Sheryl Crow shared the love -- and her mic -- at Red Rocks earlier this week. Photo by Joe McCabe, denverpost.com/reverb

Judging by her comments at Red Rocks on Tuesday night, Sheryl Crow clearly likes Colorado. At one point, she sang some varied Colorado geography to the audience, asking if anybody was from “Denver, Boulder, Steamboat Springs, Telluride, Crested Butte …” There was also the obligatory, “What altitude are we at?” during a pause in “Can’t Cry Anymore,” and a, “This is my favorite place to play in the whole world.”

Driving into the parking lot, there were signs posted saying cell phones were not to be used for taking pictures or video, and that all recording and photography was prohibited. This prohibition was zealously enforced by the security guards, who shut down anybody they saw taking photos with a cell. Diva much? What’s next? Make people go back to their cars before coming into the theater to leave their cell phones there?

View a full photo gallery of this concert.

Given that attitude, I was ready for a little negativity during Crow’s concert. I really wanted to find something bad about it. I just couldn’t. From the moment she stepped on stage behind her not-quite-big-enough-to-be-the-Large Band and ripped into “Our Love is Fading,” she was a consummate professional. Her luminous smile and generally upbeat, positive vibe radiated out from the stage like the last brilliant gasp of summer.

Crow is touring in support of her latest album, “100 Miles from Memphis,” and she played much of the material from that CD, including the reggae-ish “Eye to Eye,” the Terence Trent D’Arby cover “Sign Your Name,” and “Say What You Want,” on which Crow’s backup singers soared into the upper registers on harmonies.

Crow’s band impressed all night. Justin Stanley shifted around between drums, guitar and piano. Doyle Bramhall II added beautiful slide guitar to a hypnotic “Strong Enough” and sang harmonies on several songs. Guitarist Chris Bruce played a fierce, almost Jerry Garcia-like wah solo on the long “Roses and Moonlight.”

Of course, there were plenty of old favorites, particularly from Crow’s self-titled second album. “A Change Would Do You Good” was the first familiar bit of Crow, but she really rocked out on “Every Day is a Winding Road” and “If It Makes You Happy.” The perfectly polished “Soak up the Sun” had Crow roaming the stage and doing plenty of call outs to the crowd, who sang along joyously.

Much of the newer material had a disco/funk feel to it. Crow reinforced this on the encore, launching first into “All I Wanna Do,” before letting the back-up singers take the stage for a brief cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up.” Crow followed with a cover of the Jackson 5′s “I Want You Back,” sounding so like the late King of Pop it was scary.

Despite the newer, funkier side, Crow shined best when she reached back to her roots on a transcendent “I Shall Believe,” her voice aching with longing and regret. Structuring the song with just her on piano at first, you could feel it build until the band crashed in for an epic finale.

View a full photo gallery of this concert.

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Candace Horgan is a Denver freelance writer/photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. When not writing and shooting, she plays guitar and violin in Denver band the defCATS.

Joe McCabe is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb. Check out his website.