Sheryl Crow soaks up the sun, embraces rock and country vibe at Meijer Gardens show

Sheryl Crow’s first-ever appearance at the outdoor amphitheater featured a wide-ranging set of hits and new country material, plus a pre-show confab with guitarist Peter Frampton. (Review, photo gallery)

 

The reinvention of a major pop star can be a tricky business.

With nine Grammy Awards, seven No. 1 singles and five platinum-selling rock/pop albums to her credit, Sheryl Crow is clearly “an A-list artist, a household name,” as Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park concert promoter Chris Mautz so aptly puts it.

So, Crow’s much-talked-about switch to Nashville sweetheart as she prepares to release her first full-fledged country album in September might seem fraught with some peril, considering her fan base is built on catchy Top 40 hits such as “Soak Up the Sun,” “All I Wanna Do” and “If It Makes You Happy.”

Still, she’s bravely pushing forward: Her new band since spring 2012 – led by her longtime guitarist Peter Stroud – boasts some stellar Nashville stalwarts, and Sunday night’s sold-out Meijer Gardens show even opened with the Indiana drawl of emerging country artist Clayton Anderson.

SMOOTH TRANSITION FROM ROCK TO COUNTRY AND BACK AGAIN

But leave it to the versatile multi-instrumentalist and her bandmates to deftly and seamlessly make that transition during a 1-hour-and-33-minute show, impressing not only 1,900 gleeful fans crowding the outdoor amphitheater on a sun-splashed Sunday, but superstar guitarist Peter Frampton, a pal who met with the singer before the concert and who plays his own Meijer Gardens show on Monday night.

Crow stayed true to her musical school by appealing to diehards eager for the nostalgic buzz of her familiar rock/pop fodder, then heightened anticipation for that new Nashville recording with razor-sharp live renditions of fresh country songs that more than complement the rootsiness that’s long been an underpinning of the singer’s material.

Part of that is due to her cracker-jack band and the clever pedal-steel guitar work of Joshua Grange, who added pleasing twang to much of the 18-song set, providing subtle accents, for instance, on 1994’s “All I Wanna Do” to help Crow segue into her current country hit, “Easy.”

Much of it, of course, is also due to Crow’s dynamic, far-reaching voice which seems as well suited to a country yodel as a rock roar, from “Call Me When I’m Lonely” to “Real Gone,” the latter featuring an on-stage appearance by her young son, Levi, who dashed to and fro while wearing some hefty ear protection.

The capacity crowd applauded it all, from the opening rock of “Steve McQueen,” with the svelte and black-clad 51-year-old singer playing a red-white-blue guitar, to the encore-closing “Every Day is a Winding road,” with Crow and her band clearly “feeling fine.”

Of course, Crow has dabbled in country textures before, with Kid Rock’s “Picture” and even the vibe of “The First Cut is the Deepest,” but jumping into the deep end of the Nashville pool shows great promise for this pop star based on her first-ever Meijer Gardens appearance.

And that could mean: Get ready to eat your heart out Taylor Swift.

THE VIBE
For the third time in three shows, the snapshot-perfect weather proved an ideal backdrop for a concert in the lush surroundings, especially with a set list that included summery tunes such as “Soak Up the Sun.”

THE NIGHT’S BIG MOMENTS
The driving, Southern-rock milieu of “Shotgun” near the end of the show displayed everything that’s long made Crow stand out: dynamic vocals, pop-powered hooks, instrumental muscle. And following it up with “Picture,” which morphed into “If It Makes You Happy,” was frosting on the cake.

THE BANTER
“Gorgeous houses (in Grand Haven). Did you know that one-tenth of the cottages in Grand Haven came from Sears Roebuck? That’s good ol’ American ingenuity.” – Sheryl Crow, talking about visiting Grand Haven earlier in the day.

“This place is unreal. This place is a hidden gem you’ve got here.” – Opening act Clayton Anderson, describing Meijer Gardens.

SHERYL CROW: THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY BY ANTHONY NORKUS

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music