THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 16, 1996 TAG: 9608160595
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Review
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 53 lines
Reba McEntire came on stage - honestly - in an airplane.
The four-passenger aircraft rolled the entertainer onstage for her entrance. But there was nothing else ``plain'' about the show.
It was the usual McEntire dazzler, with enough lights to brighten Pungo for a couple of hours, and a runway that ran from one end of Hampton Coliseum to the other, giving everyone except those in the ``close-to-God'' rows a good look at everything that was going on.
McEntire, ever a showwoman, was in almost constant movement, singing hits of today and yesterday. Some of the older hits were from the mid-1980s, when her star first began to ascend.
Adding to the songs were photographs of Ms. M - each representing the year of the song she was singing at the time. McEntire went back to 1982 to her first hit, ``I Can't Even Get the Blues.'' She found out the song hit the charts after calling her manager from a Texas town where her first bus broke down.
Flip to 1996 - nine buses and 18 tractor-trailers parked by the Coliseum filled with instruments, costumes, people, gimmicks. The costumes, as is her custom, are many and varied, ranging from a cowboy look to a supper club gown.
In the last scene, she entered leaning on a piano that rolled out to center stage.
The most impressive things about any McEntire show are the singing - the beautiful voice still sells songs - and the gimmicks. You never know what's going to happen.
At one point, she was singing her heart out when the stage went up like an elevator.
When she finished that bit, off went the gown, and there she was in a $1,000 motorcycle mama outfit surrounded by eight dancers for the song ``Take it Back.''
McEntire has another plus: an outstanding band. Let's face it, this redhead can afford the best musicians she can find.
This year the Country Music Association award nominations have ignored McEntire completely while listing Alan Jackson and George Strait as Entertainer of the Year nominees. They are fine singers, but watching their shows is like listening to their records.
McEntire's show is a mix of Vegas, Radio City Music Hall and Flash Nashville. It is exciting, thoroughly entertaining - and $42 a seat. The theory is, of course, you get what you pay for.
McEntire's protege, Linda Davis, was part of the show, which opened with Billy Dean. ILLUSTRATION: CONCERT REVIEW
Reba McEntire, Linda Davis and Billy Dean
Thursday at Hampton Coliseum by CNB