Carrie Underwood brings country, sort of, to the city

Carrie Underwood's first album, 2005's

Some Hearts

, is the fastest-selling country debut in history. In her brief career, the 25-year-old

American Idol

winner, described as "a superstar who's won every award in sight," has hobnobbed with Ryan Seacrest and Oprah Winfrey, hugged African children on an

A.I.

charity special, and graced the covers of "just about every magazine out there," including Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly and In Style.

If by any chance her Philadelphia fans weren't familiar with these essential facts, those who gathered at the Liacouras Center on Sunday for a country-comes-to-North Philly concert with Underwood and boy-girl glossy foursome Little Big Town know them now. That's because they were treated to a self-celebrating video montage while Underwood was off on one of three costume changes - in this case, from a black-leather-boots-and-tights ensemble to a strapless blue evening gown - meant to show how far Underwood has risen, and how fast.

Instead, it played out as a "Look at me, I'm huge!" display of insecurity in a medium-size arena that was far from sold out. And it served as multimedia padding in a 90-minute show that was most successful when it pushed aside the showbiz bells and whistles and put Underwood's powerhouse voice front and center.

As has become de rigueur in the two decades since Garth Brooks expanded the country pie by adding rock-and-roll ingredients to the recipe, the music at the Liacouras Center could easily convince casual observers that they weren't at a country show at all.

The letters stitched into the back of Little Big Town singer Jimi Westbrook's rhinestone-studded shirt spelled out "Rocker." The piped-in songs, which played as a clock counted down the minutes until Underwood's arrival, included U2's "Beautiful Day" and Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music."

And before she closed the show with her most excellent revenge song, "Before He Cheats" (and the audience was showered with Halloween-colored confetti), Underwood and her seven-piece band rocked out on Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City," with the star of the show sounding, and looking, a lot cuter than Axl Rose.

So how

could

you tell it was a country show? Identity politics, for starters. The song that went over the biggest for the opening quartet Little Big Town was the hit "Boondocks," which champions small-town values and displays no sense of irony at sharing a name with Aaron McGruder's African American comic strip: "I feel no shame / I'm proud of where I came from / I was born and raised in the boondocks."

Though Underwood struts in six-inch heels and indulges in bad-girl role-playing - which plays cute in the married-in-Vegas "Last Name," and violent in "Before He Cheats" - there's never a doubt that she's wholesome at heart.

Naturally, she has a small-town song of her own called "I Ain't in Checotah Anymore," which esteems her "two traffic light" Oklahoma hometown. To her credit, though, the biggest-selling

American Idol

alum didn't settle for mere schmaltz, and instead celebrates an escape to a wider world. "So be grateful, children, that you live here," she told her Philadelphia fans. "You have lots of fun things to do."

While literally atop a pedestal in that poofy gown, Underwood, who hit all the notes all night long, and never over-embellished a vocal, handed her fate over to the Almighty in "Jesus, Take the Wheel." The show strained at times to deliver all the requisite thrills required of an arena headliner, and Underwood was at her best when she didn't have to battle her band for sonic space.

And she was relaxed and playful when she brought a 6-year-old named Jennifer on stage to help out on "All-American Girl," though her compliment could as easily have been directed at her competition coming from teen country star Taylor Swift. "Good job," she told the talented tyke. "I better watch my back."