I was impressed was her ability to connect with the crowd, a quality that stood out to me, she embodies a bit of that underdog character. You root for her, and she champions the cause of the flawed dark-horse, embracing the fact that nobody’s perfect. Her forthwith banter in-between songs was genuine and honest, fun, bubbly and just plain likeable on-stage. By the end of the show, you felt like you made a new friend, connected.

She really has established herself as a popular music fixture, and after checking out her concert you can see why. Like most singer/songwriters she’s a storyteller and a musician. Although she has made noteworthy musical contributions, that many artists dream about, she remains humble and let the crowd know how grateful she was to be where she is today.

Her debut single “Jar of Hearts”, in 2010 charted after it was featured on the Fox TV show, “So You Think You Can Dance”, it sold over 3 million copies and reached number three on the UK charts where it spent over 3 months in the Top 40.

She then wrote and recorded “A Thousand Years” for the film; The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) which sold over 4 million copies, being certified 4× platinum. Yes she’s a “TwiHard”. That song has now taken on a life of it’s own, wander past any wedding reception, on any given weekend and chances are you’ll hear that track.

Not sure of the nickname of her loyal fans, I’d have to look it up, penguins maybe? I loose track of these terms but I can relate, we had these fan based names back in the day, “Dead Heads” is the first one that comes to mind…

There was also a point, where she directed the fans to take a “selfie” with the person you came with and then post it online. While everyone was busy she and guitarist Johnny Hanson also took a snap, snd she promised she would check them all out, she likes to stay in touch with her fans, perhaps that’s why there are so many loyal ones.

Not much in the way of lighting, it was the music that carried the show, no need for lots of pizazz or glitz or special on-stage effects. Which I don’t mind, I’m not fond of smoke machines, messes with the cameras focus.

She often spoke to the crowd about what the songs meant to her, then proceeded so sing them, with emotion she masterfully engrossed the crowd. Certainly avoiding the trap of just going through the motions. You could “feel” the song and the fans ate it up.

There was more than one occasion where the crowd’s commitment to the music, had Christina orchestrating a sing-along round, which was cool. And would check-in with the crowd periodically, asking each section of the arena, if they were having a good time.

Nice flow in the setlist, this singer/songwriters loves ballads, and a concert like that; can quickly fall into the state of boring, but not so here. A multi-instrumentalist, she moved from the keyboards to the guitar, to mic in-hand having a blast covering the stage with her dance moves.

A striking visual, with over 70 tattoos, yet singing soft ballads, no stereotypes here. “They’re pretty much everywhere. I’ve got one in every direction you look — between my fingers, on my arms, on my chest, on my back, all over,”

And no slouch, a very hard worker, look at her gig schedule, at one time a relentless nine tours straight, over 27 months. With an energy level of the energizer bunny, which was evident on stage, if she wasn’t at the piano bench, she was moving.

Fantastic duets with her guitarist Johnny Hanson, or as she called him during his introduction, Johnny Handsome. Now I’m not certain but their on-stage interaction would certainly indicate that these two are a couple.

All in all, a show well worth watching, next time she’s in town, check it out.

Special thanks going out to the folks at Midas Promotions for another well-orcheasted event, always a pleasure…