Reba McEntire made her long-awaited return to RodeoHouston on Tuesday, March 4. The country legend kicked off this year’s Houston’s crown jewel cultural event in grand fashion in front of 69,934 fans with a cadre of hits and heart after 11 years away. Before Tuesday night, she hadn’t played RodeoHouston since 2014.

McEntire — who turns a spritely 70 years old later this month — is on everyone’s classic female country Mount Rushmore alongside the likes of Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Patsy Cline. Her multi-generational longevity and enduring pop-culture impact spanning six decades is only comparable to Parton’s. However, McEntire’s vibe has always skewed slightly more sassy denim diva than Backwoods Barbie. (RodeoHouston could use a Dolly Parton appearance sometime soon, for what it’s worth.)

McEntire’s RodeoHouston story began in 1984 when she co-headlined the Astrodome with Charley Pride, back when a weekend double bill matinee could still be a reality, attracting over 77,000 fans across two shows. Tickets topped out at a whopping $8. Throughout the late ‘80s and ‘90s, she was a mainstay each year as her star continued to rise and the hits began to pile up on the charts. She had played in front of one million Houstonians at RodeoHouston by 1991 — before several of this year’s headliners such as Post Malone, Parker McCollum, and Lauren Daigle were born.

McEntire is also the only performer on this year’s RodeoHouston schedule who can boast that she played the original Gilley’s in Pasadena. She was inducted into the rodeo’s Star Trail of Fame in 2007, joining the likes of George Strait and Elvis Presley. A burgeoning acting career, which famously included fighting subterranean worms in the desert, has only added to her legend.

McEntire kicked things off just before 9:30 pm with 2010’s “Turn On The Radio” decked out like a rodeo queen in black satin, silver spangles, rhinestones, and a belt buckle fit for a New York strip steak. She quickly took the crowd back to 1986 with “One Promise Too Late,” followed by “You Lie” with an epic saxophone solo on the back end. She pulled out the thundering “Maggie Creek Road” from 2009, cut from the same cloth as “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia”.

“I’m A Survivor,” the theme song from her hit 2000s sitcom, brought down the house. Her current NBC sitcom, Happy’s Place, was just renewed by the network for a second season, proving that McEntire still has the magic touch on the small screen.

A disco-soul interpolation saw McEntire slide in a cover of Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” showing that the gap between country queens and current Gen-Z pop idols — witness Parton recently teaming up with Sabrina Carpenter — is growing forever thinner. Last year’s “I Can’t” shows that McEntire can still do righteous condemnation with the best of them, complete with its crying guitar solo.

McEntire closed out the show with a victory lap of some of her most enduring standards. “Is There Life Out There” remains as devastating as ever, and the chugging country-soul swing of “Why Haven’t I Heard From You” has always been a bridge between Memphis and Nashville. The promise of the fiery “Fancy” kept everyone in their seats until the night’s end, with the stage bathed in red light and the tune’s ominous opening hook hanging in the stadium air.

For a few minutes around 10:30 pm on Tuesday, NRG Stadium rightfully became the world’s largest karaoke bar.

Setlist

Turn On The Radio
The Fear of Being Alone
One Promise Too Late
I’m Gonna Take That Mountain
You Lie
Maggie Creek Road
I’m A Survivor
Happy’s Place
Going Out Like That

Disco-Soul Mix:
Respect (Aretha Franklin cover)
Don’t Start Now (Dua Lipa cover)
You Keep Me Hangin’ On (The Supremes cover)

Consider Me Gone
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
I Can’t
Back To God
Is There Life Out There
Why Haven’t I Heard From You
Fancy