Reba McEntire returns to the city where her career began: 7 highlights from her OKC show
In 1974, small-town Oklahoma farm girl Reba McEntire took her daddy's advice — and a job singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City.
"Because of that, I'm up here on this stage tonight," Reba reminded her loudly loyal home-state audience Oct. 15, when she was back in OKC to headline the Paycom Center.
"We're tickled to pieces to see y'all ... here in Oklahoma City."
Just three stops into her 17-city "Reba: Live in Concert" fall arena trek, the Country Music Hall of Famer returned to Oklahoma and to the city where Great Westerner Red Steagall first discovered her singular vocal talents. Now a multimedia superstar filming her buzzy role on Season 3 of the ABC thriller series "Big Sky" in between tour dates, McEntire, 67, confidently strutted her stuff through a zesty 20-song set that reaffirmed her status as a consummate entertainer who has lost none of her sass and shine nearly 50 years into her career.
From the glittery costume changes to the fiery "Fancy" finish, here are 7 highlights of catching "Reba: Live in Concert" in OKC:
1. Reba takes her diverse crowd on a 'musical journey'
A home-state Reba show could rival the Oklahoma State Fair for people-watching opportunities, as the flame-haired songstress drew a diverse and deafening near-sellout audience to the Paycom Center.
Babies in strollers, gray beards leaning on walkers, entire families, couples in matching cowboy hats and couples displaying their LGBTQ+ pride all could be spotted in the crowd as the superstar started her show with the dynamic one-two punch of her 1982 chart-topper "Can't Even Get the Blues" and her 2010 hit "Turn on the Radio."
"These first two songs we did for y'all. Thanks to y'all, they're No. 1 records: The first one was my first one, and the second song was my latest one. And in between those two songs, there was a lot of life, love — and a whole lotta hairspray," she said, shaking her signature locks with a grin.
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"Now, we'd like to take you on a musical journey and see how many places we can get."
Looking like the fashion maven that she is, Reba dressed for the musical trip in a fringed silver top, slim black pants and glimmering black knee-high boots. With her name literally shining in lights behind her, she worked from one end of the massive stage to the other while crooning another career-spanning selection: 1997's down-home ballad "I'd Rather Ride Around with You," the tuneful 1986 kiss-off "Little Rock" and the 1986 heartbreaker "Whoever's in New England," which was accompanied by simulated snow on the vast high-definition video screen.
2. 'Big Sky' star sweetly dedicates a classic ballad to fellow Okie Rex Linn
The jaunt turned to the South with her fan-favorite 1991 cover of the murder ballad "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" and then wandered into a big-city diner for the yearning 2003 love song "Somebody," which she sweetly dedicated to her beau, fellow Okie entertainer Rex Linn.
"This has been a really, really busy summer for me. ... We went up to Canada in May and June, shot a movie for Lifetime called 'The Hammer,'" Reba told the cheering crowd. "Then, we went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and started shooting the TV show 'Big Sky,' and now here we are in Oklahoma City.
"That's a lot of miles, but I guess the best part about getting to film the movie and the TV show is I got to film it with my boyfriend, who's from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He's definitely my somebody."
Musically, Reba wound back to the Sooner State for her peppy rendition of fellow Okie Vince Gill's "Oklahoma Swing," with her pals Brooks & Dunn playing along via video. (Gill made a big-screen cameo later in the night so he and Reba could revisit their 1993 duet, "The Heart Won't Lie.")
3. Superstar's costume changes add drama to 'wallering songs' and uplifting anthems
An extended finale to "Oklahoma Swing" gave McEntire's stellar nine-piece backing band a chance to show out and the superstar time for her first costume change. The three-time Grammy winner reemerged from beneath the stage in a long shimmering blue gown to deliver a smoldering performance of her 1995 torch song "And Still."
"I love singing sad songs. That's what I grew up on. ... Sometimes when your heart gets broken, sometimes you just need to sit there for a minute and waller in it," Reba told the crowd, drawing out her famous southeastern Oklahoma drawl on her pronounciation of "wallow," to the amused delight of her fellow Okies in the audience.
"So, we put a medley together of some of my favorite wallering songs."
The 2018 Kennedy Center Honoree proceeded to bask in the heartache of the 1990's "You Lie," 1984's "Somebody Should Leave," 1986's "What Am I Gonna Do About You," 1987's "The Last One to Know" and 2019's "Tammy Wynette Kind of Pain," from her Grammy-nominated album "Stronger Than the Truth."
With a quick turn and a sly grin, Reba's long gown transformed as if by magic into a short, sassy dress, the perfect outfit for her defiant shake-off-the-heartbreak anthem "She Ain't Going Out Like That."
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4. Reba and opener Terri Clark pay homage to Linda Ronstadt
Reba invited opening act Terri Clark back to the stage to pay homage to legendary hitmaker Linda Ronstadt. The country stars proved adept duet partners on a medley of three of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer's most iconic songs, and the crowd couldn't help wailing along on the mashup of "You're No Good," "When Will I Be Loved" and "Heat Wave."
Clark also included her Top 5 country cover of Ronstadt's "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" in her entertaining opening set, along with a slew of her hits, from "I Wanna Do It All" and "When Boy Meets Girl" to "Better Things to Do" and "Girls Lie Too."
5. Grammy winner pays tearjerking tribute to her Oklahoma daddy
A montage of memorable moments from McEntire's beloved TV series "Reba" thrilled her fervent fans and provided cover for her next costume change, into a purple tunic with sheer silvery sleeves that she matched with her black pants and sparkly boots. She followed up the show's crowd-pleasing inspirational theme song, "I'm a Survivor," with a tearjerking tribute to her Oklahoma family, especially her late father, Clark McEntire.
"I grew up on a working ranch in a rodeo family down in southeastern Oklahoma in a little bitty town called Chockie, population 18," she recalled.
"I always wanted to be a world-champion barrel racer, but Daddy saw something different in me. He was the one that was always saying, 'Reba, why do you always wanna do something you're not good at?' He said, 'Stick to your singing.' But he was also the one that said, 'Why don't you go to Oklahoma City ... to sing the national anthem at the National Finals Rodeo?'"
Sepia-toned family photos flowed across the big screen as Reba crooned her emotional 1992 ode "The Greatest Man I Never Knew" in honor of her daddy.
6. Reba takes the OKC arena to church with a gospel medley
Earlier this year, Reba followed up her 2017 Grammy-winning gospel double-album "Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope" with a new CD/DVD package "My Chains Are Gone," showcasing old hymns.
So, it was only natural for the Oklahoma native to take the Paycom Center to church with a medley of her contemporary Christian hit "Back to God," the soaring spiritual "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and the stirring gospel standard "Oh Happy Day."
The rousing medley set the stage for a feisty finish to her set with "Is There Life Out There," "Take It Back" and "Why Haven't I Heard from You."
7. Sparks fly during Reba's 'Fancy' finale
Of course, that wasn't the end of the show: One of the best parts about catching Reba live in concert is witnessing the latest dramatic spectacle that she and her team have dreamed up to spotlight her signature smash "Fancy."
Her cover of Bobbie Gentry's classic story song has long been Reba's concert encore, and every time, she shows off new ways to make it, well, extra "Fancy." This time, Reba seized the stage in a heavily fringed silver frock that transformed into a sparkling scarlet dress with a spark of cannily timed pyrotechnics.
Those were the only pyrotechnics that the show needed. Reba continues to prove that she's perfectly capable of lighting up the stage on her own.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 7 highlights of Reba McEntire's home-state show in Oklahoma City
