Arena housed thousands of local country music fans Friday night

The Save Mart Center was packed almost to capacity Friday night for two big country stars Reba McEntire and George Strait.

McEntire and Strait’s fellow country star Leann Womack opened the concert. She is known for her chart topper hit “I Hope You Dance,” a song on her album of the same title in 2000.

Reba McEntire kept the audience on their toes with her performance. She played a number of older songs and newer songs that audience members of each generation could enjoy. Songs like “Consider Me Gone” and “I Want A Cowboy” from her 2009 album, “Keep on Loving You,” had the ladies singing along.

Other than putting on a great show, McEntire sounded amazing. She hit every note and sounded like she just came out of the studio, if not better.

McEntire also sang “If I Were A Boy,” written by Beyonce, and “Because Of You” by Kelly Clarkson, both of which became popular with Reba fans. Womack came back on stage to do a duet with McEntire for the song “Does He Love You,” a song about two women sharing one man.

Melissa Peterman from McEntire’s sitcom “Reba” came onstage wearing a George Strait T-shirt, an “I Love Reba” headband and a Budweiser bottle in hand. McEntire was about to perform the sitcom’s theme song “I’m A Survivor” when Peterman interrupted her. The funny skit left fans laughing and wanting more.

Just when everyone thought McEntire’s performance was finished, she surprised the crowd by coming back onto the stage to sing “Fancy” in a yellow taxicab and a shimmery red dress similar to the one she wore in her 1991 music video for the song.

McEntire was entertaining, funny and a pleasure to listen to. She definitely made this performance memorable in so many ways.

The crowd went wild when George Strait entered the stage. He started off with one of his newer songs “Twang” off his 2009 album of the same title that lifted the audience to their feet.

Strait played for a solid two hours with a mixture of slow and upbeat songs.

Unlike the other performances, Strait’s show lacked the pizzazz and flair of McEntire’s. He kept things simple, by just using his singing to do the job.

Strait and his band left the stage, but that didn’t stop the audience from continuing to roar and cheer. He came back on after and played several more songs before calling it a night.