Neil Haislop Goes Ga-Ga Over Ga-arth

His photos and review will be online tomorrow, meanwhile here's a sneak preview of it all:

How is it possible for a performer to take himself out of the game for nearly 8 years, only to come back late last year and re-assert himself at a level of performance and consumer demand as great as the day he departed? Well, 99% percent of the time, that would be impossible, but not for Garth Brooks.

Stepping back on stage to support a new disc collection, to help fight breast cancer and to honor and support the firefighters of California, Garth proved again that he's still "Garthgantua," a bigger than life superstar, encased in the body of still charming and humble, real human being.

His 9 consecutive sold-out shows in Kansas City, were the first proof that Garth has remained a major American music icon. Country radio rushed to his press conference to announce those first shows then to see what was up, and subsequently supported him by playing his old and new music, sending his first solo single in nearly a decade, "More Than a Memory," to #1 in record time. It all became one of the biggest events of the year in country music for 2007.

Just a short time later, after spawning an idea to pay tribute to and support California's firefighters who'd fought and won a battle with huge wildfires that ravaged Southern California, Garth has created already one of the biggest events of 2008 that will be hard to beat.
Scheduling 5 full shows in two days at L.A.'s Staples arena seemed an impossible task. When asked how he'd get through it, he said, "You just do it." And that he did, for 5 complete shows, including the first show Friday, that was broadcast live on CBS TV, 85,000 fans came saw and loved Garth all over again.

SATURDAY NIGHT A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
By Saturday night's final show that began at 9:30pm, if Brooks had any ring rust before starting the run of 14 shows in Kansas City and L.A., it had vanished. What the fans at Saturday's show got was absolutely vintage Garth, as exciting, musical and unpredictable as any of his shows during the 1990s.
From the first note to the last, all 17,500 fans in Staples Saturday night stood up and never sat down through 24 songs, 2 hours and 20 minutes of non-stop hits. Garth and his old magic were back!

Garth had promised to give his all for that final show, not hampered by time constraints of getting 17,500 fans out and back into the venue for the next show...and, give it he did as he kicked things off with a joint jumpin' version of "Callin' Baton Rouge." Halfway into the show, he had a little help from wife, Trisha Yearwood, whose entrance brought the house down. They performed a passionate version of "In Another's Eyes," followed by Garth subbing for Don Henley on version of "Walkaway Joe" that was astonishingly great.

By the encore, not yet satiated fans wanted more. Garth delivered again with, "Ain't Going Down 'til Sun Comes Up." At that point, he'd given everything he had and the crowd felt it and loved him for putting on such an amazing performance, after having given it up for two other audiences that same day.