By Taylor Moak

Needtobreathe played to a sold-out crowd Tuesday night in the Singletary Center.

Ben Rector opened for the band, playing songs such as “White Dress” and “The Beat.” He also did a cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”

Rector said he was excited to be in Lexington.

“I heard you recently had some success on the basketball court,” Rector said.

When the crowd broke out into the “C-A-T-S” cheer after his comment, Rector said, “I would’ve loved to participate in that (cheer), but I don’t know it.”

Rector warmed the crowd up for Needtobreathe, which opened with “Oohs and Ahhs” off its latest album, “The Reckoning.”

The band is from South Carolina and has a folksy, Southern gospel sound.

Lead singer Bear Rinehart said the band is nearing its 2,000th show and tries to make each so different so the members remember it.

“We play a lot of universities … you’re one of the best universities,” Rinehart said.

Rinehart took time out of the show to joke with the audience.

After someone yelled to the singers, Rinehart said he couldn’t understand what she had said.

“I can’t hear exactly what you’re saying, but I’d assume you’re talking about basketball,” he said.

The band varied its tempo, with songs like a cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” having a high intensity and others ones like “A Place Only You Can Go” being a little slower.

For an encore, Needtobreathe played “Something Beautiful” and “The Reckoning,” which Rector and his band joined in on.

During the final song of the show, “Slumber,” the audience fell silent as Rinehart and his brother Bo, a guitarist, played part of the song acoustically. Even without microphones, the Rineharts’ raspy voices filled the audience hall.

Needtobreathe has developed a following, and some fans had seen the band perform many times.

Lindsay Nation, a social work senior at Eastern Kentucky University, said she has seen Needtobreathe seven or eight times.

“They’re always good live,” she said.