review1

The stars of the "Ladies First" tour clearly want their landmark adventure to live up to the hype.
For the first time, three female R&B and hip-hop artists -- Beyonce Knowles, Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott -- have joined forces for an arena tour.
Each tried mightily to make Tuesday's show at Conseco Fieldhouse a night to remember.
For headliner Knowles, who's taking a solo sabbatical from girl group Destiny's Child, it's barely a challenge to wow an audience of 8,000 or so onlookers.
After making an entrance fit for an Egyptian princess (tossing rose petals from a white couch elevated and propelled by four men), Knowles sang recent hits "Baby Boy" and "Naughty Girl." The songs interlocked naturally as flirtatious statements of affection.
A sleek, minimalist stage helped coax all eyes toward the singer, who wore a two-piece outfit designed by Dolce & Gabbana.
Before long, she glided easily to renditions of Destiny's Child favorites such as "Say My Name" and "Independent Women."
Knowles veered into trouble only when soaring into stunt vocal territory. For her, more volume translates into a brassy caricature devoid of emotion.
Keys, meanwhile, proved she's a singer for the ages.
When playing to her strength of sitting at a piano and belting out a tune, Keys rivaled the melodic grace of John Coltrane.
Of all the vocalists to perform at Conseco Fieldhouse in its four-year history, perhaps only Luciano Pavarotti has eclipsed Keys in power and tone.
"Diary," from her current album "The Diary of Alicia Keys," was a perfectly constructed discussion of trust and risk in the context of new love. The crowd snapped to attention as Keys guided the song from a simmer to an agitated boil.
Unfortunately, Keys also spent part of her set away from the piano. When aiming for James Brown's authoritative funk, Keys would have been more at home on a 1970s variety show.
Elliott preceded Keys and Knowles with a supersonic stream of party anthems.
In the controlled environments of studio recordings and videos, Elliott stretches hip-hop to quirky and surrealistic destinations.
In concert, her genius splattered everywhere but rarely landed in a meaningful place.
A split squad of male and female dancers accompanied Elliott. Amid routines aquatic, discotheque and Western ranch, sex was the backdrop where sound and vision meshed.
On "Get Ur Freak On," "Hot Boyz" and "Work It," Elliott distinguished herself as a frank advocate of what a woman wants.