Podgorica sang until late at night with Sergej, Danijel, Isak, Andrijana and Baryak

The official celebration of two decades of the restoration of Montenegro's independence began last night at Independence Square in Podgorica, where the first evening of a three-day program was held on the largest stage ever set up in the capital city, with performances by local performers.

The honor of opening the musical part of the program went to one of the youngest, but also most notable Montenegrin bands, Baryak, after which the audience enjoyed the performance of Andrijana Božović.

The atmosphere was further heated by Isak Šabanović performing famous ex-YU hits, and a particularly emotional moment followed when, after a long time, Danijel Popović, one of the first Podgorica residents to achieve great regional success, appeared before the Podgorica audience.

Popović symbolically opened the performance with the song "This is our land", and the audience then sang along with him to hits that have marked his decades-long career, including "Hey friends", "Come on, put on your Levis", "Julie", and "You're as dangerous as a drug".

He ended his emotional gathering with fellow citizens with the song "Good Night Montenegro".

The highlight of the evening came when Sergej Ćetković appeared before the Podgorica audience after many years. He opened the concert with the lyrics of the song "Ja ti dolazim", and during the almost two-hour performance, his greatest hits were performed, which the audience sang along with him: "Neću da znam", "Pogledi u tami", "Nisu mi da te volim", "Pusti probleme", "Kad bi htjela ti", "Istine i laži", "Pola moga svijeta", "Dva minuta".

Ćetković did not hide his emotions about performing again in his hometown, admitting that he always has the biggest nervousness in Podgorica because, as he said, it was there that he "earned his first applause."

A special surprise of the evening was the appearance of Nenad Knežević Knez, with whom Ćetković performed Dvornik's song "Zašto praviš slona od mene". Then, to the delight of the audience, they performed Knez's timeless hit "Da l' si ikada mene voljela" together.

The concert ended emotionally, with the song "Podgorica", which Sergej recorded for his first album with Per Stefanović, Ed Abdović and Igor Perazić. This time, he performed the song alone, while photos of Perazić and Stefanović were shown on the video screen, as a touching tribute to friends and colleagues who are no longer with us.

The celebration of 20 years of independence will continue tonight with performances by Tamara Živković, Milena Vučić and Nenad Knežević Knez, and the star of the evening will be Latin star Riki Martin. After Martin, a performance by DJ Robin Šulc has been announced.

The program is scheduled to begin at 19 p.m.