Country star Evans delivers in Bangor

All right, so she didn’t dance, but who was complaining? Country singer Sara Evans bumped and bounced across the Bangor Auditorium stage Friday night, and managed to squeeze 17 songs into her 70-minute set.

Evans even changed into an elegant black outfit for a two-song encore. If you weren’t there, gentlemen, here’s what you missed: The 36-year-old discarded her skirt as she crooned “I Want You to Want Me,” revealing short shorts and long legs that might make Ginger Rogers envious.

Although she never mentioned her failed bid on last year’s “Dancing With the Stars,” or her tabloid-worthy marital woes, Evans moved around the stage like both a dancer and a star. And while introducing her kid sisters, backup singers Leslie Lyons and Ashley Evans, along with brother Scott Evans who plays bass and leads the tight six-member band, she commented, “There’s nothing like siblings to help me out emotionally.”

If the singer’s nervous stage patter sometimes seemed pointless, her singing was flawless. The audience, nearly a sellout at 2,933 paid ticket holders, cheered her greatest-hits run-through, proving how well the Missourian can deliver both up-tempo country hits and slow ballads. She began with “A Real Fine Place to Start,” followed by “Born To Fly,” “I Keep Looking,” “Suds in the Bucket,” and the encore, “I Could Not Ask for More.”

Josh Turner and Luke Bryan proved worthy opening acts for the three-hour-plus show.

Turner, the latest member of the Grand Ole Opry, has ramped up his stage act since last performing here two years ago. Backed by his band, The Tonkin’ Honkies, in which his wife, Jennifer, plays keyboard, Turner looked long, lean and relaxed, and hit all the deep bass notes on hits such as “Would You Go With Me,” “Long Black Train,” “Your Man” and “Firecracker.”

Highlighting singer-songwriter Bryan’s 20-minute set were his hit, “We Rode in Trucks,” and “Good Directions,” a No. 1 smash that he co-wrote for fellow country singer Billy Currington.

A decent ticket price ($41.75 for all seats), fine lighting and sound, and something new for Bangor – two big concert screens that showed the singers’ every wink and pout – helped make Friday’s show a night to remember.