A sweet collaboration
Reba & Kelly like peanut butter cups

By DAVID SCHMEICHEL

As the comedienne who opened last night's show pointed out, country queen Reba McEntire and alt-popster Kelly Clarkson are like the musical equivalent of chocolate peanut butter cups.

You wouldn't necessarily think to put the two together, but once you do, you can't deny their compatibility.

And while their concert sometimes struggled against the confines of its own gimmick, it also offered a great showcase for two of the best belters in the biz (not to mention exposing both to a new audience while satisfying the collective sweet tooth of 9,000 fans).

Having first collaborated on an episode of CMT Crossroads -- the same show that gave us such unlikely pairings as Elton John with Ryan Adams, and Dolly Parton with Melissa Etheridge -- the duo has since spun a successful single and a co-headlining tour out of the stunt.

And last night, the older/younger dichotomy worked in their favour, not just because both women share the same no-frills approach to their music, but also because they genuinely appear to be such fans of each other's work.

Their opening number (a mash-up of the old country classic Sweet Dreams, and the Eurythmics song of the same name) was a clunker, but the ladies quickly rebounded with versions of McEntire's Why Haven't I Heard From You and Clarkson's Walk Away -- both angry, aggressive tunes that gave them a chance to trade fiery harmonies and stellar solo turns.

After McEntire tore through The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, Clarkson took the lead on her hit Behind Those Hazel Eyes, at one point hitting a high note so dazzling, McEntire burst into applause like a beaming stage mom.

And while Clarkson continued to impress -- channelling both a big band chanteuse on Stuff Like That There, sexy spitfire Christina Aguilera on Miss Independent, and Pat Benatar on the rocker Never Again -- the concert's real high points occurred when the two sat on stools together at centre stage, melding their voices as one on unadorned versions of the Everly Brothers' Cathy's Clown, Reba's How Blue, and the Patti Griffin ballad Up to the Mountain, which gave Clarkson a chance to leave all those American Idol wannabes in her dust with another display of spine-tingling vocal acrobatics.

Eschewing a traditional opening act, the ladies instead opted for a set by actress/comic Melissa Peterman, who managed to take some of the credit for last night's lineup.

"If it weren't for me, Kelly wouldn't even know Reba," she quipped. "I voted for her (on American Idol), like, 10,000 times."

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REBA MCENTIRE & KELLY CLARKSON

Where: MTS Centre

When: Thu., Sept. 25

Sun Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

http://winnipegsun.com/En...08/09/26/6884406-sun.html

09/27 CONCERT... EDMONTON, ALBERTA

A Beautiful Blend

Kelly and Reba make an awesome team

Mike Ross

Funny, I thought Kelly Clarkson was a pop singer.

Now there she was sharing the stage with Reba McEntire at Rexall Place last night. There was even a Bounce 91.7 van packed outside the arena at a country concert, right next to the CFCW truck. That was weird.

I admit I haven't been keeping up with the post-American Idol career of Kelly Clarkson as closely as I should've been. Was there a radical change in direction somewhere in there?

But I know that fellow Idol Carrie Underwood hit it huge in country music, that Nashville grooms its biggest stars similarly to American Idol, that stars of neither camp write much of their own material, and that country music in general has a high tolerance for cheese, which the American Idol franchise churns out in giant, stinky wheels.

So it makes perfect sense for Kelly Clarkson, arguably the best of the Idols, to have "gone country."

On the other hand, Kelly's portion of last night's show didn't sound any more "country" than Reba's did. Aside from their inevitable duets, this show was more of a tag-team match featuring the finest two-part female vocals you'll ever hear: Reba doing the backups on Kelly's slick CHR songs, Kelly wailing on Reba's chart-topping country hits.

This was more than just a Reba concert with an embedded opening act. Think of the "2 Worlds, 2 Voices" tour as a joining of hands across genres and generations, a beautiful symbiosis in more or less perfect harmony, a real smart move on Reba's part in getting this young hotshot to do most of the heavy lifting. Well played!

You could even say that Reba has "gone pop," which seems to be the country music industry's most common complaint about itself. Modern country music all sounds like '80s pop anyway, right? They opened by singing the hell out of the 1983 Eurythmics hit Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This). I rest my case.

So why did these two dames pair up in the first place? It's more than just the money. They clearly love being on stage together.

For a quick-paced show spanning the key hits of both singers' careers, there was chemistry on both sides of the blurry country-pop divide.

Early in the show, Kelly got to let loose on Reba's Why Haven't I Heard From You, while Reba was grooving like only a grooving mom can on her stagemate's funky, urbanized Walk Away - the second song a logical next step from the first.

Kelly only looked a little out of place singing in Reba's Western swing material - the only kind of music you want to do in southwestern Oklahoma - but powered out her parts as the stylistic lines got fuzzier.

A large, slick, studio-quality band capable of copping any style helped. One imagines that musicians who played with Patsy Cline wouldn't have been able to pull off something like Miss Independent as it sounds on the record. The attempt might sound interesting, though. I know, I know - don't give them ideas.

But never mind the countrification of pop or the popping up of country, this show could definitely be enjoyed for impressive vocals alone. These ladies killed on the classic The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, and on the ballad Beautiful Disaster, with Reba's eyes on the verge of misting up, as they always are in proximity to the tiniest amount of drama. The hits didn't let up, nor did the hair-raising vocals.

So a country-pop veteran teams up with an R&B pop newcomer to meet somewhere in the middle for a sold-out audience full of hard-core country fans in Edmonton, Alberta - and people are just blown away.

It might be terribly confusing to anyone who wasn't there.

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SOUNDCHECK

MAIN EVENT

Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson

IN THE SEATS

13,000

NOTE PERFECT

Country goes pop, pop goes country. What does it matter? These women can sing

Sun Rating: 4 out of 5