Country music associations should either retire their entertainer of the year awards or name them after Garth Brooks.
For no country performer, new or old, can hold a guitar, microphone or cowboy hat to the engaging, energetic Oklahoma superstar who kicked off a five-concert Pinnacle Bank Arena run with a joyous 2 1/2-hour show Friday.
With the crowd of 14,000-plus singing along with every song, Brooks tore through his hits and songs by Keith Whitley and George Strait, talked to the fans and basked in their adoring screams.
Earlier Friday, I posited to Brooks that he and Chris LeDoux had, in the '80s, forever changed country music by bringing in nontraditional influence.
The late, great LeDoux called it “rodeo rock ’n’ roll†and that’s just what Brooks and his six-man band delivered on a rip-roaring “Papa Loved Mama,†followed by an “Ain’t Goin’ Down (Til the Sun Comes Up)†that was as much Chuck Berry and Hank Williams.
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That song had the 55-year-old Brooks tearing around the stage like a man half his age and climbing on the round drum cage. The cage rotated and keyboard platforms rose from the stage — more of Garth bringing the rock show to country. LeDoux did that too.
Sweat soaking through his shirt, Brooks then did the first of the night’s ballads, “Unanswered Prayers,†made his only concession to new material with the single “Ask Me How I Know,†before cranking up an ultra-dramatic “The Thunder Rolls.â€
Then came Miss Yearwood, as Garth referred to her Friday afternoon, rising from beneath the stage to duet on “In Another’s Eyes.â€
A powerhouse singer as always, Trisha nailed “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl)," “PrizeFighter†and “She’s in Love With The Boy,†before turning things over to Brooks.
Belting out “Shameless,†he drove the show to an emotional ending — a revved-up “Calling Baton Rouge,†a shout-along anthemic “Friends in Low Places,†and a touching “The Dance.â€
Throughout the night, Brooks referred to his previous Lincoln shows, including a State Fair appearance he called then his wildest show ever.
“You can take all those other times, wrap them all together and you guys just kicked the living shit out of all of them.â€
Brooks wrapped up the night by himself, singing a verse or two of songs on signs held by the audience, like “Burning Bridges,†for which he had to change the key, “We Shall Be Free,†on which he was rejoined by the band, and dropping a Lincoln reference into “Much Too Young to Feel This Damned Old†with its line “God bless Chris LeDoux.â€
Then came “Tacoma,†which he did after seeing the sign at more than 20 shows. “This is going to suck,†Brooks said. It didn’t.
Neither did anything else in yet another show from one of the world’s greatest entertainers.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LJSWolgamott.
L. Kent Wolgamott
Entertainment reporter/columnist
