By Carrie Wachsmann. October 10th, the Abbotsford Entertainment Center packed with cheering Reba fans, went electric with shouts and cheers, and plenty of dancing in the aisles.
The stage was sparse but Reba used all of it as she sang to hers fans to the right and the left.
Reba, stunning and beautiful as ever, began her outstanding performance with, Were going to take you on a journey with some songs and stories. We hope you like the journey.
A masterful storyteller, she took us on a trip down musical memory lane.
She told the audience about the time when only HBO played music videos. MTV hadn’t arrived yet.
She and her crew had spent some time creating a video and submitted it to HBO
… I was sitting in a hotel watching HBO and hoping. said Reba. A video from Aretha Franklin came on and then they played mine. It was like I died and had gone to heaven.
Reba talked about her visit with Harlan Howard , the prolific and award winning Nashville writer who has written many, many hits, among them Patsy Clines I Fall To Pieces and Buck Owens Tiger By The Tale.
Harlan played her a couple of his latest songs but much to her surprise she didn’t like either of them.
I couldn’t believe I was going to pass on Harlan Howard songs, she said. Then he played one more song and I dont know if the angels were singing but the hair on my arms stood up. It was the saddest song I had ever heard. I recorded it and it became my fourth No. 1 record.
If Reba were to sing all her hits, the concert would have ended long after midnight so we were treated to a series of of medleys. This pleased the cheering crowd, and left them asking for more.
Jennifer Wrinkle, the drama queen band member, joined Reba in an outstanding rendition of the 1993 hit Does He Love You.
Gord Bamford, a Canadian with a great, gravelly voice, performed the opening 40 minute show, with a set of songs the got the audience cheering and clapping. Gord recently received seven nominations for the 2013 Canadian Country Music Association awards. Some of his songs were Is It Friday Yet?, Drinking Buddy and Blame It On The Red Dress.
The audience loved every bit of his entertaining and engaging performance.
Sadly the evening had to end but thousands of happy and satisfied fans, still singing and dancing streamed out of the Abbotsford Entertainment Centre and out into the crisp fall night.