Concert a little bit country > John Berry, Suzy Bogguss, Billy Dean entertain Bangor crowd

Saturday night’s concert at the Bangor Auditorium offered a rare opportunity to see three top country singers sharing the stage.

Now sharing the stage is different from sharing a bill, where each performer and his or her own bands do their set, then make way for the next act.

On Saturday, John Berry, Suzy Bogguss and Billy Dean, backed by a single band, played and sang together, as well as individually, giving the audience of 1,082 a chance to see how these musicians interacted with each other.

The main event opened with Dean, then Bogguss, then Berry, taking their places behind three mike stands lined up across the front of the stage. They started with Dean singing lead on “Only You and Me,” with Berry and Bogguss providing harmony vocals. This trading off continued through Berry’s “She’s Taken a Shine” and Bogguss’ “Drive South.”

It’s obvious that the three former labelmates had long ago taken a shine to one another. The three were constantly cracking each other up, mostly with remarks off mike, but a few caught by the audience as well. “It’s great having Suzy on the bus,” Dean explained. “I haven’t had to buy hairspray for six months.” (So it’s a “Hee Haw” kind of funny.)

Berry, dressed in a black pullover and bluejeans, was the first to solo, with his set made up of his hits “I Think About It All the Time,” “Standing on the Edge of Goodbye” and “You And Only You.”

Then Bogguss, garbed in a black jacket and zebra-stripe pants, took her turn, performing “Hey, Cinderella” and “Someday Soon” before calling back Berry and Dean to harmonize on “Aces.”

Finally, Dean, making his return to country music after dabbling in acting for the past couple of years, had his turn. He opened with his hit “Billy the Kid,” followed it up with the new song “It’s No Wonder I’m in Love With You,” and closed with “Steamroller Blues.”

Then the threesome came back for their final round of songs. Berry and Dean got up on speakers to get the crowd clapping. In her attempt to please the crowd, Bogguss tried to climb a rope ladder hanging above the stage, but didn’t get very far. Berry helped her down after she got up a couple of rungs and the singing continued.

They closed with Dean’s “That Girl’s Been Spying on Me,” Bogguss’ “Outbound Plane” and Berry’s “What’s In It for Me?”

With a little coaxing, they returned for an encore of Dean’s “Somewhere in My Broken Heart,” Bogguss’ “Letting Go” and Berry’s “Your Love Amazes Me.”

The show’s main drawback was its length, 90 minutes, with each musician singing only six songs apiece. This gave it kind of a perfunctory feel. A concert-goer would expect that many total songs from only one feature act, so three should have performed longer, to say the least.

Even opening act Jenny Paquette did more songs than the show’s stars. Pretty in pink, Paquette mixed songs from her two albums with adventurous covers of Gloria Estefan’s “Get on Your Feet” and the rocker “Two More Bottles of Wine.” As usual, it was an energetic, entertaining set from the Saco native.