Hannah Montana Rolls into North Little Rock, Arkansas

The Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds Tour rolled in North Little Rock, Arkansas's Alltel Arena on December 1, and like venues everywhere, the seats were gone in a matter of minutes. All the ticket angst led to quite a build-up, and fortunately the show lived up to the hype, especially for Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus fans.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Hannah Montana is a Disney-created pop star by night, who morphs into dorky Miley Stewart by day. The show has spawned a cottage industry of t-shirts, dolls and posters and two bestselling sountrack CDs. The voice behind the platinum blond wig and sparkly stage clothes is Miley Cyrus. The Best of Both Worlds tour gives fans the chance to see Hannah Montana in all her glittery glory and also gives Cyrus a chance to introduce her fans to her own brand of aggressive pop.

The Jonas Brothers opened the show with their smash hit "Kids of the Future," from the movie "Meet the Robinsons." Unlike a lot of Disney acts, the Jonas Brothers played their own instruments, actually sang their own vocals and worked the stage like arena-rock pros. Judging from the screams of the tweeners in attendance, the Jonas Brothers may well be Disney's next sold-out sensation.

After the short Jonas Brothers set and a brief intermission, Hannah Montana appeared, dropping from the ceiling in a shadow box. Screams reached a fever pitch when the first strains of "Rock Star" filled the arena. As Hannah Montana, Cyrus is as bubble-gum as Britney and Christina, but in keeping with her squeaky image, the lyrics are positive and girl-power wholesome and her outfits are fun, but extremely conservative. The Hannah Montana set was upbeat and expertly timed. Even the many costume change were built into the canned dialog to keep the show moving. At the end of the set, the Jonas Brothers were brought back onstage for the ska-influenced "We Got the Party." The Jonas Brothers stayed on stage with "Year 3000" and the power balled "When You Look Me in the Eyes," much to the squealing delight of the mostly female audience.

The Jonas Brothers introduced Cyrus as the huge screens flashed "Meet Miley" in time to booming bass of "Start All Over." At first, it seemed an odd choice of introduction, since every 8-year-old in the country knows her name, but Miley Cyrus and Miley Stewart are as different as Miley's music is from Hannah Montana's. Her clothing style is funkier-even through a number of costume changes- and the music is guitar-driven and relies more on boy-trouble than girl-power. Cyrus herself is credited with writing many of the songs and they are stronger than those crafter for Hannah Montana.

Through both sets, Cyrus demonstrated power-house pipes that leaves many of today's mini-divas in the dust and a stage presence of someone twice her age. While the show was promoted as a Hannah Montana concert, it was designed to introduce the world to Miley Cyrus. If her first headlining tour is any indication, Cyrus' career will outlast the flash-in-the-pan pop of her TV alter-ego.