On stage facing a roaring sea of black and gold jerseys and whirling Terrible Towels, singer will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas paused and made a proposition.

"The city should just be called Steeler City," he said. "For real!"

The crowd erupted with whistles and cheers. The horde of loyalists before him already consider themselves part of Steelers Nation, a vast network of fans that extends far beyond the borders of Point State Park, where will.i.am was offered a glimpse of their rampant passion during last night's NFL Kickoff festivities.

The park came alive with more than 60,000 concertgoers before last night's season-opening 13-10 victory by the Super Bowl champs over the Tennessee Titans. Enduring traffic jams and parking headaches, they traveled from nearby neighborhoods and far away cities to unite in the park, an already lively fan base invigorated by the team's world-champion status.

There were Steelers fans in cowboy hats and Steelers fans in helmets. There were Steelers fans in jerseys and Steelers fans in T-shirts. There were Steelers fans with season tickets and Steelers fans without.

Together, they swayed to crooning country star Tim McGraw and bounced to the Black Eyed Peas. They slugged lemonade and lounged in the grass while last season's highlights flashed on JumboTrons. As camera crews darted through the crowds, they predicted a repeat of last season's Super Bowl victory.

"The energy is ridiculous," said Andrew Rogel, of Lower Burrell. "You're going on pure adrenaline and nothing else. If you don't feel this, you're not alive."

The rush he felt amid the fans was almost as intense as the one he experienced at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, where he and his wife, Amy, wore the same Steelers regalia they donned last night: he in his lucky St. Patrick's Day O'Steelers jersey, and she with a Steelers bandanna in her hair and glistening beads slung around her neck. She fashioned a Terrible Towel into a skirt that could be ripped off and waved at a moment's notice.

"It's got victory all over it," she said.

Also around her neck was a ticket to last night's game, which many at the concert could only hope for. Heather Hogan and Leah Smyda, of Midland, searched for a legitimate scalper while their boyfriends went to the game.

Wayne Ruby's family came from Jefferson Hills to catch a glimpse of the Black Eyed Peas, but planned to rush home to watch the game on TV. His wife, Patricia, and kids, Camryn, 10, Seth, 9, and Maiah, 6, took a vote and agreed they would have more fun there than at a school open house.

Tammy Warner, of Hanover, missed her son's first football game of the season and instead drove four hours to go to the game with her husband, Randy, and their friends.

"We all wanted to go see the new trophy," Mr. Warner said.

"And see who was added to the locker room," his wife added.

And then there was Tyler Moon, 17, of Cooperstown, Venango County, a Tennessee Titans fan, who boldly wore a baby blue jersey and didn't take it off, even when people threw crawfish heads at him or called him names. He didn't offer much of an explanation for his Titans allegiance, but said, "I hate the Steelers with a passion."

"He must have been dropped on his head as a child!" shouted one passing Steelers fan in a Troy Polamalu jersey.

Mr. Moon said he needed a Steelers fan to usher him through the crowd. In this case, it was his girlfriend's father, Bill Whitman, of Oil City. The car ride was tense.

"You try to raise them right, and they still go astray," Mr. Whitman said, as a handful of other Titans fans passed and exchanged high-fives with his companion in blue. "It's easy to high-five all of his fans 'cause there's only a few."

Nearby, little girls in pink Steelers uniforms danced by their mothers' sides. Fathers hoisted young sons on their shoulders for a better view.

Then daylight slipped into dusk and the air grew crisp.

Kickoff was near.