For the Last Time this Tour, King and Queen of Country Music Take the Stage

 By Emma Nelson

The best known country music artist, George Strait was joined by singer, actress, author Reba McEntire and Lee Ann Womack, performed the last show of his 2010 tour at the Fargodome Stadium in Fargo, North Dakota on Friday, October 22. Lee Ann was the opening show, followed by Reba, then George. George and Reba may also be known as the King and Queen of country music.

                The stage was set up in the middle of the arena with stadium seating on three sides and seating on the floor all the way around. It was in a square or diamond shape, and the band was set up in the same shape, allowing the artist to sing in the middle of the band or all the way around which is what they did most of the performance. Outside of the seating area there were concession stands and places you could buy shirts with any or all of the artists on them ranging from $20 to $99. As much as I could tell, almost every seat was occupied by a fan.

Lee Ann Womack

                The opening performer, Lee Ann Womack, has loved country music since she was a little girl in Texas, helping her mother clean house according to the biography on her official website www.leeannwomack.com. Not only does she tour and duet with George Strait, but he has inspired her to travel new roads in the music business and stretch her comfort zone as well. It was his producer, Tony Brown that really saw her as an artist. The song that seems to have the greatest meaning to Lee Ann is the song “I Hope You Dance” which has an “inspirational meaning having background vocal performances by Lee Ann’s ex-husband, Jason Sellers, and their 17-year-old daughter, Aubrie”. She is an “artist who is reveling in what she was born to do” and it shows through her passion in sharing country music.

Reba

                Next performer, Reba McEntire, has had an amazing career. She is not only the leading female country music artist in history, but has also had success as a film, television, and Broadway actress. According to her website http://reba.com/ , Reba has sold over 55 million albums worldwide. You may know her as the loud, opinionated, red-head off of the TV show “Reba” or as Annie in the Broadway show “Annie Get Your Gun” or even as the voice of Dixie in the movie “Fox and the Hound 2”. Reba also plays in many other movies, the list of which can be found at http://www.starpulse.com/Music/McEntire,_Reba/. She is quite the performer, and it showed greatly at the Fargodome. It is very obvious she absolutely loves what she does and makes sure she thanks the fans for her successes.

George Strait and Ace in the Hole Band

                The last performer of the night was hit star, George Strait. George has had a breath taking career! He and his Ace in the Hole Band of over 30 years, sit at the top of most of country music records including those of 62 million albums sold in his career. He holds 33 Gold albums - more Gold albums than any other artist in Country Music, which ties him with no less than Frank Sinatra in eighth place for the most Gold albums of any artist in any musical genre. George has had at least one single in the Top 10 every year since his debut single “Unwound” in 1981. You can find more information and statistics similar to these on George’s website http://www.georgestrait.com/. George is also very involved in rodeo. In fact, he has his very own roping event, “George Strait Team Roping Classic”, with the 28^th annual being held in March of 2012 in San Antonio, Texas. George has also played main character Dusty in the movie “Pure Country”.  He is a very unique performer, letting his voice, rather than show, be the entertainment.

                The performances were great! George let his voice speak and be the entire show. Other than thanking the fans and introducing his band, Ace in the Hole Band, all he did was sing, slowly making his way from corner to corner of the stage. He showed a great deal of passion for what he does, at 58 years old, he is the old-fashioned sort of man. He was dressed in a plaid, long sleeve button-up shirt, his fairly tight Wranglers® (a very big hit), cowboy hat and boots. There was very little light action, not on stage at least and no smoke at all. “He just stands there and sings” says a fan, “which is just the way he is, if he did it any different it wouldn’t be him.”



Lee Ann & Reba performing "Does He Love You"



                Reba is quite the performer! She definitely loves the atmosphere of being on stage. She was dressed in a sleeveless, black tank top with sequins. Then for her encore, she was driven up in a yellow taxi in a red, flashy dress, to sing “Fancy”. That was very cool and got the crowd roaring. Reba is one to dance and get the crowd involved in her performance. Lee Ann came back on stage and sang “Does He Love You” with Reba also getting the crowd roaring. She was definitely the hit of the night.

                Lee Ann’s performance was good, but nothing compared to Reba and George. She struggled to get the microphone just right, and seemed to put the crowd to sleep as some were still searching for their seats. She played a lot of slower songs, but everyone did get excited when she played her hit “I Hope You Dance”.

                The audience appeared to like Reba the best, as she is quite the performer. George, though, lets his amazing voice do the performing as “he just stands there and sings” as a fan laughed. For Reba’s “Fancy”, I don’t believe anyone was sitting, they were all standing in excitement throughout the entire song. It is as though George Strait and Reba McEntire are King and Queen of country music; they definitely were that night at the Fargodome!!

Photos taken by Emma Nelson