Sheryl Crow - C'Mon America 2003 [DVD]

The show opens with 'Steve McQueen', never a favorite of mine, but in the recording she hits just the right balance between melodic rock and pop to start of the concert in highest gear. Imidiately following is the rocker 'There Goes The Neighborhood', not one of her songs best suited for live performance, but it works ok. Following this is the downtempo and beautiful 'Riverwide' (sadly interlaced with an interview over the instrumental solo, which I see no reason for, but ok, this song was also on the Rocking The Globe DVD) and another favorite 'My Favorite Mistake'. Here starts the second part of the concert, featuring a set of more or less country inspired songs - starting with wonderful versions of 'C'mon, C'mon' and 'The First Cut Is The Deepest', a beautiful and deepfeld version of 'Strong Enough' and a little surprising an intense performance of 'Redemption Day'. Following this are some of her most popular hits - a great version of 'If It Makes You Happy', a fine version of 'A Change Would Do You Good' and a beautiful version of 'Home' - in my oppinion one of her best pieces, in this arrangement it's presented in a version similar to the album version, but with more and more guitars coming on during to the song, so it grows in intensity. Another nice surprise comes with and intense performance of 'Weather Channel' - apparantly rain had been threatening all day, and the audience is very pleased with this choice.

The final part of the ordinary set is a a line of her greatest hits. Starting is a fantistic version of 'Leaving Las Vegas' - Sheryl is having a great time, playing up towards the audience half-singing a story during the mid-section of the song - Sheryl is obviously enjoying herself, and the audience love's it. Following this is another audience favorite 'All I Wanna Do' - "I Have A Feeling, There's A Party Going On" sings Sheryl, and the Audience is happily dancing along. She aptly ends the song by singing "All I Wanna Do Is Soak Up The Sun" which leads into a great version of 'Soak Up The Sun'. Ending the ordinary set is a great version of 'Everyday Is A Winding Road' in which she has changed the interlude slightly and sings "1-2-shake-your-ass!" and so she does, much to the delight of the male audience.

The concert rounds off with two encores - a good version of 'Your An Original' (strange pick in my opinion, never found that song very interesting) which is followed beautiful versions of 'Let's Get Free' and 'I Shal Believe', the second encore features 'Safe And Sound' and a cover of 'Rock And Roll' which is perhaps more surprising in it's ferocity than it is a very ideal closer for the concert, but ok, at this point it probably didn't matter, I suppose the audience was so thrilled at this point that they'd love everything, and for the good reasons.

On the more technichal side one ought to mention that the filming isn't impressive. The scene appears very dark, and even though the light on the musicians is fine, it's difficult to se much else. The editing is fairly rough, and there are no ekstra material included - only a tiny interview edited into 'Riverwide' and before the second encore - and none of the editing is impressive. Anyhow, this DVD is still a must-have, the concert is simply fantastic.