Although Toby Keith breathed his last earlier this year, his spirit lives on. And what Keith did best was play off the stars during NBC’s highly anticipated tribute concert airing tonight.

Toby Keith: American Icon was filmed in late July before a sold-out crowd at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. A host of his celebrity friends and admirers, including Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Eric Church and Lainey Wilson, showed up to pay tribute to the country legend.

While there were tears in the eyes, the evening was mostly a joyful celebration of Keith, who died of stomach cancer in his native Oklahoma on February 5 at the age of 62. He left behind a treasure trove of music that reflected his rare combination of qualities — boisterous showman, passionate patriot, tender family man, gifted wordsmith — all of which were exalted during the two-hour event.

PEOPLE had a prominent place in the arena, and here are the highlights that viewers shouldn’t miss:

Gratitude of the Church

One of the maverick superstars who came after Keith, Eric Church, muses to the audience about his early days when he couldn’t get a gig. “Toby Keith was the guy who called,” Church recalls, “and said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come perform with me?'” Church is now about the same age as Keith was when he made that offer, which makes the song Church sings, “I’m Not as Good as I Once Was,” a perfect match.

“You are the truth”

Ashley McBryde pays tribute to Keith’s career at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, touching her heart and declaring, “As a songwriter, you have to be honest, and Toby, you are the truth.” Her musical contribution is a moving performance of “I Wish I Didn’t Know Now.”

Earlier, on the red carpet, McBryde recalled opening for Keith early in her career. “He made me feel seen and comfortable,” she told PEOPLE. “And in doing that, he taught a very inexperienced, very young artist how to interact with people. Now my experience with Toby is going to be other artists’ experience with me.”

Ride it, Lainey

Wilson knows how to make a memorable entrance: She first appears at the back of the arena on the back of Cowboy, the horse she rode as a co-star in a hit TV drama series Yellowstone. Horse and rider follow a winding path to the edge of the stage, where Wilson dismounts to join Jamey Johnson for a rousing duet of — what else? — “Beer for My Horses.”

Changing hats

Luke Bryan, who has been tapped to sing “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” trades in his trademark baseball cap for a black cowboy hat and tells the moving backstory, recalling how he made his mark singing Toby Keith songs in bars in Georgia. His sister, who passed away in 2007, gave him the cowboy hat to wear in those early days.

“I wore this hat every night,” Bryan explains, “and since I lost my sister, I haven’t had this hat on stage in years… and I walked out of the house tonight and I thought, you know, I’m just an old country boy from Georgia, but Toby Keith definitely gave me the desire to be a cowboy.”

Jelly Roll’s Tearjerker

Keith’s wise lyrics for living well, contained on “My List,” take on even greater meaning now that their writer is gone: “I won’t break my back for a million dollars / I can’t take it to my grave / So why put off until tomorrow / What I can get done today.”

Introducing the song, Jelly Roll says that Keith “inspired me to be a better father,” and he dedicates it to Keith’s family, who are seated on one side of the stage (under a giant American flag and a scaffold full of soldiers from nearby Fort Campbell). Jelly delivers the lyrics with understated authority, reducing many in the audience, including Keith’s son, Stelen Covel, to tears.

Taking up the challenge

Krystal Keith, the 38-year-old daughter of the guest of honor, flies through the poignant life lessons of “Don’t Let the Old Man In,” despite concerns she previously expressed on the red carpet about singing the song at all. Toby Keith performed it memorably at last fall’s People’s Choice Country Awards.

The show’s producer, Krystal Keith, explained that she picked it to sing, and “I really had to push myself to do it. It’s definitely a heartbreaking song.” (Especially considering Keith’s two-year battle with cancer. He wrote and originally performed the song for the 2018 Clint Eastwood film, The mule.)

Let’s party!

A makeshift bar at the side of the stage, opposite the Keith family, keeps the party atmosphere going all night long, with all the artists gathering here after their performances.

But leave it to partygoer Tyler Hubbard to bring the party atmosphere to center stage with a raucous rendition of “Red Solo Cup.” One of the few Keith hits he didn’t write himself, he famously called it “the dumbest song I’ve ever heard in my life” but also “fucking amazing.” The song’s four writers, Brett Beavers, Jim Beavers, Brad Warren and Brett Warren, join Hubbard (as they accompanied Keith on the original recording), along with Jordan Davis, HARDY and Jelly Roll.

Show Stealer

Perhaps the most surprising moment of the night comes when Jelly Roll announces that Keith has “one more great performance” that hasn’t been seen yet. Jelly then introduces a video of the late artist in his final studio session recording “Ships That Don’t Come In” for HARDY’s Hixtape Part 3celebrating the music of the late Joe Diffie. In those short three minutes, Keith steals the show with his interpretation of the song’s achingly melancholic lyrics.

Call to duty

Keith’s good friend Trace Adkins is invited to perform the late artist’s iconic tribute to the military, “American Soldier.” The moment is made even more dramatic by the appearance of a U.S. Army honor guard on stage before the performance.

Earlier, on the red carpet, Adkins said Keith’s “love for the men and women who serve this country was absolutely genuine. To be able to sing this song that meant so much to him means the world to me.”

Red, White and Blue Final

Keith’s feisty signature song, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American),” was the last song he performed publicly, during each of his three final concerts last December in Las Vegas. It also closes the tribute, and perhaps it’s fitting that Parker McCollum, among the brightest stars of the new generation of country music, takes the helm.

Although he never met Keith, McCollum explained on the red carpet that he grew up a huge fan, and he uses Keith’s career and life as inspiration: “I thought about how many times he probably had days where he wanted to throw in the towel. I’m sure he felt those things. But that man embodies what it takes to make country music in this town.”

McCollum doesn’t have to perform his daunting task alone: ​​not only does the entire cast join him in the second verse, but most of the capacity audience proves they know every word of the flag-waving national anthem.

Toby Keith: American Icon, a two-hour special airing at 9 p.m. ET/8 CT Wednesday on NBC, and will stream on Peacock beginning Thursday. A portion of concert ticket sales were donated to The Toby Keith Foundation’s OK Kids Korral — a free home in Oklahoma City for families of children battling serious illnesses — and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.