WINNIPEG - The MTS Centre will never be mistaken for a saloon.

But last night country music legend Willie Nelson did his best to make it feel like there could have been sawdust on the floor, cheap whisky behind the bar and an impending sense a fight could break out during a crooked game of poker.

The 72-year-old outlaw rode into Winnipeg for a subdued show of classic honky tonk and slow western swing in front of 6,000 enthusiastic fans, covering a surprisingly wide demographic from 20-somethings to seniors.

Nelson strutted onto the stage with a beat up acoustic guitar wearing jeans, a black shirt and black cowboy hat and immediately kicked into regular opening number Whiskey River.

He just released a new reggae album Tuesday, but maybe his short-term memory is shot because he seemed to forget it existed, sticking to his 40-plus years of hits with a few covers thrown in.

His collaboration with Toby Keith, Beer For My Horses, was next, followed by his Highwaymen single Poncho and Lefty and Crazy, which Nelson wrote for Patsy Cline.

His signature nasal twang gave the song a strange sort of beauty, which his distinctive voice gives to all his slower numbers.

After a mournful rendition of Help Me Make it Through the Night half an hour in, Nelson stepped aside to give his talented seven piece band -- made up of his two sons, brother, sister and other assorted relatives on two guitars, bass, piano, harmonica and percussion -- a chance in the spotlight for a couple of blues numbers which broke up the easy going trot he had set.

Nelson got right back on the horse for the satisfying second half beginning with the crossover hit Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys and another sentimental one with Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground.

Nelson picked up the pace for his signature song On the Road Again, getting some out of their seats to stand up, clap and sing along before a tear-jerking rendition of You Were Always on My Mind and the gospel-tinged Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

As press time the incredibly healthy-looking Nelson was alternating between slow numbers like Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain and boot-stomping rockers like Hey Good Looking and Move it on Over.

Acclaimed Ottawa native Kathleen Edwards opened the show with a 45-minute set that picked up steam as it went along, but failed to resonate with the crowd.

Backed by a four-piece band, which included husband Colin Cripps on guitar, the 26-year-old proved why she is one of the country's most celebrated young singer-songwriters, dishing out carefully crafted edgy roots-rock with more plaintive material from her two albums, Failer and Back to Me.

Whether it was the vastness of the arena or her unfamiliarity with Nelson's fans, Edwards never seemed to fully win the audience over, earning the same polite response after every song until her cover of Linda Ronstadt's When Will I Be Loved?