WINNIPEG -- The saying goes it's better to burn out than to fade away.

But if George Jones' final Winnipeg concert last night proved anything, it's that the country music legend still has a lot of fire in him.

Playing to a thrilled sold-out crowd of 2,305 at the Centennial Concert Hall, the Possum was in top form as he delivered a set of almost 50 years of hits touching on every aspect of his musical career.

Wearing his trademark tinted glasses, Jones entered the stage to a standing ovation and got straight into the music, kicking things off with the recent single, High Tech Redneck, before settling into a comfortable groove of emotional ballads and rough and tumble old-school twang.

The man known as No- Show Jones proved he's not just considered a country music legend because he's 71 -- he's a legend because his music is timeless. Whether it be upbeat honky tonk tunes about drinking, or songs about heartbreak, longing and cheating, he delivered them all with that unmistakable voice, which is as smooth as his favourite liquor from days gone by.

He wasn't afraid to poke a little fun at himself and his turbulent life either, with between song jokes about his age and hard-living past. He also took a few shots at new country music singers who shy away from such topics.

"Now this new hot young country radio, have you noticed they don't sing songs anymore about drinking? And they don't sing songs any more about cheating. Now, I'd be without a job," he said to widespread laughter.

Jones and his longtime seven-piece backing band, The Jones Boys, have been performing long enough to know how to pace a show to ensure there weren't any lags. They would play a few slower numbers like I Always Get Lucky With You and You Otta Be Here With Me before kicking it up a notch with a fiddle-based tunes like Fire on the Mountain or Sinners and Saints.

But it didn't matter what his sang, the crowd loved it all.

"You all keep that enthusiasm up, we're liable to stay up here until two, three o'clock in the morning," a smiling Jones said to huge applause.

While there were a fair number of love songs in the set, one of the most touching moments of the night was a tribute to country music legends called Whose Going to Fill Their Shoes? which featured images of the stars flashed on a video screen behind him.

Opening act, comedian Cowboy Bill Martin, delivered a mostly unfunny half-hour set of cliches about the age of the crowd, marriage, the intelligence of people in Oklahoma and the differences between a cowboy and rednecks (it's acreage, by the way).

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5