By MARIO TARRADELL / The Dallas Morning New

Gary Allan’s transformation from rugged country honky-tonker to super cool arena rocker is all but complete. His headlining gig Saturday night at Superpages.com Center clinched it.

Armed with a seven-man band, including two electric guitarists and a drummer that pounded the skins, Allan performed a 100-minute set for about 8,500 fans after opening stints by Justin Moore, Eli Young Band and Stoney LaRue. The tattooed singer basked in the reverb. The sound was loud, guitar-heavy and very rocking. Even the most country tunes of the evening, such as “It Would Be You” and “Songs About Rain,” were pumped up for maximum effect.

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None of this is too surprising if you’ve followed Allan’s recorded output. Ever since 2001’s Alright Guy, the California native had been steadily edging toward rock. With 2007’s Living Hard he clearly made the leap. His new country single, “Today,” played like a power ballad onstage.
Allan has earned his creative reinvention. For more than 13 years, since his debut in 1996, he’s always traveled parallel to the mainstream highway without ever fully merging onto it. His success has been all about playing the game with individualistic integrity.

So he could get away with scorching numbers such as “Get Off On the Pain,” “I Just Got Back From Hell” and “Like It’s a Bad Thing,” the latter of which arrived during his encore.

He could rock out to “She’s So California” and then go stripped-down acoustic for “Right Where I Need to Be” and “The One.” He could let it rip during “Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey” and make it believable, especially since that bottle of Jack Daniels was no mere prop.

Nothing about Allan is calculated. He rocks for all the right reasons.