It took a few seconds for it to come together, but when it did it was unmistakable: The entire arena was singing “Happy Birthday” to McEntire. “That’s the greatest sound in the world,” she said.įour songs later, after performing her renowned rendition of the murder-ballad “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” McEntire was prepared to tell her enthusiastic audience what she’d been up to for the past year - including filming a Lifetime movie and the crime-drama show “Big Sky” - when the crowd interrupted her.

McEntire flashed a beaming smile and touched her hand to her heart, visibly emotional as she let the roaring applause wash over her. 1 hit (2010’s “Turn on the Radio”) back-to-back. 1 hit (1982’s “Can’t Even Get the Blues”) and most recent No. Like when the thousands of fans at Vivint Arena cheered and clapped nonstop for at least half a minute after McEntire performed her first No. Every word and action has been carefully thought out, and you know her show is going to be a full-on production before she even takes the stage.īut what really made McEntire’s Salt Lake City show stand out were the moments the singer couldn’t have predicted.

McEntire has been in this business for a while - it’s been 46 years since she released her first album - and she really knows how to put on a show. After performing a bunch of what she calls “wallering” songs - songs about your heart being broken - she has an incredible, perfectly precise moment where she rips off the bottom half of her sparkly blue dress and moves on to the feisty power anthem “Going Out Like That.” You get clips from her show, “Reba,” which ran for six seasons. McEntire does virtual duets with Vince Gill, and Brooks and Dunn. Before McEntire even takes the stage, there’s a pyrotechnics display and a montage of clips from her career - her hair tells the story here, ranging from the big, curly style of her early days to the shorter, straighter style of recent years. Her show, a roughly 90-minute spectacle, is a well-oiled machine. And it really needs to be: The song “Fancy,” alone, includes pyro and two outfit changes. Looking at recent Reba McEntire concert reviews and set lists makes at least one thing pretty clear: The country music legend is performing the same songs in the same order with the same dialogue night after night.

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