Review: Jennifer Lopez makes a splash at Target Center

The biggest star to emerge from the past two seasons of "American Idol" headlined the Target Center Wednesday, Aug. 1. Wait, make that "re-emerge."

Prior to her two-season stint as an "Idol" judge, Jennifer Lopez's career had slumped, with both her film roles and radio hits waning amid increasingly public whispers of her high-diva attitude. "Idol" humanized her, as did her divorce from her third husband, Marc Anthony, which followed a series of gossip-column blind items that painted Anthony in a less-than-flattering light.

The idea of a J.Lo arena tour in 2009 was laughable. Today, not so much. Lopez circa 2012 is a survivor, a still-gorgeous, hard-driving 43-year-old seemingly at the top of her game, with a 25-year-old boy toy (dancer Casper Smart, who also figured prominently in the concert) by her side.

Lopez emerged to a crowd of about 7,000, ushered in by eight male dancers in top hats while dressed like an ethereal sex goddess from a planet populated solely by The Beautiful People. With her flowing hair and multiple costume changes, Lopez felt akin to a 21st century Cher, just with more junk in the trunk. In terms of production values and staging, the show placed her right in there with other current arena divas like Katy Perry and Rihanna, if not quite up to the spectacle of Lady Gaga and Madonna.

Pity about her songs. Lopez has never been blessed with the top-shelf material afforded to many of her peers, and that was readily apparent Wednesday

night. Indeed, most of her tunes are concerned with one of three things: thinking about going to the club, going to the club and actually being at the club. Lopez brought nothing special to songs that, well, weren't anything special in the first place. The closest she's got to a signature number, "Jenny from the Block," remains every bit as ridiculous today as it did when it was a hit 10 years ago. She may have earned (at least) $24 million merely for being more coherent than Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson, but she's still! Jenny f rom the block, y'all!

That said, Lopez proved deft at holding the attention of an arena crowd with a certain giddiness that felt infectious. Her vocals have never been her strong suit, but unlike, say, Britney Spears, Lopez actually seemed to be singing live through much of the show, with backup singers and other trickery bolstering her oft-thin delivery.

Technically speaking, this is a dual-headlining tour, and in some markets, Enrique Iglesias closed the night. Judging by his performance Wednesday, he fits in much better in the warm-up position. Iglesias, 37, doesn't dance and, like Lopez, his singing ability is average, at best. Mostly, he's known for being a smoldering hunk, although he couldn't be bothered to remove his military-style cap. This guy is a sex symbol, but he can't afford a decent weave? Come on, now.

Perhaps aware of his shortcomings, Iglesias trotted out his best-known hits, from the Spanglish smash "Bailamos" to his none-more-sappy power ballad "Hero" to "I Like It," his frothy, fun 2010 comeback hit. He constantly bounced around the stage, slapped palms with fans in the crowd, all while letting his backup singers handle much of the heavy lifting.

Midway through the performance, he stopped the music to pull a shirtless guy from the crowd up on stage. For more than 10 minutes, Iglesias and the dude bantered back and forth, eventually ushering up the guy's friend while making some ill-fated attempts at karaoke, first Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy" and then Ben E. King's "Stand by Me." While it kind of killed the momentum of Iglesias' show, it developed into a can't-look-away spectacle that was both funny and deeply bizarre.

Pop music critic Ross Raihala can be reached at rraihala@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5553. Follow him at Twitter.com/RossRaihala