Dierks Bentley ready to bring the energy to Scranton performance Friday

Country star Dierks Bentley remembers high energy audiences in the region and says he’ll match them at the Pavilion at Montage Mountain on Friday.

“I love playing that venue,” he said. He was last here in 2022. “The fans there are just real hard core country fans. You got to bring your kind of 'A' game when you walk in there. Because they’re not a passive crowd. They’re very animated and excited and fired up to be there for that night. So you really have to come out to the stage and almost kind of attack the stage, really bring a lot of energy up on the deck. So l love the area. It’s a beautiful part of the country.”

This time it is the “Gravel & Gold” tour, named for the album released last year.

Chase Rice and Mae Estes are also on the bill.

Bentley gave a preview of Friday night. He’ll start with “Gold,” the first single from the newest album. In the music video, a man ditches his job and sells his house before taking off in a pickup truck with his dog.

He’s shuffled his set list. “I moved 'l Hold On' up a little earlier in the show this year,” he said. “ Because it's just such a song that really connects me and the band to the crowd. It’s a song that everyone sings along to. It's the way we feel, you know, being Americans in this great country, and country music, and playing music on a weekend in the summer. It's just a song that really connects everybody. So l’d say, in a lot of ways the show really gets going with 'I Hold On.'"

He’ll play for about 90 minutes, which he considers the perfect length for a “really fun roller coaster ride” of a show.

“Our whole goal for the show is to just really take people for a ride. It’s a celebration of life, of living, of summertime, of country music, of coming together.”

The show is mostly up tempo, he said. But when he listens to country music, Bentley said he often chooses “the slower stuff, just ‘cause that’s what kind of fills me up more.” For example, “Still,” from “Gravel & Gold” is on the set list. It “really sums me up pretty well,” he said. “It’s about as personal song as l’ve ever written.” The song evokes “hallowed ground” and feeling at home on a “lonely hill.” Bentley, his wife and their three children spent part of the pandemic in the mountains of Colorado, where they have a home. At first, he put this guitar away and concentrated on being outdoors with his family, hiking, skiing and biking.

The show ends with Bentley and his band in character as the parody act Hot Country Knights, a spoof of ‘90s country.

“I try to build a show that is fun for me. When l walk out there on stage, l don’t have to think too much. I just get to be part of the fun as well."