8TH APRIL 2002 BY SAMUEL LEE   VOCAL SEDUCTION JEWEL'S POTENT CHARM

With her versatile singing ability and a tight band to complement her, the chanteuse flirted, teased and joked with the appreciative crowd.

Concert: This Way Tour- Jewel (Suntec Hall)

A blonde temptress came This Way.

And you could tell from Jewel Kilcher's outfit that she was out to play.

Which self- respecting female country-folkster- barring the exhibitionistic Shelby Lynne- would be decked out in a trailer trash get-up comprising a plunging black cropped top, dark mini-skirt and shiny thigh-high boots?

And play, Jewel did, in more ways than one.

Besides yodelling, as she did three years ago at the now-defunct Harbour Pavilion, the 27-year-old chanteuse flirted, teased and joked, much to the delight of the 2,500 concert-goers who filled up more than 95 percent of the Suntec Hall venue.

"You like?" she taunted, midway through her 90-minute set, stopping deliberately after strumming the familiar opening  strains to her 1995 hit, You Were Meant For Me. It was pure rhetoric, for it did not matter to the crowd whether it was her old hits or songs from This Way-her third album, which features a pronounced country twang.

In fact, it appeared Singapore relished Jewel's guided tour through The New Wild West, with tales of life on the rodeo trail with her cowboy beau Ty Murray on Till We Run Out Of Road.

Besides singing along to the album's hit single, Standing Still, their enthusiasm did not abate on newer numbers such as the bluesy Everybody Needs Someone Sometimes, the rollicking Serve The Ego and the Sheryl Crow-esque Do You Want To Play?.

When Jewel sings, she is almost peerless.

Effecting quivering vocal tremolos which sounded too good to be real, she left you wondering whether it was her, or a souped-up microphone with reverb and echo effects turned to the max.

And when she spoke, she sounded like she had just inhaled helium-pixie-voiced, chipmunk-like, and totally endearing.

Especially when she was mimicking European-accented English before doing a polka number, and egging on the audience to get up on their feet later.

Even if you did not reciprocate, you would, like many in the audience, be in awe of the versatility of Jewel and her five-piece band.

Like how they turned the country-folk of 1995's Who Will Save Your Soul inside out, transforming the song into an extended trippy tune with a reggae dub feel.

Instrumental in the metamorphosis was T-Bone Hannon, who played his bass like a six-string.

Also warranting praise was lead guitarist Stuart Mathis, whose broken leg did not dent his remarkable riffs and solos.

What took the cake was when Mathis, Hannon, keyboardist Steve George, drummer Trey Gray and rhythm guitarist Mark Oakley swung the mood totally by going jazzy during the encore.

Jewel played a big part too, sounding uncannily like Nina Simone as she scatted away on her cover of the doyenne's The Other Woman.

But make no mistake there was only one crowning Jewel on Friday night.