EDMONTON - It couldn't get better than this - being at a sold-out hot country music concert in a hockey arena on the night the Oilers beat the Godless Red Wings.

And - oh, well - even if the Oilers actually wound up losing, there was a hot country music concert in a hockey arena to help us forget. It's what you might call a win-win situation. And Brooks and Dunn was the perfect act to put it all into perspective, the perfect mix of cry-in-'yer-beer hurtin' songs and drink-'yer-beer honky-tonkers.

The opening song did the trick, pointing out that the road to heaven is full of "sinners and believers" and that "happiness on Earth ain't just for high achievers."

Or Oilers fans.

Enough about that.

More than 14,000 folks showed up at Rexall Place last night to take in the latest blast of hot country gold from the biggest duo in countrydom. That's a bigger crowd than last time, which in turn was more than the time before - more proof there may be an upward trend in country music. All paving the way for the Brooks that is Garth, perhaps. Or not.

Bringing a spare show relatively free of schtick or special effects, Brooks and Dunn are touring behind its latest album, Hillbilly Deluxe, filled with the sort of slick yet lonely tunes one can imagine hearing while driving down the highway on a sweltering night.

A good deal of the record was reproduced with music video precision on stage, but the show followed a familiar pattern.

There's a big blast of country rock goodness to bring the crowd to its feet, then they bring it down while Ronnie Dunn makes it look easy on a tear-jerking ballad of some sort. That's What She Gets (for Loving Me) was a good one. So was Getting Better All the Time. What a voice. The man is a master at this sort of thing. Cue a raucous number like Brand New Man, the hit that launched the whole shebang 15 years ago.

Then, on the roller-coaster of emotion that is a Brooks and Dunn concert, you'd get a ballad again, then maybe something fun from partner Kix Brooks. Early on, he did Rock My World, accompanied by video images of sexy dancing girls, which always seemed to accompany his songs. This cowboy could sub for Big and Rich any time - Big and Kix? Hey, it could work.

They even mixed it up a bit. After greeting the crowd with a hearty "ha-ha, woooo!" Kix sat on a stool to sing You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone, accompanied by images of legends who have passed.

Ronnie later sang the sturdy shuffle of Boot Scootin' Boogie while monster trucks showed in the background. So they can be unpredictable, too.

But just as we're forgetting about hockey, Dunn has to go and remind us. On the unlikely idea of having an NHL team in Nashville, of all places with no naturally occurring ice, he said he's into hockey now, "We're proud of what you gave us."

You're welcome, I guess. Nashville won last night, too. Way to rub it in.

Opener Aaron Pritchett had the job of making the headliners look extra good. Not that this Vancouver cowboy didn't have a few things going for him. Are there even cowboys in Vancouver?

He had a big grin, a big black hat and a load of manly charm to accompany his cliche-laden country rock songs that tried so hard to be radio friendly that if they were dogs they'd hump your leg.

Bonus points for singing lines like "it goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover" and "shines like the stars above" with a straight face. In all fairness, the song Hold My Beer (While I Kiss Your Girlfriend) was noteworthy for two reasons - for the chuckle over the title and the fact that it was the last number in a mercifully short set.

OK, to really be fair, the music of our next act Sara Evans also bore its share of cliches and songs that sounded like bad '80s pop, but this fetching farm girl-turned-country-star had more than enough style to make up for it.

Maybe it was sassy, spunky romps like All Mine. Maybe it was touching romantic ballads like No Place That Far.

Maybe because while it might be tempting to brand Sara Evans "Shania lite," her voice carried a lot more authority than our Canadian country queen.

Or maybe it was the hot pants she wore. Hot country, hot pants, coincidence? I think not.