Beyoncé showed star power and staying power Thursday night at Arco Arena.

The sparkly dresses, omnipresent wind machine and legs-for-days dance moves -- these things were to be expected from an artist whose image has been cultivated in no small part by her memorable music videos. Less expected was Beyoncé's ability to command the stage at all times.

At age 27, she displays the self-assurance and sense of showmanship of decades-older entertainers such as Cher, Tina Turner and Neil Diamond. One could see, in the way Beyoncé mesmerized a three-quarters-full house at Arco, the singer's future as a perennial concert draw -- even after her days of regularly amassing hits such as "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "If I Were a Boy" are over.

Like those older concert mainstays, Beyonce attracts a largely female crowd, one that seems likely to devote many future girls' nights out to her shows. Women of all ages -- on Thursday night, many came in groups or mother-daughter combos -- can find something to love in this strikingly beautiful woman who seems more like a confidante than a threat.

Backing up the female-empowerment themes of her best-known songs with an all-female band, Beyonce acknowledged the "sexy ladies" in the Sacramento audience -- single and otherwise -- through shout-out and song. Mostly, though, she led by example, maintaining control of an elaborate, two-hour-long production entailing a few dozen songs, multiple costume changes, several background dancers and the singer at one point rising above the crowd via wires.

An even more amazing feat for a modern pop diva: She sang live much of the time. Opening with the irresistible "Crazy in Love," Beyoncé never missed a note while alternately stalking across the stage, thrusting her hips in time with her backup dancers and paying tribute to her band's horn section. Hearing her surprisingly low speaking voice between songs gave one a greater appreciation of her sustained high notes during those songs.

Having proved she meant business with a beat-heavy opener, Beyoncé segued into songs from the ballad-centric first half of her 2008 double disc "I Am ... Sasha Fierce." She lent palpable feeling to the lovestruck "Smash Into You" and to her poppy version of "Ave Maria," inserting a few bars of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" into the latter song for ethereal measure.

When the white leotard and flowing robe Beyoncé wore for this stretch of the show morphed into a wedding dress, the proceedings threatened to become either too ceremonial or overly Vegas-y. But Beyoncé, who has acted in several films, is too adept in front of a camera to let this happen.

Video monitors on either side of the Arco stage showcased expressions of such conviction that when Beyoncé sang about not wanting to be a "Broken-Hearted Girl," the look on her face made one feel sorry in advance for whoever might try to cross her someday.

Emotion-infused close-ups on the screen also helped weaker songs from "I Am ..., " such as the bland "Hello," which rests on a catchphrase ("You had me at hello" ) from "Jerry Maguire," a film released in 1996.

But no sell job was necessary during Beyoncé's performance of "If I Were a Boy." The live version's new beats lent muscularity to an already stellar song, which subsequently took on greater life when Beyoncé inserted, in between verses, and impassioned take on Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know."

If the ability to lend new verve to a song made famous by someone else is a measure of a great performer, then so is an awareness of one's place in the pop pecking order. While performing her hit ballad, "Halo," Beyoncé paid understated tribute to Michael Jackson, kneeling reverently as a simple image of a fedora-wearing Jackson appeared on screen behind her.

Less satisfying was a medley of hits recorded by her one-time girl group Destiny's Child. Though Beyoncé's performance of "Say My Name" was made memorable by an exchange between the singer and a lucky audience member named Dennis (at the singer's behest, he said her name), this part of the show involved too many pre-recorded tracks and backup dancers performing on stage while Beyoncé was offstage and off-mic.

The absence of a performer as charismatic as Beyoncé, always noticeable, becomes glaring when we can hear tracks featuring her voice yet cannot see her.

Call The Bee's Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118.