On Saturday night, US country music superstar Brad Paisley held his first ever concert in Aotearoa at Auckland's Spark Arena, making for a night many of his Kiwi fans will never forget.
Promotional material called this "the first ever NZ concert by a major American country artist", which I think the likes of Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers may have something to say about; but it's certainly not common to have a US country artist like Paisley headline one of New Zealand's biggest concert venues.
Judging by the number of people in the crowd and the smiles on their faces, I think we're going to see more of these down here - and I think that's a good thing. It was a great way to spend a Saturday night.
It was possibly this nation's largest ever gathering of chequered shirts, many of which had their collars flipped up, with plenty of cowboy hats and trucker caps to go with them. It was definitely one of the larger gatherings of cowboy boots Aotearoa has ever seen, too.
That's all part of the fun and while I didn't see any line dancing, there were plenty in the crowd getting right into dancing as couples in a way you just don't see at the likes of rock, pop and hip-hop gigs.
Paisley is the real deal. He hails from West Virginia and has sold over 11 million albums, won three Grammy Awards and is a member of the Grand Ole Opry, one of country music's crowning achievements.
He closed out a world tour with the Auckland show playing over 20 of his hits that - like most modern country artists - alternate between sly outback humour and earnest, emotional ballads.
Onstage he exuded a cool, calm demeanour that gave the night a laidback feel compared to the more over-the-top, hyped up performances I often see at Spark Arena.
He seemed to genuinely love New Zealand, too.
"You know, you shouldn't tell people about this place," he told the audience in between songs.
"Keep this to yourselves. You got it made down here - what a place to live. Thank you for letting us in, we may never leave!"
Things got off to a fun, rocking start with opener 'American Saturday Night' and a highlight toward the end of the set was the crowd singing along to 'Whiskey Lullaby'. We also got enjoyable covers of Prince, Van Halen and John Denver along the way.
His show is well produced with great lighting, simple and often humorous visuals on the big screens, and an audio mix that just sounded great. Paisley has a wonderful voice and he sure can play a mean guitar, but credit has to be given to the whole band.
Justin Williamson was a delight to watch play the fiddle, especially as he and Paisley duelled together like guitarists in metal bands often do. I really enjoyed Randle Currie on the steel guitar, too, and not just because he was rocking a John Deere T-shirt.
Paisley's stage presence is undeniable and his sense of humour shone almost as much as his musical showmanship. There were three particular moments of his first New Zealand show besides the music I want to highlight.
During a kiss cam segment many couples were good sports and pashed excitedly while being beamed onto the large screens; but one took it much further as a chap named Craig pulled out a ring and put it on his lady's finger.
Paisley brought the couple up to joke with them, congratulate them and have them dance along on stage to 'She's Everything', making for what I imagine will be one of the very best nights of their lives.
There was also an extended bit where he got a mobile phone off a woman in the crowd, opened her Instagram, took a selfie and posted it to her account while teasing her for getting a bedtime reminder pop up during the process.
The most touching moment of the night came during 'This is Country Music' when Paisley paused his very frequent flicking of guitar picks to fans to give something much more special to one in particular. He singled out a young girl who appeared to be with her mother and handed her one of his electric guitars.
She appeared bewildered by this act of kindness as a camera held on her face and Paisley encouraged her to start a musical career and with it make lots of money like Taylor Swift has done.
In a lovely sign of respect, Paisley brought the opening acts - Australian Morgan Evans and Kiwi Kaylee Bell - back out on stage with him as he neared the end of his show, too. Earlier in the evening each performed their own sets and no doubt earned themselves more Kiwi fans.
Bell then announced her own debut headline show in New Zealand on Monday, saying: "I feel like country music is starting to grow on this side of the world at rapid pace and having been firmly cemented in this genre my whole life, I am so excited to be part of this change and I can't wait to celebrate with Kiwi fans."
Being in the crowd on Saturday night really made it feel that she's onto something with that.
Paisley's show may have been 'the first ever NZ concert by a major American country artist', but it's safe to say it won't be the last.
