The Garth Brooks World Tour, Hamilton, ON

I'm not a fan of country music.  When Gord and I got married in 2002, his Garth Brooks greatest hits CD moved in with him.  I'd heard of Garth Brooks but didn't know any of his music.  I listened to his greatest hits CD and liked it.  I said that if I ever had the opportunity to see him in concert, I would ... and we did!

The Garth Brooks World Tour is in Hamilton this weekend and Gord and I had tickets for tonight's show (the first of five).

I like getting concert teeshirts and bought one.  It was reasonably priced at $30.  There were huge line-ups (about a half hour wait) but the one on the lower level took less than five minutes.

Me with my teeshirt

Me and Gord (and my teeshirt)

The best tickets I could get (they went fast when they went on sale!) were for tonight's show.  We were in the second level.

Canadian Brett Kissel opened the show.

Next came Karyn Rochelle, who was also a back-up singer for Garth Brooks tonight.

Then Garth Brooks came on and the crowd went wild!  He promised to only sing his hits rather than songs from his new albums and that's what he did.

The middle of the stage lifted to reveal Garth's band

Garth really worked the crowd and the crowd loved him!  He was entertaining and funny.  He and his band worked the stage and were constantly on the go.

When he sang The River, the crowd held up their cell phones.  Back in the old days, they would have held up lighters!

Despite joking about his age (he's 54) and physical shape (he said he only carries a guitar to hide his "gut"), he was quite energetic.

The stage was a continuous changing light show.

During The Thunder Rolls

Gord recorded the "third" verse of Friends in Low Places ...



Garth's wife, Trisha Yearwood, came on stage and they sang a song together and then he left.  I recognized a couple of her songs and she had fans in the crowd.

When she sang She's in Love with the Boy, they had a Kiss Cam on the audience.  The final smooch was Trisha and Garth.

Garth and his band came back on and sang a couple songs.  Then the band left and Garth sang a few songs on his own acoustically.

The drummer and pianist's platforms raised and twirled

The band came back on for a couple more songs and then left for good.

Trisha Yearwood came back and Garth Brooks played guitar for her.

It was a fabulous concert.  Not only is Garth Brooks a good musician but he's also entertainer.  If he ever comes to town again, we'll be there!