Garth Brooks
Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Oct 8th, 2016 – Indianapolis, IN
So thankful that I finally got the chance to see Garth Brooks live. After being a fan for three decades, and watching him set nearly every live performance record over the course of his incredible career, I finally got to see him perform. He played five shows in four days in Indianapolis, and sold out every one of them – we were lucky enough to snag tickets to the last show, and man was it a memorable one.
In the nearly 3 hour show, Garth played a non-stop barrage of number 1 hits, pulling from his seemingly endless library of great songs. Friends in Low Places, Shameless, Two Pina Coladas, Ain’t Goin Down til the Sun Comes Up, Unanswered Prayers, and on, and on, and on. In playing these songs, Garth proved over and over why he is lauded as one of the world’s best performers. Even though it was his fifth show in four days (think about that!), he still gave it absolutely everything he had. Running in circles, inciting the crowd in every direction, interacting with others on stage. When Garth Brooks is on stage, there is never a dull moment.
It’s no surprise then, that the crowd was also great. The stage was set up in the round, giving 360 degree visibility into the musicians and performers on stage. When the show opened, a video was played that informed us that at this Indianapolis show, Garth Brooks set the record for North American tour attendance. That, parlayed into another video listed staggering statistics about the award and numbers that he has under his belt, led to a raucous crowd from the opening note.
Show highlights include:
- Garth Brooks wife, Trisha Yearwood, was also part of the Garth Brooks show. Several of her major hits were woven seamlessly into the show and really sounded great. Songs like “She’s In Love with the Boy” and “American Girl” landed strongly with the crowd and gave the show an interesting breadth.
- At the end of the show, Garth Brooks reserved a relatively large slot of time (~30 min) where he asked the audience for song requests. As he looked out over the crowd and read homemade signs with song titles on them, he left little doubt that every Garth Brooks show is totally and completely unique. What a great way to draw the crowd in even further.
- At the end of the request segment, the band rolled into “We Shall Be Free” to close the show. As a personal favorite, I couldn’t have been more excited to hear this song live.
- This is barely worth mentioning because it should be the assumption, but musically Garth and his band was spectacular. They played like, well, like a band that’s been together for 20 years and has a world record SEVEN Diamond Albums. (That means he has seven albums that have sold more than 10 million copies. That’s insane.) He also introduced every band member, told something unique about them, and made it feel like a family on stage.
This is relatively simple review, because the critique is pretty simple – Garth Brooks is one of the best performers in the world, and this show was no exception. The only negative comment I can even think of is that there were times when he looked winded…..like a 56 year old lifetime performer who played five shows in four days.
Garth had been on my bucket list for 15 years, and there’s never been a more satisfying checkmark.
Cheers!