They sure grow up quickly, don’t they?
Less than two years ago, Miley Cyrus appeared at the Oracle Arena in Oakland and played the part of her Disney Channel alter-ego Hannah Montana. She smiled as she bounced about the stage, singing happy tunes that delighted pigtailed little girls and comforted their minivan-driving chauffeurs (aka, parents).
In that role, Miley (the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus) wasn’t threatening in the slightest. Her function seemed simply to provide a much-needed stepping stone between Raffi, the Wiggles and other children’s music favorites and teen idols such as Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears.
Now, however, little Miss Cyrus wants to join that latter group.
On her current “Wonder World Tour” — her first not to advertise the Hannah Montana brand — the 16-year-old has tossed aside her Disney character’s blonde wig, as well as most of her teeny-bopper charm, in order to further establish her own identity. Compared to what we’ve seen in the past, this is a decidedly more mature affair.
The result, at least at the box office, has been more of the same. She drew a capacity crowd of screaming young girls and earplug-wearing parents to the Oracle Arena on Friday night. A similar scene awaits the pop princess when she performs Sunday at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
Artistically speaking, however, it was more of a mixed bag. She tried mighty hard to prove that she’s all grown up — wearing racy outfits while she worked the microphone like a graduate of Rock Star 101 — and some of her efforts were convincing. At other times, she came across like a run-of-the-mill plastic pop star, something that even detractors wouldn’t have called Hannah Montana.
Admittedly, Cyrus is in a tough spot — the human embodiment of the Britney Spears’ song “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.” Her fans are rooting for her to succeed in hopping from Disney Radio to the regular pop charts, but, more than anything else, they still want her to be Hannah.
To her credit, Cyrus is consciously trying to make the transition as easy as possible on fans. She’s paying attention to the little things and taking baby steps. The star’s performance, while not exactly Disney friendly, isn’t all that daring in comparison to what else exists in the marketplace. For example, she got a bit friendly with the male members of her band, but there was no groping, bumping or grinding to be seen. That, presumably, will come with the next tour.
The 90-minute show opened with the raucous single “Breakout,” the title track from Cyrus’ 2008 sophomore outing, and it continued at a breakneck pace through “Start All Over,” “7 Things” and “Kicking and Screaming.” She scratched and clawed through these numbers, channeling her inner Alanis Morissette at the best of times, before slowing things down with the ballad “Bottom of the Ocean.”
The visuals were dramatic, if too obvious, as the big overhead screens displayed such things as bubbles rising through water (“Bottom of the Ocean”), a frog catching a fly (“Fly on the Wall”), etc. These were the same screens that beamed a lengthy preview of Cyrus’ forthcoming film, “The Last Song,” a marketing move that Hannah Montana would have certainly signed off on.
The 19-song set list was primarily drawn from the two studio albums credited to Miley Cyrus. It also included one cover (Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll), a snippet of another (Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”) and, just to make things more confusing, four numbers off the “Hannah Montana: The Movie” soundtrack.
Care to guess what songs the fans liked best? Without a doubt, the “Hannah Montana” material—especially the fun “Let’s Get Crazy” and the tender closer “Climb”—drew the biggest responses.
That’s to be expected — huge transitions like this can’t be accomplished without a few growing pains. We definitely saw and heard some on Friday night, but not enough to make us think that Cyrus won’t make it.
Read Jim Harrington’s Concert Blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/category/concerts/.
NEXT SHOW
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: HP Pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose
Tickets: $41.75-$83.25, 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com.
