After that, Garth Brooks returned one final time to Europe in November of 1998, to play 5 shows in King's Hall of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It should become his second last show for the time being. Although he became the most successful solo artist in music history at the turn of the millenium with over 100 million albums sold in the US, Garthmania and the unrivaled success of the past decade seemed to be on the wane. On top of it all, his 14-year marriage with wife Sandy, with whom he had 3 daughters, officially fell apart.
Except for occasional charity performances, which resulted in frenzy ticket purchases each and everytime (for a fundraiser for a 2007 California wildfires relief effort 85,000 tickets were sold within 58 minutes and in 2010 an astonishing 140,000 tickets were sold for 9 sold-out shows in support of the Tennessee floods relief efforts), he remained true to his resolution of neither touring nor recording any new music.
Eventually in December of 2013, the by now 49-year old artist hinted at a return into the music business via a world tour starting in 2014. Not only to justify the title World tour, but also because a potential failure was less likely to happen there, the start of the comeback-tour in July of 2014 was destined to take place in Croke Park stadium in Dublin again!
In a press conference on site in January of 2014 Garth Brooks talked to the press, stating his motives on picking Dublin: "All I remember about 1997 was just how much it was like the pinnacle of when you lay awake at night as a kid and dream on how playing music should be — that was it. If you are going to do a comeback special and you can pick any place in the world to play, this is the place to play."
When 160,000 tickets went on sales shortly after, even promoter Aiken Promotions was dumbfounded by the ensuing ticket demand. Within a few minutes all of them were gone and they had to announce a third show. When this couldn't meet the demand again, a fourth and eventuelly a fifth date was added. Eventually 400,000 tickets were sold for the Garth Brooks comeback in July of 2014 in Dublin. And fans from all over the world started booking their transportation and lodging.
Little did they know however, that out of consideration for the local residents around the stadium, Croke Park did only have a license for 3 non-sports events for the year in place. And in 2014 pop band One Direction had already claimed them.So what followed, were heated discussions behind the scenes in order to save the event. When Dublin eventually agreed to grant another 3 concerts to Garth Brooks, he let the bomb explode: 5 or nothing! And in a last desperate plea he vented his disappointment: "I will crawl, swim, I will fly over there this weekend, sit in front of him, I will drop on my knees and beg for those 400,000 people to have fun and just let them come sing."
The fiasco became official in April of 2014, only 3 months before concerts were supposed to commence. All 5 of them had to be cancelled and 400,000 tickets had to be refunded. And local Dublin business groups were outraged over the loss of some €50 million in expected revenue.
Hence the official comeback of Garth Brooks took place in September of 2014 in Chicago, were 180,000 tickets were sold for 11 shows.It took until November 18, of 2021 until Garth Brooks finally announced his return to Dublin. This time it was going to be the end of his stadium tour, which had taken him through the US and Canada since 2019. Ticketmaster Irland started ticket sales on November 25 of last year for 2 intended shows at Croke Park on September 9 and 10, 2022 - with a note, that this would be the only European venue Garth Brooks would be performing in 2022.
🚨 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 - The #1-selling solo artist in U.S. history, @garthbrooks, will play live at @CrokePark, Dublin on 09 & 10 September 2022. This will be the only European venue Garth will play in 2022 🤠
— Ticketmaster Ireland (@TicketmasterIre) November 18, 2021
🎫 On sale Thursday 25 November at 8am - https://t.co/MYai5NX2E7 pic.twitter.com/37jOBUFbPq
What followed was a repeat of 2014 - except that this time it resulted in a happy ending. Again 400,000 tickets were purchased for 5 sold-out shows at Croke Park (September 9, 10, 11, 16 and 17 of 2022), with the important distinction that there was no license issue this time.
Aiken Promotions proudly summarized the event: "This is the biggest thing we’ve ever done, and it is unlikely we’ll ever do anything as big as this again. This is the biggest thing that has ever happened in Ireland. It would be hard to top this."
The event was drawing visitors from far beyond Dublin, as
Jim Clarke said in a statement for the Press Association: "For a concert Croke Park normally would attract 40 to 50% of its
patrons from the greater Dublin area. In this case it’s [only] around 15%. Thirty countries around the world are represented: 5% of people
coming to these concerts are coming into Ireland." In other words, 20,000 visitors were willing to travel from abroad to see a Garth Brooks show.
On September 8, 2022, the day before the first Dublin concert, the by now 60 year old Garth Brooks faced the Irish media in a press conference. Since the concerts would be taped for a later Netflix(?) special, he had lost weight and appeared looking very fit and in shape. After the room felt an initial nervousness, his charismatic confidence quickly took over and soon cast his spell over everyone present.
For over an hour he answered questions and engaged his audience. Everyone relaxed and a young journalist made everyone smile when she revealed her connection to Garth Brooks: "So basically my parents were here [at your concert] in June 1997 and I was born in March 1998. So thank you for my life, Garth."
At the same time he gave people a peek into what makes a great entertainer: "My job is to make the people in the very back seats feel, like I am talking to them. And whether I do that or not - I can tell you this, I am talking to them. Whether I convey that or get that across as an entertainer, we'll see Friday, Saturday, Sunday, next Friday, Saturday."
On Sunday September 11, I was able to personally witness what he meant by this - and he did not disappoint. Instead I became part of a well planned and no less historic event. Garth Brooks had not only merchandise made, but also the stage designed especially for Dublin. Due to the stadium setup, which only has stands on 3 sides of the pitch, the stage at Croke Park was placed elevated on the open end of the stadium and not in the centre, as was the case for the North American tour.
Ireland Event Merchandise is now available exclusively on https://t.co/Pih3A5uNpa. Limited quantities available -> https://t.co/4PnmLNiye3 - Team Garth #GARTHinIRELAND pic.twitter.com/MRWnt2TXXe
— Garth Brooks (@garthbrooks) September 17, 2022
As if it had been destiny, the steady downpour of rain that lasted all afternoon stopped in time for departure to the show on Sunday and right before show-start heavens even opened up to let some final beams of sunlight shine on the audience. Since public transport in Dublin mainly functions on busses, it took a while until all of the 80,000 had found their seats or places on the pitch. Still nobody got bored, as the audience knew well how to turn up the level of excitement by singing like they do for soccer games.
No opening act was announced, so there was only an instruction made about the show being taped and everyone was encouraged to practice cheering along with 'Radio Gaga' by Queen, which played as the live version of Paul Young from the legendary Freddy Mercury tribute concert on the big screens.
Exclusive partner Amazon -just like in North America- introduced the big opening of the show at 8pm. To the sounds of the theme song of the night, 'Ireland' from the album "Fresh Horses" (1995), Garth Brooks appeared from underneath the drum set, seemingly pushing it upwards with his hands. And seemlessly transitioned into 'All Day Long' from the current album "FUN".
The sound on the pitch was excellent! Obviously in contrast to the stands, where many fans later complained about the given sound limitations a stadium unfortunately suffers from, as it was never designed for featuring concerts. Small details were taken care of, such as attaching the g-logo to each section high up on the stands. Cameras were present everywhere: on stage, for transmitting close-up shots onto the giant screens to the left and right of the stage, above heads for the spectacular shots from above and on rails crossing the pitch towards the ending of the runway, tongue-in-cheek referred to as the g-spot. Both of the latter however, were not shown to the audience yet.
The show covered songs from across the Garth Brooks career, most of which are standards or even classics by now. Although there was a clear focus on songs pre-comeback. Relentlessly Brooks ran from end to end on the huge stage and down the middle runway into the heart of the stadium, to get as close as possible to as many fans as possible. It was hard to decide who wore themself out more - the enthusiastic audience or the entertainer on stage.
He proved his spontaneity by getting into his very first hit, the reflective 'Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)' purely on request from the audience, before returning to party-mode with 'Two Pina Coladas'. Hopeful ballad 'The River' turned visually impressive by drenching the stadium in blue light and letting tens of thousand smartphones reflect their lights back, immersing the audience in a twinkling river.
Ensuing was the fiddle-fireworks of the Aerosmith cover 'Fever', the dramatic 'The Thunder Rolls' and the fateful 'Unanswered Prayers' carried by a choir of 80,000 voices.
"In entertaining you don't take your foot off the gas. You just don't. Especially on live concerts. So ballads are hard. So guess what ballad we havent't played in 15 years, 20 years?", Garth Brooks had questioned the media at his press conference. "'If Tomorrow Never Comes'. It may be the biggest Garth Brooks song that we'll play here tonight. It's odd. And if we did it, we did a little snippet of it, with just a guitar. Do you do that to one of the biggest songs in our career here?"
No, you don't. And that's why 'If Tomorrow Never Comes' was next, to the delight of the audience, which didn't care that it was a ballad! As could be told by the singing from them all.
Pedal to the metal was the motto with 'Callin' Baton Rouge', one of his personal favorite songs, and 'Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Goes Down)' before everyone was able to take a deep breath with the passionat Billy Joel cover of 'Shameless', which has long become a Garth Brooks staple.
"You talk with Journalists all the time. And they go, if there is one song, you wish you never had to sing again ... and they want it to be 'Friends in Low Places'", Garth Brooks had said about his probably best known song at the press conference. "What they don't understand is, I haven't sung 'Friends in Low Places' in 25 years. You just start the first 4 notes and there it goes. They don't want you to sing. Get the hell out of the way kinda thing. And everyone will sing like they are the only ones in the stadium. And I got the best seat in the house."
And that's exactly what happened next with 'Friends in Low Places' in the extended version that has never been fully recorded in the studio, sung by 80,000 fans, before the official show came to a much too early ending with the one song that says so much about life with so few words, the beautiful 'The Dance': "I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance", (Tony Arata).
But fortunately there was more. And it was full of surprises. First Garth Brooks returned to the empty stage with only an accoustic guitar. He sat down on the steps of the middle stage section and played 3 ballads: 'What She's Doing Now' and 'Cold Shoulder' from the album "Ropin' The Wind" (1991), and the Bob Dylan song 'To Make You Feel My Love', which he had recorded in 1998 (right after Billy Joel did) - long before Adele did in 2008 and who most people think of today when the song is mentioned.
While the audience sang word for word of 'What She's Doing Now', they got challenged by Garth Brooks with the deep cut 'Cold Shoulder': "This is a song I am sure you do not know!"
When Trisha Yearwood stepped on stage in a glittering dress (a little too tight), there was no holding back. Together they performed the Lady Gaga hit 'Shallow', which allowed Trisha Yearwood to wow the audience with the power of her voice, before she solo-performed her probably biggest hit 'Walkaway Joe', to the simple accoustic guitar of her husband Garth Brooks.
With the brave 'Standing Outside the Fire' the end was near, still way too soon. There was only one final song left, the classic 'American Pie' by Don McLean, which let the audience and the entertainer fall for each other one last time. And after a little over 2 hours one of 5 historic nights in Croke Park of Dublin, performed by one of the most charismatic and respectful entertainers of our times, inevitably had to come to an end.
Each and everyone in the audience tonight could relate to the aspirations and emotions Garth Brooks had described at the end of the press conference on Thursday before the first show in Dublin: "There was a great moment in the Stanley Cup, when this guy shot a goal. And nobody knew it was a goal, because it got lodged up in the thing and they didn't know whether it was a goal or not or if it was in overtime. And he says the quote as the woman got the microphone in his face: I have been waiting for this all my life - and I decided to stop waiting."
"Tomorrow night, I have been waiting for this my whole life, tomorrow night I'm gonna stop waiting."
8 years after 2014, the dream Ireland got fulfilled, not only for Garth Brooks, but also finally for his audience.
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