Last year Atlanta's Sugarland pretty much stole the show at Lilith with their high energy set of infectious pop-country tunes that undoubtedly garnered them many new fans. Those new fans, and long time ones, came out in force for the only Alberta date of their Incredible Machines tour as part of the Calgary Stampede.

The success of Sugarlands stage show lies in the combo of singer Jennifer Nettles and singer/guitarist Kristian Bush. Nettles is a ball of energy and you can't pry your eyes off of her, unless it is to get a closer look via the big screens on either side of the stage.

The band kicked off the show with All We Are and Stuck Like Glue. the show included hits dating back to their breakthrough 2004 album Twice The Speed of Life to 2010's The Incredible Machine.

The entire band came centre stage for the tender Baby Girl before the Stampede theme of throwing in some covers (NKOTBSB included Raspberry Beret and We Will Rock You). Sugarland's cover set included Cee-Lo Green's Forget You, Britney Spear's Baby One More Time, a killer tribute to Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 and Destiny's Child's Bootylicious. Later they added Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline to Find The Beat Again.

"Do you like surprises Calgary?" Nettles asked mid-way through the show, demonstrating she had done some research before coming to Calgary. "If the Royal couple had stayed longer to see our show that would have been a nice surprise. Who knows where they are now, maybe in Banff?" The surprise ended up being an autographed guitar, which Bush took through the audience and gave to a girl in the stands.

The crossover hit that Nettles did with Bon Jovi Who Says You Can't Go Home, with Bush on Jon's vocals, was another big sing along before Something More wrapped up the set. The encore kicked off with the entire Saddledome singing the empowering anthem Stand Up.

"Won't you stand up, stand up, stand up.
Won't you stand up you girls and boys?
Won't you stand up stand up stand up
Won't you stand up and use your voice?"

The concert wrapped with a cover of Dexy's Midnight Runners Come on Eileen.

I am not a country music fan, but thoroughly enjoyed Sugarland's show, even if it clocked in a little short at 90 minutes. It is easy to see why Sugarland has become popular, both Nettles and Bush are polished performers that captivated the audience for the full show. This won't be the last arena show for them by any means, based on the charisma, voice, and talent of Nettles and Bush they have many more albums on the horizon.

Setlist:
All We Are
Stuck Like Glue
It Happens
Settlin
Tonight
All I Want To Do
Incredible Machine
Every Girl Like Me
Little Miss
Baby Girl
Everyday America/Forget You/Baby One More Time/ 9 to 5/Bootylicious
Stay
Find The Beat Again/Sweet Caroline
Who Says You Can't Go Home
Something More

Encore:
Stand Up
Come on Eileen