I melted last night.

I, along with every other girl at the Bryce Jordan Center, sighed as three silhouettes rose up against a full yellow moon backdrop. Rascal Flatts was here.

The group, made up of Jay DeMarcus, Joe Don Rooney and Gary Levox, proceeded to serenade the small, but packed, crowd at the concert that marked the seventh leg of their 28-city "Here's To You" tour.

As people trickled in around the actual starting time, 7:30 p.m. (probably due to the tickets listing 8 p.m. as starting time), Julie Roberts unsuccessfully attempted to get the sparse crowd warmed up with her hit single "Break Down Here."

It wasn't until Chris Cagle took the stage at 8 p.m. that the slowly growing crowd really got into things.

Cagle, who was listed as an opening act for Rascal Flatts, performed with the confidence of a main stage performer and worked the crowd like an old pro.

With his cover of Ringo Starr's "Drift Away," he got the entire arena singing and as he attempted to give a speech about following dreams, an audience member asked him to take his shirt off.

"I'm trying to give an inspirational speech and your yelling 'get naked,' " Cagel said to the crowd.

By the time he finished with his hit single "What a Beautiful Day," nearly every person in the crowd was standing.

But as the lights rose to set up for the main event, an audience member took it upon himself to keep the crowd going and led an arena-wide "We Are ... Penn State." What it lacked in strength, it made up in amusement.

And as the lights fell for the third time last night, for the next two hours, the crowd was amazed by Rascal Flatts' beautiful harmonies, humor and incredible energy.

The trio opened with "Here's To You," the title song of the tour, and followed with the upbeat "Love You Out Loud."

The group won the audience (and me) over by imitating the "We Are" cheer with "Rascal ... Flatts" and saying they loved Pennsylvania for the cold beer and good-looking women.

Levox, the group's lead singer, took the stage wearing fringed jeans ... but proved how sexy a man wearing fringe could be with the group's hit single "Feels Like Today."

However, what made the night stand out were the performances you wouldn't find on their albums.

DeMarcus rocked the crowd with a cover of Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" and Rooney called for some "Joe Don Time" with an acoustic cover of Garth Brooks' "The River."

The group kicked it up a notch and ended the show with a bang -- a bang of confetti that covered the floor seats -- during "These Days."

Like most bands (I think they plan this), Julie Roberts and Chris Cagle came back on stage for an encore, wearing Penn State football jerseys.

Performing more cover songs, the three acts joined together for a crowd-pumping medley of "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Born in the USA."