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For a moment, Miley Cyrus looked overwhelmed.

An auditorium full of thousands of girls, not nearly half as many boys, a good many adult guardians and a few adults not guarding any minors (like me). All there for one 15 year-old whose TV show regularly makes the basic cable top 10 and whose records sell millions. Yeah, it's easy to understand why the self-possession and confidence that garnered her celebrity would be transparent enough to allow herself a bit of awe over the cultural phenomenon she has wrought. If only for a few seconds.

Otherwise, Cyrus, as either herself or her Hannah Montana character, was a sweetheart of a professional entertainer that Disney-centric stardom has bred on and off for a few decades now. With Cyrus/Montana, however, it's different than ever before.

The duality in Cyrus' persona is only the start of that difference. Before she performed any songs from the debut album under her own name, she hit the stage as Montana. The blonde-wigged junior diva's songs tend to either reference the show character's own duality (high school student by day/rock star by night!) or more general themes of wholesome party vibes or boosts of big sisterly esteem and identification for Montana's prime distaff demographic of viewers in and around their 'tweens. Keeping that party vibe in mind, none of Montana's few slower numbers made the cut for her eight-song set. They probably wouldn't have jibed with the high-energy, dance troupe-enhanced choreography and costume changes heavy on pinkish silver lamé and white go-go boots, anyway.

Montana's songs still don't amount to much from my non-'tween female aesthetic. The sonic heft they got in a live setting, however, brought out the catchiness of some of the tunes her handlers have given her. "Nobody's Perfect" was made all the more effective with the jumbotrons behind her showing scenes of Montana's TV civilian side, Miley Stewart, having mishap after mishap. And the little girls understand.

Get her out of the wig and into the glittery eyeshadow and black fingernail polish she apparently favors, and Cyrus sings songs of her own co-writing. And they sound autobiographical. "East Northumberland High" dismisses a former beau for whom she no longer has any use. The jam that hass broken her from Radio Disney into wider pop airplay, "See You Again," weds sultry Eurodisco to a mix of awkwardness and determination around a dude with whom she feels a connection. And if the base of her constituency may still think boys are a little icky, they can get behind the affirmations of "G.N.O. (Girl's Night Out)" and "Right Here."

Cyrus' wardrobe, however, was arguably more cartoonish than Montana's. She came out resembling a goth biker chick. Then there was a fluorescent flamenco dancer get-up per the Hispanic feel of "Let's Dance." From there, she donned a glittery pink and red cheerleader/schoolgirl ensemble that showed off her gams against glitzy sweatsocks. A gal her age is understandably sorting out her sexuality, but one hopes her borderline-fetishistic duds don't indicate the downward trend of certain other former Disney darlings.

Thankfully, Cyrus' show-closing moment of personal authenticity came closest to attesting to the Christianity she has confessed in print. Sitting on a wooden stool with her acoustic guitar, she accompanied her band on "I Miss You." She allowed herself some vulnerability with this piece she wrote for her grandpa who went on to glory just as her career was taking off. Her young admirers can relate to the sentiment or will sometime in their lives, no doubt.

Openers Aly & A.J. have some experience over the headliner musically; it's a shame they aren't at Cyrus' sales levels. Their set, taken largely from their latest hookfest, Insomniatic, laid the standard of hyperactivity that Cyrus only raised a few times over. Cyrus should aspire to write evocatively of teen heartbreak and romantic rapture as Aly & A.J. when she's their age. Much as they may be Cyrus' competition or inspiration, they're also her collaborators. They joined Montana for a remake of Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Night" (?!) to close her set and played a song from their first album during the break between Montana's and Cyrus' segments. Here's hoping some of Cyrus' immense, intense following pick up on these sisters, too.

Jamie Lee Rake January 16, 2008