Chase Rice rocked his sold-out show at the House of Blues in Anaheim Saturday night (October 26th), playing to an audience that knew every line of every song, even the album cuts that began his set, like the triumphant "Lions," spirited "Jack Daniels Showed Up," and suggestive "On Tonight."
The first of many surprises for the night came with his performance of a song that's only a few weeks old, inspired by a night in the Big Apple, "The City." It was one of the first times the singer-songwriter had performed the song.
From there, Chase continued the arc of his hits, starting with his latest single, "Lonely If You Are," bringing out his co-writer and opening act Hunter Phelps to perform with him. He followed that up with his tribute to country music, "Three Chords and the Truth," and fan favorite "Carolina Can," noting that "This song means more to me than anything else I've ever written," adding with a grin that Carolina had beaten Duke that day.
Things got sexy with "Gonna Wanna Tonight" and "Ride," and then romantically sweet with "Eyes on You," before the tempo turned up again with the songwriter's version of Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise," for which opening acts Cale Dodd and Hunter Phelps returned to the stage.
Jeremy and A. Jay Popoff of the Orange County rock band Lit came out for a surprise (and highly welcomed) performance of "My Own Worst Enemy," before Chase introduced his band with covers of Blink 182's, Lynard Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama," and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."
He concluded the show with the high-energy "Ready, Set, Roll," thanking country radio and K-Frog while his band played late into the night while Chase signed autographs and took selfies with a handful of lucky audience members.
Hunter Phelps kicked off the evening with acoustic performances of his own singles, as well as songs he'd written, like Florida Georgia Line's "Talk You Out of It" and Chris Lane's "I Don't Know About You."
Direct support Cale Dodds kept the momentum going with a full band show and songs full of promise, such as "I Like Where This Is Going."
Setlist:
1. Lions
2. Do It Like This
3. Jack Daniels Showed Up
4. On Tonight
5. The City
6. Lonely If You Are
7. Three Chords & the Truth
8. Carolina Can
9. Gonna Wanna Tonight
10. Ride
11. Eyes on You
12. Cruise (with Cale Dodds and Hunter Phelps)
13. My Own Worst Enemy (with Jeremy Popoff and A. Jay Popoff)
14. Ready Set Roll
