Brad Paisley plays for 8,000 fans at the MTS Centre Sunday, January 22, 2006.

Dust off those cowboy hats and shine up those belt buckles, ladies and gents, because country concert craziness is officially underway at the MTS Centre.

With Brad Paisley’s show Sunday night, the 14-month-old facility hosted its first contemporary country act and kicked off a six-month stretch that’s heavy in honky tonk. From now through June, the MTS Centre will host nearly one high-profile country show a month, with big name acts Brooks & Dunn, Dwight Yoakam, and George Strait line-dancin’ through downtown Winnipeg in the first half of 2006.

Although country music legends Willie Nelson and George Jones graced the MTS Centre in July and September of last year, their traditional twang hardly compares to the rockin’ production Paisley delivered for 8,000 young country fans on Sunday.

Dressed in faded jeans, a grey T-shirt, and an off-white cowboy hat, Paisley owned the massive stage from “The World” through to the encore. One of the biggest heartthrobs in the industry, Paisley thrilled his fans with a well-balanced 75-minute set of hot country hits.

Tossing blue guitar picks out to the crowd and regularly praising his Canadian fans, Paisley had the rock-star act down pat. With a brightly-lit tiered stage and three massive overhead screens (often showing his music videos), the show’s visuals matched the 32-year-old’s rock ‘n’ roll attitude and guitar-playing style.

With four albums in his repertoire—including 2005’s massive hit Time Well Wasted--the hunk covered his biggest hits, including “Mud on the Tires,” “Celebrity,” “Whiskey Lullaby,” and “Alcohol.”

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Equally cute but far more sentimental, , Johnny Reid opened the show with a 20-minute set of songs from his 2005 album Born to Roll. Born in Scotland, Reid moved to Canada with his family at 17; although he speaks with a thick Scottish accent, the charming blonde’s singing style is flawlessly North American and pure Nashville.

Filling the second slot, fellow Canuck Terri Clark tossed out the first “Yee-Haw” of the night while launching into “Life Goes On” from her 2005 album of the same. A few songs in, the brunette beauty bragged “I’m a lucky girl: I get to be right in between Johnny Reid and Brad Paisley every night. It’s a Terri sandwich!”

Dressed in ripped jeans, a tight black T-shirt, and black cowboy hat, Clark covered a selection of tunes from her six albums, including “Now that I’ve Found You,” “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me,” and “Girls Lie Too.”

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