1998
Adelaide Entertainment Centre
15 April, 19998.
Murray Bramwell
When Kenny Rogers last toured, ten years ago, he performed with Dolly Parton. Which sure proves that he’s not afraid of a bit of competition. This time, opening his Australian tour in Adelaide, he shares the stage with yet another country pop luminary, Reba McEntire- and it is not hard to see why, between them, they have sold 120 million albums. The Kenny and Reba show has it all. It looks good, it sounds great and the stars make it so durn easy to be there.
After the opening duet, Kenny goes backstage while Reba starts carving up with Why Haven’t I Heard From You. The riff could be Chuck Berry, and her young band- dressed in basic black to highlight Reba’s mulberry, designer-spangled jacket- is already on the mark. After greeting us warmly in a heavy Oklahoma drawl Reba mists up for one of her signature hits. And Still. An intro from a lonely keyboard, some guitar fills and then, with a thud, we hit that plateau of bass and drum from which vocals soar into the aching altitudes of country heartbreak.
Switching us to the big stage screens for some howdies from her family and clips of Reba on American chat shows, the singer gives us familiar TV reference points. This show is like Ricki Lake, with a live band. A costume change to iridescent emerald buckskins, some perky Oklahoma Swing, and Reba moves a little closer to emancipation. Not exactly radical. But Falling Out of Love, The Fear of Being Alone, and Is There Life Out There, suggest that, these days, it’s not just about standing by your Y- chromosome.
Relaxed and affable, a few pounds lighter, his silver beard trimmed back to a goatee, Kenny Rogers takes the stage for a medley of hits and a lot of audience participation. Bringing up the house lights he chats to the crowd. Turning to Malcolm, a good-natured fan in the front row, Rogers offers ten dollars American for every hit he can recognise. Malcolm gets a bit flustered but Kenny pays out anyway, crooning those first editions like Ruby and Reuben James which have been very good to him through the years.
His band is hot, with a top notch horn section. Rogers sings all the way from the forties to this year’s album, with its title song, Across My Heart and the John Hiatt standard, Have a Little Faith. Peeling banknotes off the roll and sending them down to Malcolm, Kenny Rogers breathes life into the mega-platinums –Lucille, Lady, Islands in the Stream and -wouldn’t you just know it ?- some duets with Reba, his grainy old voice mingling with her wonderful vibrant twang. They close with I Feel Sorry For Anyone who Isn’t Me Tonight. And, after the dealing’s done, I’m pretty much thinking the same thing.
The Australian, April 17, 1998, p.16.