As he neared the end of his fifth show in three days at Pinnacle Bank Arena Sunday, Garth Brooks’ voice was worn ragged, which he acknowledged when he invited the 12,000 plus in the audience to sing “Piano Man.â€
“I’m a smart guy,†he said. “When your voice is gone, you need the help of all the other voices around.â€
“Piano Man†is usually the penultimate song in Brooks’ concerts. But not Sunday.
Instead, Brooks gave Lincoln a long goodbye, continuing to play songs from signs held up by fans.
Actually, it was one song, “What I’m Thankful For†from a sign held by a 7-year-old girl named Josie. Brooks got her to autograph the sign for him. He gave her his guitar, autographed, of course.
“This is a request for me, by me†he said introducing the next song. “This is one of my favorite songs everâ€
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It was George Strait’s “Amarillo By Morning†which was followed by Bob Seger’s “Turn The Page.†Then came the return of the band, “Standing Outside the Fire†and the end of the biggest ever concert week in Lincoln.
Ticket sales for the five shows were almost exactly 68,000 -- breaking the Lincoln record of 66,661 tickets sold when Brooks played five shows at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Sept. 1997.
Pinnacle Bank Arena set another record on Sunday -- the fastest turnaround between Brooks shows. After getting the arena cleaned, reset and the doors opened in 48 minutes Saturday, the arena workers cut 10 minutes off that mark Sunday, setting the tour mark at 38 minutes.
In addition to Friday’s show, I saw most of the Saturday afternoon and Sunday night concerts. Here’s a couple observations to add to my review of the Friday show.
Each of the shows was a little different. That’s guaranteed by the encore of Brooks strapping on an acoustic guitar and playing the signs. But during the main set, there were some change ups as well -- Saturday, for example, Trisha Yearwood returned to the stage to do “Walkaway Joe,†which wasn’t in Friday’s set.
Sunday, Yearwood did “Georgia Rain,†which she didn’t do Friday and brought the song’s writer, Karyn Rochelle from the “Wall of Sound†where she signs background vocals to the front of the stage to sing it with her.
As the crowd was streaming out Saturday afternoon, I had a couple people ask me which show was better Friday or Saturday. I’m not about to get into that -- a. I didn’t see the entirety of two shows, b. I was standing on the floor near the stage Friday and watched the Saturday and Sunday shows from the loge level at the south end of the arena and c. it truly doesn’t matter -- Garth, Trisha, the band and crew don’t put on bad shows, period.
One commonality that raised the arena roof each show -- Brooks’ introduction of Pat O’Neill, an audio technician/engineer from Grand Island. O’Neill emerged from beneath the stage to a wall of cheers each night, wearing a baseball cap with a red N.
Sunday, he threw a bunch of caps into the crowd, which was chanting ‘Go Big Red†then doffed his hat to reveal the red N painted on his bald head.
As the main set was coming to an end Sunday, Brooks said ‘I can’t know what the future holds, only God knows that. But if we get to tour again, I sure as hell would like to come back to Lincoln, Nebraska.â€
You’re welcome anytime, Garth.