Sheryl Crow brings her hits — lots of 'em — to Concerts at Marymoor

Concert Review |

Bumbershooters didn't have all the fun Saturday night. Across the 520 bridge at Marymoor Park, Sheryl Crow was holding her own party: an upbeat rock show packed full of hits.

The 46-year-old singer has something to celebrate. It's been a heck of year. If you've read the tabloids, you know she fought off breast cancer and mended from her 2006 split with Lance Armstrong.

Her sixth studio album, "Detours," released in February, has been her most personal to date. And live, those songs fared well. Poignant tracks like "God Bless This Mess" and the album's title song showed Crow's growth as a songwriter.

Despite heartbreak as a major theme of the evening, spirits were high all night. For Crow's cover of Cat Stevens' "The First Cut is the Deepest," opener James Blunt came out with a rose, and the two slow-danced before Crow jokingly ripped his shirt open. And local singer Brandi Carlile stopped by to lend her lovely voice to "If It Makes You Happy."

Crow, who's known for her political activism — maybe you caught her last week at the Democratic Convention in Denver? — free-styled some bluesy riffs about gas prices and the coming election before launching into her "Gasoline."

With a strong, versatile voice, Crow moved effortlessly among pop, rock, blues and country, backed by her seamless eight-piece band (including two drummers).

The highlight of the night was a stadium-rock-show-worthy version of Crow's hit "There Goes the Neighborhood" that momentarily veered into a driving cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way."

Crow is one of those artists who can get a little lost in the Top-40 shuffle, but in concert you're reminded of just how many hits she's had ... and how good those songs are. She's had plenty of pop-rock gems with cleverly catchy lyrics — "A Change Would Do You Good," "My Favorite Mistake," "Strong Enough," "Soak Up the Sun."

Surprisingly, the one song of the evening that fell flat was her first single, "All I Wanna Do," about Crow's mission for fun. Luckily, the rest of the night fully succeeded in bringing the crowd a good time.

Crooner James Blunt (his star-making song was 2005's "You're Beautiful") started off the night with a heartfelt, energetic set that was cheesy in all of the best ways possible.

Joanna Horowitz: jbhorowitz@gmail.com