Most of the University of Maine students are gone for the summer and some of the more popular nightspots are closed, but about 1,600 people were partying in Orono Monday night.

“If you haven’t been to many country music concerts lately `party’ is the word,” Diamond Rio lead singer Marty Roe told the near-capacity crowd at the Maine Center for the Arts, and he wasn’t kidding.

For a little more than an hour and a half the high-energy country music group kept their audience entertained with a flurry of toe-tappers and ballads from their three albums. Such chart toppers as the sextet’s debut single “Meet in the Middle” and their recent hit “Bubba Hyde” had many members of the crowd dancing and singing along in the aisles.

“This is a first impression you know so I want you all to do good,” Roe told the audience, explaining that Diamond Rio was making its first appearance in Maine. With frequent standing ovations, Roe seemed pleased with the response the group received. “You all are very attentive,” he said.

Diamond Rio doesn’t rely on well-choreographed dance routines or an extravagant light show to draw the audience into the show. Instead it is the group’s pure vocal talent and instrumental skill that seemed to often mesmerize Monday’s crowd.

One of the concert’s highlights occurred when each member of the group showcased his talents by performing some favorite numbers by other artists. After hearing a series of guitar solos, a piano solo and a pounding drum solo from group members, it was easy to see why Diamond Rio doesn’t need to use back-up players in the studio or on tour.

Some of the artists Diamond Rio covered included Keith Whitley, Merle Haggard, Kenny Loggins and The Eagles.

“They show some of the sounds that have been meshed together to make Diamond Rio what it is,” Roe said of the covers.

When Diamond Rio wasn’t belting out harmonies on the songs of others or on some of their own top-ten hits such as “Norma Jean Riley” and “This Romeo Ain’t Got Julie Yet,” group members also tried their guitar-picking hands at a little stand-up comedy.

As is often the case with acts that visit Maine, the state’s weather was targeted by many of the jokes.

Bassist Dana Williams said most of the parts of the country that the group has recently visited are experiencing heat waves, but in Maine, he said, that is not the case. “You come up here and there ain’t no passing out from the heat. Except when you come to a Diamond Rio concert,” Williams said.

Although Diamond Rio may not make it in the comedy field, the group showed that it does have a promising future in country music and Roe told the Orono crowd that Maine would be part of that future.

“We’ve had a great time and we will be back,” Roe said after the group completed its two encore numbers.