Seventeen years ago, I made my first ever ticketmaster purchase. I stood in line at a Publix in LaGrange, Georgia. At the time, Publix was a new installation there, and I felt like being in that store was a slap-in-the-face to the Kroger which had fed me for years. Still, Kroger had no ticketmaster outlet. No, I was in Publix...waiting for my chance to purchase tickets to Garth Brooks's "Fresh Horses" tour. The show would be in Atlanta, and there was no way I would miss it. That is, until the woman at the register told us that all three shows had sold out. I couldn't believe it. I was heartbroken...
Until she announced that they'd added another date...
And minutes later, that date sold out.
And then they added another date...
SOLD OUT.
When I walked up to the counter, I didn't hold out much hope....but I received tickets. Tickets for the final day of the now 6-day run. I attended the concert with two of my friends, and we were high in the rafters for the show. Garth exploded through the floor when he entered the stage. He ran all around, entertaining the thousands in attendance. And, at one moment, one sweet moment in history, he pointed directly at myself and my two friends who were giving him two thumbs up apiece. He pointed at us, and gave us two right back.
We would forever be connected.
Now, many years down the road, way has lead on to way and I have begun my foray into Country Music. That show still lingers in my mind...the way the music, the man, and the myth all intersected for me - it stands alone, indelible, as the benchmark by which a performance should be judged.
Or it did, until last night.
Last night, I saw Garth Brooks in a way I had never seen him before. It was him, and a guitar. That's it. No band. No lasers. Not even a lot of smoke (though I did see some of it rise in front of the lights that surrounded the small theater at the Wynn Casino. Garth took the crowd there on a journey. He started in the 1960s, and carried us all the way up through the late 90s, when he put his career on hold. And then, as if it weren't enough, he brought his wife, Trisha Yearwood, onto stage to perform as well. And there, on July 4, I saw the two of them sing an unrecorded, unreleased, "brand new" song for the audience.
The performance was gripping. Garth's entire show was funny, and touching, and meaningful, and at the end of it... even if you had never heard of the man, you were forever changed by having seen him. (I say this on good authority, as my girlfriend said it was the best show she'd ever seen...and she barely knew of Garth prior). It was him, and a guitar. It was Garth Brooks, his life, and the truth...and it was incredible.
I think that I put on a pretty good show. People seem to enjoy what I do...but that's not Garth. People live and breathe that man's music. It's a part of them. He forces them to listen, and to pay attention, and to actually give a damn about what he has to say. That should ALWAYS be our goal, as entertainers.
Near the end of the show, Garth sang a song by one of his major influences, "Piano Man" by Billy Joel. I have that song on CD, and I've listened to it hundreds of times, but I've never heard it quite like I did last night. There's a very simply line... "he knows that it's me, they've been coming to see, to forget about life for a while." The stories he weaves help people let go of everything outside the doors of the bar, concert hall, or stadium where he plays - and that's what we ALL should be doing.
17 years after Garth made me fall in love with the spectacle of his live show, he has made me once again fall in love the power of its simplicity. He made me give a damn.
I look forward to passing that on.
YEAHCOMEON
