FARGO
Carrie Underwood may get classified as country when it comes to which stations play her and where her CDs are filed in stores, but her Thursday night concert at the Fargodome proved she's a pop star.
And a pretty good one.
The 27-year-old showed plenty of poise, polish and showmanship just five years after winning "American Idol."
She emerged on a rising stage on a rotating chaise lounge, wearing shiny black shorts, a white ruffled shirt, a top coat with tails and stiletto heels so sharp no one would blame her for spending most of the tune sitting.
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The singer has earned her stage legs, however, and had no trouble strutting and dancing through the next two songs, "Quitter" and "Wasted."
The set balanced predictably between up-tempo anthems like "American Girl" and ballads like "Some Day When I Stop Loving You."
Then again, she has nine No. 1 hits and 12 top 10s to play to please the roughly 12,000 fans in attendance.
The one surprise was a pleasant one - she floated over the crowd in a suspended pickup singing John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
There were plenty of other theatrical touches.
For "Just a Dream," Underwood emerged from the first of at least six wardrobe changes in her self-described "Barbie dress" to sit in a swing against a forest backdrop. The image changed to a weathering house for "Temporary Home."
For her first hit, "Jesus, Take the Wheel," the front of the stage telescoped up as she ended belting "How Great Thou Art."
While she didn't often interact with her band, she dueted with Ashley Clark as his brothers in Sons of Sylvia played with the band on "What Can I Say?". Two songs later, she sang Randy Travis' "I Told You So," with Travis appearing via video to sing his parts.
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And I can't forget the LED dress that displayed some cosmic light show during "Change."
Most predictably, she returned for the encore, performing a rocking rendition of "Before He Cheats," complete with crowd sing-a-long. She also sang "Songs Like This" and added a shout-out to Beyonce with "All the Single Ladies."
It was a far cry from the "real country music" Craig Morgan talked about in his opening set - though shortly after that he covered the Commodores' "Easy," seemingly so he could shake his butt.
Underwood doesn't seem to have any qualms about her country being peppered with pop.
None of the 12,000 at the Fargodome were going to complain.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead and the Herald are Forum Communications Co. newspapers.
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