By Sarah Rodman
Reba McEntire opened the 21st season of the Tweeter Center with the traditional ritual Friday night: She joked about how cold it was.
``You'll just have to imagine the sexy little outfit I was going to wear,'' said the glove- and coat-wearing McEntire with a laugh after gliding through the appropriately chill-themed weeper ``Whoever's in New England.''
Indeed, this was a see-your-breath-wear-your-gloves-huddle-together kind of a night in Mansfield, but the country diva and her cohorts on the Two Hats and a Redhead tour - Terri Clark and Brad Paisley - refused to let the plunging mercury dictate the temperature of the evening.
The funny and personable Clark got the blood circulating early with a lively 40-minute set culled from her decade of hitmaking including the cheeky anthem ``Girls Lie Too.''
The good-natured Paisley and his first-rate band turned up the heat a bit more with a terrific 45-minute set.
As usual, McEntire was in great voice and even better spirits, moving gracefully to the music, spotlighting the members of her nine-piece band and jokingly telling the crowd that they better be taping her eponymous WB sitcom because it airs on Friday nights.
The 50-year-old Oklahoma native seemed pleased as punch to be responsible for warming up the just-over-half-capacity crowd. And that she did with a 100-minute set that spanned almost her entire career. She skipped easily from her first No. 1 in 1982 - the roadhouse piano romp ``Can't Even Get the Blues'' - to her most recent - the don't give up on love anthem ``Somebody'' from 2004.
In between, she crammed in hits and bits of hits from every era including crowd-pleasing ballads such as ``You Lie'' and ``He Gets That From Me,'' bluesy gems like ``Why Haven't I Heard From You?'' and the gospel-inflected ``Love Revival'' and the glorious backwoods noir of ``The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia'' and ``Fancy.''
As is her magnanimous way, McEntire invited Paisley and Clark out onto her big white stage set for the encores.
Clark and McEntire dueted on the melodramatic ``Does He Love You?'' and the whole trio bounced gaily through ``Oklahoma Swing'' and ``When Will I Be Loved?'' to close out the night.
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