And sure, plenty of other country hallmarks were in evidence, from religious piety to the patriotic pride that peaked when Brooks & Dunn sprayed the crowd with red, white and blue streamers after "Only In America."
But from the sound of the music, it was sometimes hard to tell. Between acts, the crowd was prepped with the Rolling Stones and Black Eyed Peas, and Chesney's entrance, on a stage that rose at midfield for him to sing "Beer in Mexico," was proceeded by AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long."
That was as sure a sign that contemporary commercial country is built on yesterday's (and today's) rock and pop as were the cover songs that each act mixed with its own material.
Amiable but dull Texas singer-songwriter Green got the stadium vibe going with U2's "With or Without You," and Evans' set of watered-down country-pop crested with Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way." Brooks & Dunn juiced up their workmanlike bluesy country rock with B.W. Stevenson's '70s hit "My Maria."
And Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland strayed even further from the traditional country playbook. She sang "Who Says You Can't Go Home," her rock duet with Jersey boy Jon Bon Jovi. (Sorry girls. The Philadelphia Soul's co-owner didn't show.)
But the night, of course, belonged to Chesney, a modestly talented guy in a baby-blue sleeveless shirt - better to show those guns he's been working so hard on - who's built a massive audience by casting himself as common-man country's Jimmy Buffett.
Chesney rubbed his toes in the sand in the lilting "When the Sun Goes Down" and reassured us in "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" that no troubles are so great that "the sun and the sand and a drink in my hand with no bottom" can't solve them.
He matched that cocktail of Caribbean escapism by working up a sweat on heartland pop songs such as "Young," "The Good Stuff," and "I Go Back," all of which were shamelessly nostalgic and sentimental. He brought out Unkle Kracker for the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider" and to rap on Kid Rock's "Cowboy."
For his encore, the whoop-it-up novelty song "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," Chesney finally turned up the fiddle and lap steel guitar, after two virtually twang-free hours. Before that, the only sure way to tell it was a country show was the black hat on his head.
