About 7,000 Austin music fans turned out Wednesday night for the Neighbors in Need concert starring Willie Nelson, the Neville Brothers and a host of local favorites.

Blues rock guitarist Eric Johnson kicked off the show at 6:30 p.m., but fans started streaming into the Erwin Center about an hour earlier, many coming straight from work.

For a while it looked as if brisk walk-up sales would fill some of the empty seats, but by 7:30 p.m. the stream of fans had slowed to a trickle. A couple of scalpers foundered outside the stadium, stuck with tickets to a benefit show that was far from sold out.

There were plenty of families on hand, and this was the first concert for some fans.

Darby Kersten, 8, was there with her father, David, 40. Darby knew the concert was for "people in the hurricane," but Willie Nelson was the only performer she recognized.

Her father said Darby's class at Holy Family Catholic School in Northwest Austin recently added two children from New Orleans. He waited until Tuesday to decide to attend the show.

"I really wanted to see the Neville Brothers," he said.

For others, this was a chance to take part in an only-in-Austin event.

Jennifer Walderhauser, 26, swore she would see Nelson while she still lived in Austin. She plans to move to New York next week.

"I love him, but I've never seen him live, even after eight years of living here," she said.

The specter of Hurricane Rita hung over the show.

Walderhauser, whose family still lives her in her native Houston, said they decided to ride out the storm.

The show, hosted by the ever avuncular Clifford Antone, moved smoothly and efficiently through tight 30-minute sets by Bob Schneider, Patty Griffin, the Flatlanders, Jimmy Vaughan and Ray Price before the Neville Brothers took the stage at 9:30. Nelson was scheduled to follow.

Ads for the Red Cross played on the Jumbotron between sets, and proceeds from the sale of commemorative T-shirts also went to the relief organization.

After Griffin's stark, solo acoustic set, Antone mentioned next Wednesday's Katrina benefit, called Austin Cares: From 1 Music Capital To Another, at the Paramount Theatre and summed up Austin's fondness for pitching in and having a good time at the same time.

"I guess we're just going to keep doing them as long as these hurricanes keep coming," he said.

jgross@statesman.com; 912-5926