A proficient Paisley brings on whistles

Class clown and prom king rolled into one, the country singer Brad Paisley wears many ten-gallon hats. On his hit single "Ticks," he's a wry horndog, offering a woman a flowery romp followed by a thorough inspection for parasites. "I'm Still a Guy" decries "feminized" men with "creamy, lotiony hands," even while admitting he might occasionally get caught holding his wife's purse. Songs like "She's Everything" display an unabashed romantic side, while "I'm Gonna Miss Her" kisses off a gal who has made the mistake of getting between him and his fishing rod.

At Saturday's Tweeter Center show, Paisley shifted gears with the ease of a race-car driver. A deft guitarist, he blazed through bluegrass breaks, rock solos where he worked a wah-wah pedal the size of a small diving board, and the surf instrumental "Throttleneck." As if that weren't enough, the last was backed by a Speed Racer-style cartoon that closed with the credit "Animation by Brad Paisley." At least there's one thing he's not good at.

Although Paisley and his six-piece band were often flanked by multimedia spectacle, including Matrix-style graphics for "Online" and filmed cameos from Jason Alexander and William Shatner, sheer musicianship ruled the night. Without the bells and whistles, the crowd on the Tweeter's lawn would have had less to look at, but plenty to listen to.

In her five-song opening set, Wissinoming-born Taylor Swift proved that the platinum success of her debut album was no fluke. Although her opening feint at Eminem's "Lose Yourself" was more cute than successful, the 17-year-old worked the crowd like a seasoned pro, spending as much time touching outstretched hands as she did strumming her guitar. Settling scores with ex-boyfriends and mourning unrequited crushes, Swift channeled teenage disappointments into exuberant declarations of independence, even if a weakness for oversinging occasionally pushed her off-key.

Compared with the canned sincerity of American Idol also-ran Kellie Pickler and Jack Ingram's rehashed bar rock, Swift sounded indisputably like the real deal.