CANFIELD — Darius Rucker was having a good time in Mahoning County on Sunday night — perhaps as much fun as the thousands who crammed into the Canfield Fair grandstand and onto the dirt track for the fair’s first concert since 2019.

“I just think it’s good to be back now playing shows!” Rucker said. A rowdy response indicated the crowd agreed.

The pop singer-turned-country performer sang nine of his 10 Top-40 country hits and many more songs from his albums during the show that lasted two hours. Rucker took the stage at 9:15 p.m., but saved his biggest smash hit, “Wagon Wheel,” for the encore.

Still known affectionately by fans as the front man for his former pop band Hootie and the Blowfish, Rucker didn’t disappoint by also performing some of that band’s biggest hits. These included “Hold My Hand” and “Let Her Cry,” a ballad he initially slowed further, accompanied by only his acoustic guitar, a violin and steel guitar before the bass drum pounded and the rest of his band jumped in — to the crowd’s pleasure — for the song’s final chorus.

Each time Rucker started into a Hootie song, cellphone cameras lit up throughout the audience as fans captured the performance on video recordings.

“I am just a singer from a cover band that got lucky twice,” the performer said.

Rucker’s smooth dance moves, flashes of his broad smile and conversational comments with fans seated near the stage had many in the audience crooning. Rucker also pleased the crowd when he mentioned that before the show, he had been visiting back stage with his “friend Bernie Kosar.” The retired Cleveland Browns quarterback originally hailed from Boardman.

“We are at the fair; we have got to be having fun. … Just give me five minutes and let me have fun,” Rucker said before breaking into Garth Brooks’ hit single, “Friends in Low Places.”

At one point he raised a toast to “country music” and later briefly left the stage while his band played after publicly announcing his need for a restroom break.

While Rucker has plenty of songs in his own repertoire to fill the show’s sets, he entertained the audience with covers of well-known hits from other genres, including rocker John Mellencamp’s song “Pink Houses;” rap song “No Diggity;” and Hank Williams Jr.’s old-school country song, “Family Tradition.” Each had the audience singing along, and even taking over lead vocals on “No Diggity,” when technical difficulties had Rucker’s microphone temporarily going dead.

The concert was one of two big musical acts scheduled for this year’s Canfield Fair. The fair and its usual big-name concerts were canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19.

blinert@tribtoday.com