NEAR-CAPACITY CROWD TURNS OUT FOR JACKSON AT SHOW ME CENTER

You couldn't go wrong at the Show Me Center Sunday night. Alan Jackson for the girls to look at, Faith Hill for the boys. They could have called this the "Hey Good Lookin'" Tour.

There is, in fact, a lot of the tall and lanky Jackson to look at, especially in the state-of-the art touring show he brought to town. Three huge floating video screens plus nine TV monitors that were implanted into the tiered stage kept images of Jackson, and sometimes his bandmates, flying.

The show was a tightly choreographed ballet, with two videographers dressed in black working the stage, sometimes distractingly, and constantly feeding new images onto the screens.

During songs like "Tonight I Climbed the Wall," "Midnight in Montgomery" and "Chattahoochee," those live images were mixed with familiar footage from Jackson's videos. Occasionally the live image was superimposed on the video.

All this and the best sound-engineering this reviewer has ever heard in a large concert hall.

Was it entertaining? Incredibly. But was it live, or was it a video?

It must be at least a little disconcerting for Jackson to look into all those eyes in the audience only to see their gaze directed at his video image when the real thing is right in front of them.

A Jackson song, "All-American Country Boy," states his appeal: a tall, blond, blue-eyed, politely humble man who likes to kick up a rooster tail on water skis or in a four-wheeler, and who pays tribute to his country elders -- notably Hank Williams ("Mind Your Own Business," "Midnight in Montgomery,") and George Jones ("Don't Rock the Jukebox."

Jackson touches all the traditional country bases with a sincerity that makes people like him. He got a standing ovation before he sang a note.

Jackson's all-out use of video made the comparison between his show and Faith Hill's straightforward effort striking. Fortunately Hill, a relative newcomer to country music who has fashion model looks and a Tammy Wynette voice, has the goods to overcome a lack of technology.

She didn't even have a great sound mix. But on a song like the gorgeous and moving "I Would be Stronger Than That," technology doesn't matter.

She also gets credit for a couple things few country bands have -- a woman and an African American playing in her band.

Hill's only slip-up was announcing that her guitar player was from Cape Girardeau. A check found that the guitar player seems to be from whatever town the band is playing in that night.

Attendance at the Show Me Center for Sunday's concert was 6,414, which is 98 percent capacity.