Pelo assured concertgoers that Stadium of Fire will remain a family-friendly environment, in spite of any national hubbub. "There seems to be some buzz about the pictures," Pelo said, "but it won't impact the way the show's produced."

In the meantime, Pelo said event organizers are still at work finding ways to rearrange Stadium of Fire equipment to make more seats available to Cyrus' show. If any seats open up, he said, event organizers will release them.

The show's 58,000 tickets sold out shortly after they went on sale earlier this year. Unfortunately for Cyrus, the photos, taken in February, might not have made nearly such a splash but for a bit of awkward timing: They emerged just days after some attention-getting amateur shots of Cyrus hit the Web. In one, she tugs down a tank top to reveal a bright green bra. In another, she lies languidly on her back across a male friend, shirt raised to bare her midriff.

So the timing was terrible. But some celebrity watchers saw the developments as an attempt by Cyrus and her handlers — while not necessarily calculated — to look ahead a few years, beyond the tween audience.

"She has to find a way to gain a new following," said Peter Castro, deputy managing editor of People magazine. He likened her situation to that of a butterfly still trapped in the cocoon. "She began as a caterpillar, and made a lot of money that way, but now she doesn't know which way to go. She's thinking, soon I've got to be a butterfly."

Biological analogies aside, Cyrus' predicament evoked plenty of references to the cautionary tale of Britney Spears, who started on the Disney Channel about the same age as Cyrus and had her first huge hit, "Baby One More Time," at age 17.

"Britney was in a Miley place," said Castro said. Then she decided to break out, making her persona in "Baby One More Time" a sexy schoolgirl, and doing a provocative photo shoot for Rolling Stone. "She alienated parents, but gained a whole following of older kids," says Castro says.

But, he added, "I don't know that Miley could get away with that. I think her dad and management team are closely following Britney's career, saying, 'Don't let this ever happen to you.'"

Unlike the 26-year-old Britney of today, for whom the phrase "train wreck" has become an unwelcome cliche, the self-possessed and upbeat Cyrus has worn the title of "role model" easily. She has been utterly scandal-free until now, unless you count her failure to wear a seat belt during a car ride in her concert movie (her dad apologized for that, too).