Brad Paisley charms the audience at Cruzan Amphitheatre. (Drew Angerer / The Post) | Photos

Brad Paisley’s blistering guitar playing was the hottest thing at Cruzan Amphitheatre tonight. The weather finally cooperated, ushering in the first cold front of the season, and bringing perfect temperatures for an outdoor show.

Playing nearly two full hours, Paisley, with ten consecutive No. 1s, has more material than time these days.

But it’s his incredible attention to detail, his skill as an animator, and having one of the tightest bands in country music, that makes his American Saturday Night tour one of the most satisfying shows on the road these days.

It makes me wonder: Is there anything Brad can’t do?

The pacing of the show swings like a pendulum – acoustic alongside electric, the full band then just Paisley and a guitar, his hilarious songs alongside the love ballads.

The crowd spent the whole night on its feet, and the good-natured Paisley bantered with the crowd, told stories and poked fun at himself, even showing us picture of himself when he was 17 during Letter To Me.

He thrilled vans when he jumped off stage mingled up-close. Paisley works to connect with as many people as he can, and he thanked fans for spending money on a ticket, “in these tough times.” He works to keep both ticket prices and his merchandise affordable with T-shirts selling for $20 instead of $40. Those are things he doesn’t have to do.

His animation has improved too, and now fans get to see a whole cartoon with Paisley as a superhero rescuing Kenny Chesney, among others. But his art isn’t self-indulgent any more than his songs are. He has real talent.

Technologically the set is incredible: Huge video screens, scaffolding, risers. Behind the video screens, stars pierce the blackness and it feels the set goes on forever. There’s always some sort of video content going on, from clips of Andy Griffith during Waiting on A Woman, and ridiculous video of him and his buddies in boats during the fishing songs. (Yes, now we have Catch All the Fish and The Fishing Song, but it’s good clean fun. The closest Paisley came to risque was a couple of blondes in bikinis.)

One quirky detail I loved was that every member of Paisley’s seven-piece band had florescent paint on either his shirt or pants – not a lot but enough to notice and to make them appear unified.

As is his custom, Paisley brought his opening acts — Jimmy Wayne and Dierks Bentley — back on stage for the finale, an extended rendition of Alcohol and Don Henley’s Boys of Summer.

Wayne’s six song set included his two most recent singles, I Will and Do You Believe Me Now, his No. 1 hit from last year. His rendition of the Hall and Oates hit, Sara Smile, the first single from his upcoming album, balanced his rich baritone against a beautiful falsetto. It’s a song he says he really loves and that comes across in the performance.

Totally clever were little handmade signs he held up to the crowd that said things like ‘I love Dierks Bentley’ and ‘I have no idea who this guy is’ and finally ‘I am Jimmy Wayne.’

But shut my mouth astounding was 22-year-old fiddle player Jake Clayton. But calling him a fiddle player is selling the guy short: he played guitar, keyboards and mandolin as well. This guy is one to watch. And watch.

Dierks Bentley’s high-octane antics made his 50-minute set fly by. Lots of times, you’re sitting in the audience waiting for the opening act to finish so you can see the act you really came to see. Not so with Bentley. While you’re watching him, you’re not thinking about anything else. He’s captivating.

I also appreciate how well the performers walked the line between between being kid-friendly and yet interesting enough for the adults. One complaint I heard over and over after Toby Keith’s show was that it was too adult. Not so with this tour: It’s PG-rated, but it still has meat on the bones.

Set list
Start A Band
American Saturday Night
Mud on the Tires
Wrapped Around
Celebrity
Waiting on a Woman
Water
I’m A Guy (with a Country Man Can Survive lead-in)
Catch All the Fish into I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)
She’s Everything
(Cartoon)
The World
Letter to Me
When I Get Where I’m Going
Ticks
Online
Then
Welcome to the Future
Alcohol
Boys of Summer