OK, so it's Thanksgiving week, unofficially time to unleash the string of holiday concerts.

And if Jim Brickman's show Sunday at the Lied Center is a harbinger of those shows, it should be a pretty fancy holiday season.

Amid a flowing set of curtain drops, hundreds of tiny colored lights and multi-color LEDs, Brickman and his friends played and sang for over two hours.

There were the favorites from the pianist's 20-plus years of music, plus traditional carols. New songs from his "Beautiful World" CD were also featured liberally throughout the afternoon.

Artists accompanying Brickman included singer Anne Cochran, who Brickman has known since high school days. Cochran's mellow voice was just the ticket for many of the carols. She also sang a great cover of the Brickman-Martina McBride collaboration, "Valentine."

Also on the travel roster is Canadian vocalist Mark Masri, who has a tremendous range and big volume. His interpretation of Lucio Dalla's "Caruso" popularized by Josh Groban was soul-stirring and just as convincing as Groban's.

The crowd may have come to hear Brickman's famous piano works, but the show-stealing act was violinist Tracy Silverman.

Silverman's digitized fiddle has six strings, and he uses it to play anything from fuzzy electric bass to classical. He demonstrated a bit of Led Zeppelin to make the point, but his treatment of "Carol of the Drum" brought the house down.

Newcomer to the tour this year is Garrett Viggers, who plays guitar and hammered dulcimer. The dulcimer added character to some of the carols, including "Greensleeves."

Brickman's notoriety grew with his music for "The Muppets," and the pianist related a tale about his summer event with Kermit the Frog when the "Sesame Street" postage stamp was released.

Brickman gave Kermit first billing, but the pianist's playing of Kermit's signature song, "Rainbow Connection," received cheers and loud applause.

Holiday music filled the air until the final "I'm Coming Home for Christmas." It was wonderfully sung and played by all.

Standing patrons wanted more and got it with the standard Brickman trademark encore, "Angel Eyes."