Proof that no parent of a little girl is immune to the epidemic that is Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: During her sold-out show at the Fort Worth Convention Center on Wednesday night, the camera panned to an adorable little girl as she sang along. Aww.
The shot then zoomed out a bit to include the child's dad. One Troy Aikman.
Yep, there was Mr. Aikman, smack in the middle of a pack of shrieking girls in the front row of a Hannah Montana concert. (No, he wasn't caught singing along. But wouldn't that have been spectacular?)
But hey, he was just like thousands of other parents who braved the crowd and the distressing lack of parking to give their offspring an Event to Remember. To paraphrase one of Miley's many hits, it was Kids' Night Out.
And they relished every second. The stadium was packed with sparkly clothes, blond tribute wigs and eager faces. It was an ocean of cute, as far as the eye could see.
Arguably the cutest, of course, was their idol, who first took the stage as the wigged Hannah Montana. (Random thought: That thing has to be hot.) After emerging from a giant, hot-pink cube, the sequined singer broke into "Rock Star," "Life's What You Make It" and the ever-popular "Nobody's Perfect," which included a video montage of her getting – gasp! – B's on her papers.
JOHN F. RHODES/DMN
Miley Cyrus (a.k.a. Hannah Montana) performs at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
"Y'all are a little quiet – do you think you could get a little louder?" she said (sarcastically?) after one song.
If her fans were indeed too quiet, it was only because some of them were in abject shock. Here was the girl who has invaded their TVs, radios, books, backpacks and inner psyches standing in front of them, in real life. But that trance was quickly broken by their urge to jump up and down and join the masses in shrieking.
When the star said she had only one rule – "I never want to look out here and see anyone sitting down!" – they took the command seriously. And she was watching; after almost every song, the 14-year-old would pause for a long water break and simply smile into the crowd, as if she wanted to take it all in. As she should.
The girl who later emerged as Miley Cyrus (the wig ditched for natural brown curls and day-glo costumes swapped for a bit of black leather) was more talkative.
"I'd like to introduce myself to the fabulous Dallas/Fort Worth," she said after her first song of the set. "I'm Miley Cyrus."
They knew and they approved. But she had a rival for their affections: The opening-act Jonas Brothers, composed of New Jersey bros Nick, Kevin and Joe, were received with many decibels of loudness from many, many girls. The Jonases, who peppered their songs with acrobatic moves (including a fancy no-handed cartwheel), seem to be enjoying their lightning-quick rise to superstardom.
One of the concert highlights was the boys' energetic rendition of their hit, "Year 3000." (Sample lyric: "I've been to the year 3000/Not much has changed but they live underwater/And your great-great-great granddaughter is doin' fine.")
With that chorus, almost every mouth in the place – including, perhaps, Troy Aikman's? – sang along.
Troy Aikman audio courtesy of KTCK-AM (1310).
