---

MANSFIELD - The Comcast Center nearly flooded Sunday night as The Fray took the stage - not from excessive rain, though. The water was coming from girls' tears as the lead singer Isaac Slade walked on stage to begin singing.

The band, originally from Denver, Colo., performed songs from their self-titled album released in February of this year, but also included old favorites from their previous albums.

The members played with a dramatic air, with melodic piano and bright lights temporarily brightening the dark, cloudy sky that covered the poncho-ridden crowd. Despite the gloomy weather, The Fray delivered a vivid performance, even taking time to shout out to the dads in the audience present for Father's Day.

Guitarist/vocalist Joe King, the only father in the band, talked about being a father to little girls. King even did his own improvisation when singing "Ungodly Hour" when Slade was on piano.

But the main focus of the night wasn't fatherhood, but the music. The band did intervals of both new and old hits, including rolling out a grand piano for Slade to sing songs from the multi-platinum album "How to Save a Life," whose headlining single was a crowd favorite. He previewed the song saying he wrote it about a friend who was going downhill, claiming "the more you know someone, the harder it is to love them."

The songs weren't the only drama in the performance. Slade spent part of the song "Say When" crawling on the ground, singing to the audience crowding the stage in the front rows.

The audience even became part of the concert, singing along with the lyrics, becoming louder when the lights would point to the teary eyes of the audience.

What made the display so well done were the theatrical lights and the camera angles displaying close-up views as the members played their respective instruments.

The venue certainly wasn't sold-out, though, with some empty seats still lingering by the time The Fray took the stage.

But whether it was the rain, the economy, or the holiday that thinned out the audience, the crowd screamed with enough decibels to convince anyone it was a full house. They even supported the political preaching that Slade delivered prior to the encore song of "Happiness," saying we have the right president to take us out of these hard times.

The opening band included Richard Swift and Jack's Mannequin, a band that drew their own loyal fans to dance in the aisles as the lead singer, Andrew McMahon, stomped his feet on the piano.

But the Fray took most of the attention, and rightfully so, gathering the entire band for a sing-along at the end of the show, uniting the crowd whether they were sopping wet with rain or tears.