Back to lasso the hearts of the nation (well, 410,000 fans over five nights), Garth Brooks' appearance on stage at Croke Park on Friday night will count as a miracle for the many who have stood by their man and kept the flame alive these past eight years.
These five gigs are clearly the Hill 16 Garth was prepared to die on but let’s draw a veil over all that silliness back in 2014, and just say that this country megastar was finally back in his heart home to make up for lost time and deliver a night of hits and heartfelt jubilation.
Having lost 50lb, it was a svelte Brooks who took to the stage. Dressed in boot-cut Wrangler jeans, expensive-looking black boots, a black shirt and, of course, a jet-black Stetson that was regularly swept from his head to be held to his heart or so that he could mop his dripping brow, Brooks was as giddy as a bronco to finally be in Dublin.
Halfway through Friday’s show, he wrapped himself in the tricolour and declared, "You came back! I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!"
It was a perfect night for it. The Croker crowd wasn't quite a sea of pink cowboy hats but many had gone full out in country frills, plaid shirts and cowboy boots as they swayed in time as Brooks' song Ireland - his very own stab at Forty Shades of Green - sounded across the pitch and terraces.
After emerging from a giant hydraulic spaceship at Croker in 1997 (incredibly, the last time he played here), on Friday night, the man in the big black hat appeared from beneath the drum riser (featuring two bass drums emblazoned with shamrocks and a lower case "g") as it cranked upwards.
The giant arch that spanned the width of the stage was lit up and a giant mirror ball glittered high above, but that was the extent of the theatrics from a star known for bringing a rock spectacle to the traditional world of country music.
These five, now semi-legendary, Dublin shows are being filmed for release and a camera was suspended high above the stadium, looping and arcing as 60-year-old Brooks took the first of many runs down the walkway that stretched deep into the heart of a very elated crowd.
I've dreamed about this night… IRELAND, you were even better than my dreams! I’m in LOVE with YOU 🇮🇪 !!!! g pic.twitter.com/9Wq8i7AW5h
— Garth Brooks (@garthbrooks) September 9, 2022
"I’m not here to talk about the past," he said, already matted with sweat (the tears, and there were plenty of them, came later). "I came here for one purpose and that is to raise some hell!" What followed was a solid two hours plus that hit all the right notes of his back catalogue and did not linger on his newer material.
"When we arrived on Tuesday, we heard talk of a hurricane. Well, hurricane or not, the thunder is gonna roll!" he said, introducing The Thunder Rolls, one of the darkest songs in a career mostly made up of heart-tugging ballads and country rawk.
As darkness fell on Dublin 3, the crowd were swinging. "Tell me it's going to be like this the whole night long," their idol hollered.
There was no support act, but he did pull a surprise out of the saddle bag when he was joined on stage by his wife of 17 years Trisha Yearwood, resplendent in a sequined jumpsuit, for a duet of Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s rather excellent Shallow from A Star is Born. Trisha hung around for a solo performance of her song She’s in Love With a Boy.
The stadium was a constellation of phone lights for mass singalongs of breakthrough hits If Tomorrow Never Comes and Unanswered Prayers and it only took the opening chords of I Got Friends in Low Places for a hoedown to break out in front of the stage.
He blasted through Callin’ Baton Rouge, his "favourite song to play live", and stood solitary for a heart-in-throat rendition of The Dance and Billy Joel’s Shameless. The impressive twelve-piece band were never less than cooking, with fiddler Jimmy Mattingly stealing most of the thunder with the most virtuoso displays. This boy could take on all comers down in Georgia.
Detractors say Brooks - the advertising graduate - is hawking his own brand of corporate country snake oil, but the 80,000 who thronged Croker sure stand by their Garth and necked it all down like elixir after an eight-year wait to see their mild west hero.
As Brooks said midway through Friday’s opening show, "You guys have no idea how many miles I’ve travelled to hear you sing." He looked delighted, genuinely moved, tearful and ready for more.
This was an energetic jukebox show for the Garth faithful that turned GAA HQ into a giant honky tonk for the evening. One down, four to go.
Y’all come back, ya hear?
Alan Corr @CorrAlan2
