LEWISTON — Despite chilly temperatures, more than 3,000 people waited Thursday night in a line that stretched several hundred feet past the Colisee and up Birch Street.

Some wore little more than straw hats, cowboy boots and little white tank tops.

The reason: country crooner Dierks Bentley.

“Mostly, it’s his songs,” said Kayla Frechette of Norway. “He’s pretty handsome, too.”

Emily Morin, 19, of Hudson, put it more bluntly.

“I’m in love with Dierks Bentley,” she said, professing her feelings across a T-shirt of Day-Glo green. “I’m going to marry him.”

Thursday’s concert marked the second appearance for the 35-year-old heartthrob, who played here in 2006, when he was on his first tour as a headliner.

“I’ve been here before and you deserve a good set,” he said after opening the show with “Feel that Fire” and “Every Mile a Memory.”

“Are you ready to make some memories?” he asked.

Bentley wowed the Androscoggin Bank Colisee crowd with some of his mainstream hits including “Free and Easy Down the Road I Go,” “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes” and “Lot of Leaving Left to Do.”

About 30 minutes in, he switched gears with the title track to his bluegrass-flavored album, “Up on the Ridge.” He returned several times to the bluegrass as he played his hits.

“I feel like Charlie Sheen,” he said. “I’m winning. I’m winning.”

New female duo Miss Willie Brown opened the show with a set that swung between recent country and rock.

The show then went to Josh Thompson, a country up-and-comer known for his hit, “Way Out Here.”

The anthem was a highlight of a set that also featured the songs “I Won’t be Lonely Long,” “Blame it on Waylon” and a cover version of Billy Joel’s “You May Be Right.”

“This is one of the most gorgeous parts of the country,” said Thompson, who was thanked by a loud ovation.

“‘Course, I was talking about the women,” he said.

Before the show, Trina Bright of Wilton said she was happy to catch a live show by any contemporary country act.

She and her friends, Mickaela Yeaton of Farmington and Marcy Smith of Chesterville, had gone together to the Farmington Walmart and left with straw hats and plaid shirts.

“Lewiston is close and this is country,” Bright said.

Bentley is trying to redefine his niche in country music, riding the crest of a critical wave behind his last album.

“Up on the Ridge” was nominated for a best country album Grammy. It took the Arizona native into the hills of Kentucky for a bluegrass sound. The album included songs about coal mines, gamblers and salvation.

For Maine National Guard Sgt. Dennis Troxell and his wife, Lindsey, it was a relief to finally see Bentley.

The couple traveled to Nashville to see him perform, but the concert was canceled when the area was threatened with tornadoes.

What makes Bentley so good?

“It’s his songs,” said Lindsay Troxell, who plans to raise their son, Aiden, on country music.

At 14 months old, he already has a love of Bentley’s music, she said.

“He rocks out,” she said of her boy.

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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