REBA McENTIRE WITH BRAD PAISLEY AND TERRI CLARK

May 28 at Verizon Wireess Amphitheater

— Andrea Lorenz

Reba McEntire fans have had to wait more than two years to see her on tour — the longest she's gone without performing live in 25 years.

But judging from the crowd's reaction Saturday night at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, her show was worth the wait.

She took the stage in a simple black tank top and black pants, her red hair layered chic — and radiating plenty of sparkle and shine.

Reba smiles so wide (and so often), you'd think that by now at least her eyes would show signs of a career that has spanned almost 30 years. But she has aged gracefully, so much so that one wonders whether the pink-hatted cowgirls in the crowd — who sang along to songs from before they were born — have any idea she's from a generation that precedes Shania Twain and Gretchen Wilson.

Some of those young fans made it clear they were there to see Brad Paisley by flashing “I Came Here to Meet Brad” signs during his set. He and Terri Clark opened for Reba in the tour, named “Two Hats and a Redhead.”

But most were there to see Reba, whose many years of experience are evident in the confidence she shows onstage. Her love for performing showed throughout the 90-minute performance, and the crowd responded to it, either by dancing or just tapping their feet. She stepped aside to give each member of her nine-piece band some time in the spotlight.

When your catalog of hits is as big as hers, it must be tough to pick a setlist, even one that comprises 25 songs. But she did, playing a mixture of old and new that should have satisfied everyone.

She sang her first No. 1 hit, “Can't Even Get the Blues No More,” from 1982, then moved on to “Somebody,” a hit from 2004.

After a medley of '80s and '90s favorites, such as “Little Rock” and “Rumor Has It,” she sang from her most recent album, “Room to Breathe.”

Whether she was singing something upbeat or down tempo, she entertained. She skipped and boot-scooted to the fun stuff: “Love Revival” and “I'd Rather Ride Around With You.”

Anyone who knows the sad, soulful songs from her 1991 album “For My Broken Heart” also knows that like no other female country singer out there, Reba can make you cry.

She sang only two songs from “Broken Heart,” which she recorded after her band died in a plane crash.

But there were plenty of other songs to draw the tears. She prefaced “Moving Oleta” by introducing writer Barry Dean, who was in the audience. The song tells a heartbreaking story about a man's love for his wife who has Alzheimer's.

As she sang “He Gets That From Me,” a video of a widow and her young son played on the screen. Then she pulled her audience away from the grief and gravity of the cemetery scene with “The Fear of Being Alone.”

Two songs later, she had the crowd out of their seats and out of their sorrow, scolding delinquent dialers in “Why Haven't I Heard From You?”

By the time concert openers Brad Paisley and Terri Clark returned to help out on the encores, Reba had taken the audience through a gamut of emotions. From flirtatious to thoughtful, from heartbroken to hopeful, Reba hit them all.

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