First in line:  Jessica Chambers, 14, her mother and two friends drove three hours to Nashville from Lewisville, Tenn. "We've been to about 14 shows," says mom Susan Norton, 42, "and this was the shortest we've ever traveled."

The merch:  Tents outside the venue offered light blue hoodies ($50), plaid hats ($30), pink shorts ($25), tote bags ($20) and a variety of shirts. Popular items included a $35 white T-shirt made especially for the event, and a $15 letterpress poster.

The opening number:  The trio introduced That's Just the Way We Roll to deafening screams.

Family ties:  "A lot of the people we'll bring up tonight are idols of ours," Nick Jonas told the crowd. The first one out: Michael W. Smith, who sang his 1991 hit Place in This World. Dad Kevin Jonas and Smith wrote a song called I Still Have the Dream. "They used to come to the show in the early days," Smith says. "They're talented — this is more than just a boy band."

More surprises:  Not all the Jonas fans knew the guests' songs, but they sure knew McBride's country hit Independence Day, singing along as if it were one of the Jonas Brothers' own. (McBride later sang the brothers' When You Look Me in the Eyes.) Introducing Baby Baby, Amy Grant told Joe, "I wrote this song for my daughter, Millie, who is 19, about your age — and you guys were probably 2 months old at the time." Brad Paisley played Waitin' on a Woman and Easy Money.

Most touching moment:  Steven Curtis Chapman sang Cinderella, a song inspired by Jonas fan Maria Sue Chapman, Steven Curtis' 5-year-old daughter who died after being struck by a car in May. Chapman said he looked forward to going to heaven so he could tell his daughter, "I got to sing with the Jonas Brothers. How cool was that?"

Sparks fly:  "We've wrote a lot of songs that we tried to (make) sound like this song, but it's kind of impossible to sound like this song," Joe Jonas said of Stevie Wonder's Superstition. Jordin Sparks joined in for the second verse, then sang No Air as a duet with Joe.

The covers:  The Jonases not only had plenty of guests, they sprinkled their set with a liberal dose of covers, including John Mayer's Gravity and Tom Petty's Free Fallin'. They had several for the parents in the audience to enjoy, going back to the '70s for Bob Marley's Waiting in Vain, The Band's The Weight (where Smith, Chapman, Vassar and Gill joined them) and a show-closing singalong of Don McLean's American Pie.

THE SET LIST 24 songs, just over 2 hours: That's Just the Way We Roll Hold On Gotta Find You Gravity Tonight My Place in This World (w/Michael W. Smith) Year 3000 Independence Day (w/Martina McBride) Goodnight and Goodbye Superstition (w/Jordin Sparks) No Air (w/Jordin Sparks) Cinderella (w/Steven Curtis Chapman) The Weight (w/Chapman, Smith, Phil Vassar, Vince Gill) Lovebug A Little Bit Longer Don't Close the Book (w/Honor Society) When You Look Me in the Eyes (w/Martina McBride) Waitin' on a Woman (w/Brad Paisley) Easy Money (w/Brad Paisley) Free Fallin' Waiting in Vain S.O.S. Burnin' Up (w/Big Rob) American Pie (w/everybody) View the article in its entirety @ USATODAY.com