Miranda Lambert playfully tests the waters
Singer Miranda Lambert performs at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater. Credit: Michael E. Ach, 2010
Miranda Lambert, having conquered country music with her mix of sass and sweetness, is ready to expand her reach.
Even before she took the stage Saturday night at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., Lambert made her plans known with a short video of powerful women ranging from Oprah to Reba, set to Beyoncé's "Run the World (Girls)," a dance track about as far afield from Lambert's down-home country as she could get. While Lambert didn't bust out a booty shake or start rapping in her massive 100-minute, arena-worthy spectacular, she showed that she's one of music's most-promising new superstars -- country or otherwise.
She proclaimed her love of R&B as she offered "my best white girl attempt to do some Aretha Franklin," as she ably took on "Do Right Woman" for her first encore. She did her best to make Tom Petty's "Free Girl Now" her own fiery rock liberation anthem. And she even announced onstage her acting debut -- an upcoming spot on her favorite show, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" on Feb. 8.
Of course, Lambert handles nothing better than her own eclectic brand of country -- brash one minute and tender the next.
Her brashness was addictive, as she ripped through the rocking "Maintain the Pain" and closing the night out with a raucous "Gunpowder and Lead" and a defiant "White Liar."
Her ballads were poignant, as she fought back tears on the lovely Grammy-winning "The House That Built Me" and on her current single "Over You," following the death of her father-in-law Dick Shelton earlier this month and the death of a friend last week. "It's like God is up there saying, 'This is supposed to be your single right now. You're going through some pain,' " Lambert said.
It's her adventurousness, though, that was most impressive, showing off the depth of her recent "Four the Record" album. Her indie-rock-leaning "Fine Tune" was even more charming, while her big-tent philosophy folkie waltz "All Kinds of Kinds" became a sing-along.
"I'm one of those strong-willed women, if you can't tell," Lambert explained during her encore. With a will that strong and talent so wide, Lambert seems unstoppable.
