Looking striking in skin-tight white jeans, the well-tanned Sheryl Crow knows how to strut on high-heeled sandals even while strumming a guitar. She’s a self-assured performer who still lets her vulnerability shine through, and always surrounds herself with great musicians, as she did this night … many of which happened to be upstate New York natives. While her vocal skills sometimes fall short in the live setting, sounding pitchier, and thinner than her recordings imply, Crow still gives the fans what they want… the hits. And there are a bunch!

Starting off with the acoustic “God Bless This Mess” from her new album, Detours, Crow’s political leanings come out here, and throughout the night. She doesn’t bang you over the head with her “message,” but its there, if you want to join up. Her bluesy take on another new track, “Gasoline,” was introduced with some words about the war and the current state of affairs, and got the crowd pumped as it segued into The Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” While Crow mostly kept it light otherwise, with songs like “Can’t Cry Anymore,” having fun with her band and telling the CMAC audience, “I’m in a pretty good mood and that scares me,” and leading into the classic Johnny Nash tune, “I Can See Clearly Now.” Opener James Blunt joined Crow for “The First Cut is the Deepest,” as she name-dropped the song’s writer, Yusuf Islam (a.k.a Cat Stevens), and recently having had dinner with him.

Crow could name-drop a lot of celebrities, as she seems to be one of the movers-and-shakers in the industry, always showing up for benefits, compilations, soundtracks, and the like, and is seemingly the perpetual Grammy winner for “Female Vocalist.” But her hardships have also made news, being dis-“engaged” from Lance Armstrong, and battling breast cancer shortly after… a few of the things that she infers come through on her new release (along with the new responsibilities from adopting a baby boy). As Crow introduces the title track, “Detours,” she tells the audience, “It’s those detours that teach you about who you are,” it’s hard not to be on her side. Finishing off her set with “If It Makes You Happy,” “Soak Up the Sun,” “Every Day is a Winding Road,” and “All I Wanna Do,” Crow kept control of the crowd and her diehard fans, but might have benefited from losing some of that rigid hold, and replacing it with spontaneity.

Meanwhile, Brit-boy, James Blunt, has more fun that his heavy-handed, heartfelt odes to lost girls would lead you to believe. He sings with a serious and earnest touch, but ends each song with a boyish grin. As Blunt finished his melancholy track, “Goodbye My Lover,” you might expect tears, but instead, Blunt quipped, “she meant nothing to me.” Jumping from guitar to piano, Blunt also liked to jump on amps and said piano (riding it like a surfboard), and at one point, ran through the crowd like a rugby player, sporty shirt and all. The mega-selling hit, “You’re Beautiful,” was done with the same deft sweetness, and rockier tunes were backed up wonderfully by his cool band of young English gentlemen. The energy from Blunt was contagious, and made me get up for another beer!