WATCH – Megan Moroney’s Denver makeup show delivered a Dolly tribute that brought the house down

Megan Moroney owed Denver. And last night (Aug. 27) at Ball Arena, she paid that debt back with interest, plus a moment that had the whole building in tears.

The country star returned to Denver for the rescheduled makeup show of her Cloud 9 Tour after abruptly ending her original July 28 concert just three songs in due to illness. She was gutted that night, writing on Instagram that it was “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make” and promising to make it up to the crowd “ten times.” She wasn’t kidding. Every fan who walked into Ball Arena last night found a free t-shirt waiting at their seat. Then Moroney delivered the longest concert of her entire career, a 2-hour-and-25-minute, 23-plus-song set that added eight songs beyond her standard setlist, wrapping up the U.S. leg of the Cloud 9 Tour in the most Megan Moroney way possible.

But the moment everyone is talking about came when Moroney and touring partner JP Saxe stopped the show to honor Dolly Parton, who had died just two days earlier. The pair performed a cover of “I Will Always Love You.” For a Denver crowd that had already been through the emotional rollercoaster of the canceled show, the rescheduled wait, and now the loss of the queen of country music, it was the kind of moment that makes live music irreplaceable. Moroney told the crowd that forgiveness, both giving and receiving it, was on her mind, and Denver forgave her a long time ago. Last night, she made sure they’d never forget it.