As the rain came pouring down on Friday, May 6th, fans hurried inside the O’Neill Center at Western Connecticut State University for one of the last stops on Chase Rice’s Back To College Tour. The show was originally scheduled to be held at Ives Concert Park, an outdoor venue also located on the WCSU campus, but the inclement weather forced a move inside. The concert took place in the University’s gymnasium, where barriers had been set up on the floor to section off an area close to the stage. This section had rows of folding chairs that mostly went unused, aside from holding coats and bags, and was exclusively for fans who had purchased seats in the first few rows of the outdoor venue. Despite being held on a college campus, the show was open to the public and fans of all ages showed up party with Chase.
People were still rushing in as 7:00 rolled around and 19-year-old Lacy Cavalier took the stage to kick things off. While many fans may not have been familiar with the Louisiana native, her soulful voice and sweet charm demanded attention, and soon she had everyone hooked. The singer gave it her all throughout her 20-minute set, performing original songs from her EP such as ‘Waitress,’ ‘Put You Down,’ and ‘Flat Bill.’ Lacy’s energy and excitement was contagious as the long-legged beauty strutted around stage and set the mood for the evening. Cavalier mixed things up a little with a cover of Justin Bieber’s well-known hit, ‘Sorry,’ and had fans singing along. The singer mentioned that this was her first time touring, and being out on the road with Chase Rice and Jon Langston was nothing short of incredible. Touring with Rice has been a dream come true for Lacy, which, upon completing her set Friday night, was nearing a bittersweet end.
During the short time between sets, some fans headed over to the opposite end of the gymnasium where merchandise and concessions were being sold while others seized the opportunity to inch their way closer to the front. At 7:30 on the dot, Jon Langston took the stage with a solo cup in hand, ready to kick the party up a notch. He opened with a few original songs before announcing to the crowd that it was his first time ever in Connecticut. The audience cheered loudly in response as Langston moved on to a cover of Tim McGraw’s ‘Something Like That,’ and a couple more originals including Jon’s ‘Stronger Than Whiskey.’ “Let’s keep drinkin’ tonight!” he shouted at the song’s close, and as the instrumentals began playing for the next song he added, “We’re gonna crank it up, y’all ready?!” The crowd screamed as Langston continued with another string of original songs which included his favorite song he’s ever written, ‘Cigarettes and Me,’ and the swoon-worthy ‘Forever Girl.’
After the ballad, Langston quickly went back into party-mode exclaiming, “We live in the greatest country in the world!” and performed Toby Keith’s ‘Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.’ Fans went crazy – what country crowd doesn’t love to get a little rowdy for ‘Merica? A group of young fans raised their red solo cups high and began the always-popular “USA! USA!” chant, which caught on like wildfire. The singer kept the energy up by quickly transitioning into a cover of Blake Shelton’s ‘Kiss My Country Ass,’ and the crowd sang along, loud and proud. Langston’s time on stage was nearing it’s end and he closed out his 45-minute set with his own ‘Showtime’ and ‘She’s so Georgia’ before thanking the crowd one last time.
Shortly after Jon’s set, a large white curtain was hung in front of the stage leaving everyone curious as to what was going on behind it. The lights went down around 8:45 and the stage was aglow in shades of blue, green and purple, but the curtain was still up and only a few silhouettes of the band were visible. ‘Way Down We Go’ by Kaleo played from the speakers and the anticipation was building. The music picked up and Chase’s ‘How She Rolls’ began to play until suddenly the curtain dropped. The crowed went wild as Chase appeared, front and center, and kicked things off with the aforementioned song from his 2014 album, ‘Ignite the Night.’ Rice followed up with more high-energy hits, ‘Do It Like This’ and ‘50 Shades of Crazy.’
“This is the second to last stop on our Back to College tour,” Chase announced, adding that not all of the schools he played at allowed alcohol to be served. But all of the solo cups in the air made it obvious that the beer was flowing in Danbury – something the singer liked to see. Why? Because drinking is fun, of course. Leading into the next song, Chase initiated a left-side versus right-side competition. “When I say left side likes drinking, y’all yell, ‘cause it’s fun!’ I want to see how loud this son of a bitch can get!” The shouting echoed throughout the room and after a few rounds of the game, with no clear winner, Rice transitioned into his song, ‘I Like Drinking, Cause It’s Fun.’
Chase’s tour has taken him through many campuses across the country, and the singer has noticed that one thing seems to hold true no matter what. “Every college kid loves to pregame,” Rice stated. Not only does the pregame get you in the mood for the night ahead, at ten dollars a beer, what college kid doesn’t want to save a few bucks by having a couple pre-party drinks. Chase explained that there are two essential things you need for a good pregame, “a bunch of alcohol and a badass playlist.” Then Rice performed a string of songs that would top his pregame playlist – Def Leppard’s ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me,’ David Lee Murphy’s ‘Dust on the Bottle,’ Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer,’ and Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin,’ to name a few.
The crowd sang along to every word of every cover song, but they came to see Chase and it was time for more original songs like his 2014 single, ‘Gonna Wanna Tonight,’ and one of Rice’s personal favorites, ‘Jack Daniels and Jesus.’ The singer moved on to what is arguably one of the most provocative songs in country music – ‘Ride.’ Leaving out any expletives, Chase opted for a more PG-13 version of the song Friday night and brought Lacy Cavalier back out to sing Macy Maloy’s part. He paused during the song to point how how, at only 19 years old, Lacy never got the chance to go to college and Chase wanted to paint a picture of what happens at school. “I get you back in a dorm room… you walk in the door, Lacy, and all of a sudden I have this little set up… baby girl, why don’t you take a seat right here,” he said, and Cavalier obliged, sitting down on one of the two stools at center stage. Chase continued, “I got some candles lit, it’s about to get bad. It’s about to get real bad,” he said as the audience whistled and cheered. Lacy smiled and giggled modestly as Chase continued, “I look at you and say, ‘Lacy, it’s on tonight, baby girl.’ I start picking my guitar and I look at you deep in those eyes and I say…” the singer said flirtatiously picking up with the chorus and finishing out the song.
“We’re gonna turn it up the rest of the way, I hope you’re cool with that!” shouted Chase after ‘Ride’ had ended. From here he went on to sing Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Cruise,’ – but what most fans didn’t know was that Rice actually co-wrote the hit with the boys of FGL and Joey Moi. Jon Langston returned to the stage to sing the chart-topper with Chase and fans went crazy. After the second chorus, Jon waved his final goodbye and Chase took a moment to introduce his band. Each member got their own 15 seconds of fame as they played their favorite thowbacks from Blink 182 to Garth Brooks. Once the intros were taken care of, Rice jumped back into ‘Cruise’ picking the song up with rapper, Nelly’s verse from the remix. But Chase wasn’t able to finish the song without one more interruption from a young lady he had his eye on all night. “Sir, your daughter, I need to talk to her real quick,” the singer said. To everyone’s surprise, Rice was actually pointing out an adorable little kid in pigtails who he had noticed was singing every word. With Dad’s permission, the little girl joined Chase on stage to perform the chorus of the song, and the audience cheered for her louder than they had all night.
The end of the show was near, but it wouldn’t be complete without Chase’s mega-hit ‘Ready Set Roll,’ which he performed as his final song of the evening. It was perhaps the biggest and loudest song of the night as well, with tons of energy and flashing lights. The lights at the back of the stage spelled out “Let’s Roll” and “Let’s Ride” to make for the perfect backdrop in fans’ final photos. Not long after the song ended, Rice hopped down from the stage and made his way through the crowd posing for pictures and signing memorabilia. He stayed out there for nearly ten minutes meeting as many people as possible before the lights came on and he had to finally say goodbye. Chase Rice sure knows how to party and he knows how to put on an electrifying show. Hit after hit, the singer had it turned all the way up and it made for one unforgettable concert. They say you’re only as old as you feel, and on Friday Chase had fans of all ages feeling like they had gone Back to College for just one more night.