, tight dark jeans and a red leather top. Before you knew it, though, she was up on her feet for the reggae dancehall of "Ghetto Story" and salsa-influenced "Waiting for Your Love."

Ms. Keys is no Janet Jackson on the dance floor but neither is Ms. Jackson an Alicia Keys behind the microphone. At least she looked like she was enjoying herself, as was the 5,000-strong crowd cheering her on.

After making a near medley of "Where Do We Go From Here" (from her latest album, As I Am) and the old hits "You Don't Know My Name" and "Teenage Love Affair," Ms. Keys changed into a fringed, glittery red blouse for the funky "Heartburn" before hitting her stride with a series of ballads about empowerment.

"Do you all mind if I play my piano for you tonight?" she asked rhetorically. About time, no one thought. When she started hitting the high notes on "Sure Looks Good to Me," the guy sitting next to me quietly uttered, "Wow." What he meant was "Can you believe the sheer beauty of this woman's voice?" Wow, indeed, and the show was only half over.

Ms. Keys spent the rest of the set jumping between the piano (the gospel-soul of Prince's "How Come You Don't Call Me," the vibrato-laced "Like You'll Never See Me Again"), a keyboard near the front of the stage (where she winked at older folks in the good seats) and up, down and around.

When it was over, the audience must've been as exhilarated as she was exhausted.

Jordin Sparks, last year's American Idol winner, opened the show soaring and swooping through her pleasant pop tunes while a majority of the audience ate dinner in the lobby. "Are you excited to be here?" she inquired.

"I love you!" a couple of youngsters shouted. "There's my die-hard fans," the relieved 18-year-old said. Used to commanding 30 million viewers, Ms. Sparks is now getting accustomed to the world of the warm-up.

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