James Reid, of The Feelers, will be joined by country pop singer Jody Direen, along with a special guest appearance by music and comedy duo the Topp Twins.
The concert will be held on February 7, on the Queenstown Rec Ground, the venue that will host the rural games, a two-day celebration of ''sports that built the nation''.
The Topp Twins, who will also provide entertainment during both days of the games, will perform a few numbers and Direen will open the show.
Born and raised in Wanaka, Direen was recently short-listed for the ''New Oz Artists of the Year'' by Australia's CMC Music Awards, to be presented in Brisbane in March.
Her new album, Jody Direen Breaks Out, will be released the following month.
Her latest single, Mine, and hits Loud and Tattoo reached No3 in the New Zealand Official Top 40 singles chart.
Reid, the vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for The Feelers - the band which has sold more albums than any other New Zealand band and made musical history as the first New Zealand act to have four successive No1 albums - will perform Feelers songs as well as work from his first solo album, Saint.
His band includes Queenstown bassist Sam Ross.
The inaugural games will feature several national championships for sports including speed shearing, sheep dog trials, speed fencing, gumboot throwing and coal shovelling.
As well, there will be four Highland Games ''heavy'' events and the transtasman wood chopping championship.
