OTTAWA – It was a coming-of-age for "Ottawa's biggest summer party," as the Capital Hoedown made the jump from last year's digs at Rideau Carleton Raceway to Lebreton Flats, with Kenny Chesney's "Going Coastal" tour rolling into town Thursday.

There were a few minor growing pains, with the odd gripe about long lineups for $7 cups of Coors Light and longer lineups for the johns, but those were largely forgotten by the time Chesney hit the stage.

Chesney's signature baritone was buried in the mix for the first few tunes, but the estimated 15,000 in attendance picked up the slack, singing along to every word of the hard-driving opening trio of Live a Little, Reality and Summertime.

With a tropical-themed video montage setting the scene, Chesney appeared true to form in faded denim, battered straw hat and sleeveless Daytona Beach tee.

The guitar slung across his shoulder on Beer in Mexico was merely window dressing, as the crack trio of axe-wielding aces lined up at centre stage pumped up the volume and amped up the electricity.

The ballad The Woman With You was best-suited to a breezy front porch swing, but for most of the show, Chesney and his band blurred the lines between down home country and arena rock, especially on the darker hues of Somewhere With You, and the fun singalong hit No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem.

Chesney showed he can hold his own armed with only an acoustic guitar on the standout You and Tequila, from his latest record Hemingway's Whiskey, recalling his old, lean campus days when he used to play at a Mexican restaurant for tips and enchiladas.

"I thought I'd give you a small taste of what that was like, just me and a guitar."

The song was just a detour, though, as his well-polished six-piece band returned for Living in Fast Forward, Don't Happen Twice, the Caribbean-flavoured When the Sun Goes Down, Out Last Night -- dedicated to the workin' folk who had to get up early Friday morning -- and the fan-favourite breakout hit She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy.

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The Hoedown got off to a rollicking start with a double shot of Canadian talent, with former Canadian Idol Tara Oram and veteran country rockers Doc Walker kicking off the party.

Oram showed the range and versatility that made her an Idol favourite, closing her set with a medley of cover tunes that included Twist and Shout and Where the Streets Have No Name, before serving up a passable riff on Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World.

The pace picked up with Doc Walker, the Prairie boys urging fans to their feet on Get Up and Beautiful Life, with singer Chris Thorsteinson doing a bang-on Phil Collins impression on the Genesis hit That's All, which worked surprisingly well as a country tune.

Country Girl, the lead-off single from the upcoming 16 & 1 album, was good fun, with Thorsteinson paying tribute to all the girls in "tight-fitting jeans" and "high-heel shoes."

There was no shortage of either in the crowd, and apparently there was a fire sale on straw hats, cutoffs and cowboy boots just in time for the party.

Thorsteinson recalled those long-gone wild nights playing Ottawa's Lone Star, dedicating Coming Home to the "familiar faces" in the front row, with the ballad showcasing the group's trademark sweet three-part harmonies.

At the other end of the spectrum, the blazing Get Out of Denver was a rockabilly reboot of Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode.

"We've got a lot of country fans out here, but every now and then we like to rock it up. You don't mind, do you?" said Thorsteinson by way of introduction.

A tip of the ten-gallon hat to Rush, with a set-closing tease of Spirit of the Radio, provided further proof.

And from the fan's reaction, they didn't mind one bit.