NEWS

Lee Brice wows fans of all ages

Traci Rosenbaum trosenbaum@greatfallstribune.com

“One hundred percent awesome” is how Lee Brice fan Britney Hagberg described Monday night’s near-capacity show at the Four Seasons Arena.

Three LED screens bordered by giant lights and two full drum sets gave the first hint at how big the Montana State Fair show would be. A chorus of (mostly female) cheers went up as Brice entered in his signature backward baseball cap and denim button-down.

The band opened with the popular “Drinking Class,” and Brice’s light show often flooded over the audience, allowing the performer to see his fans and interact with them.

“I heard there was like $3 beer out there tonight,” he said during his first song break. “That makes me thirsty.”

Brice handed cans to his band members and raised his in a toast to “the nights we won’t remember and the friends we’ll never forget” before launching into his song of the same name, and the arena lit up with phone screens for “I Drive Your Truck,” a song about dealing with the loss of a military family member.

Although the star didn’t banter much between numbers, his interaction while singing was strong. Three microphone stands onstage allowed Brice to face every part of the audience while still playing his guitar. He threw picks into the crowd, signed items handed to him from the front row, and at one point gave an acoustic guitar to a lucky fan up front.

Fan Gale Winterhalter was jealous. “If I were her, I wouldn’t lose that for love or money,” she said.

Brice’s down-to-earth approach turned out to be the best part of his show. All smiles during every song, he looked like a guy having the time of his life, and that vibe transferred to the crowd. It didn’t hurt that he was backed up by an extremely talented band, all of whom showcased their individual talents at some point during the night. Their camaraderie was obvious when Brice lined up with the guys and took a bow at the end of the show.

Oddly, Brice didn’t sing any songs from his recent Internet release “Mixtape: ‘Til Summer’s Gone.” In fact, the artist sang no new songs at all, sticking to tunes the audience already knew.

But for Hagberg and her friend Jordan Thorson, Brice’s encore song “I Don’t Dance” ended the show perfectly.

“How can you get better than that?” they said.