The Enid Buzz Garth Brooks 2015 Concert Review

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In honor of Garth's February 7 birthday we repost this concert review.
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I had the privilege of obtaining media review tickets to the Garth Brooks concert in Tulsa. I chose to attend his first show on Saturday night. I knew there might be a few bugs for his first show on Friday and did not want to play the waiting game for the second Saturday night show.
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When my wife and I arrived at the BOK Center 2 hours early we were surprised to see that the line had already formed to get in and it looked to be a mile long. Fortunately for us we did not have our tickets. I say fortunately because that allowed us to enter the building and move immediately to the will call window.
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When I accepted the tickets I was not told where the seats were, so I went into this adventure with the satisfaction that I was just going to be in the building at all, no matter where the seats. To my surprise, shock and delight, we were on the floor, ten rows back, in the exact center of the stage. To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement.
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Rather than finish this review with a blow by blow description of the concert, sprinkled with big adjectives, I'm going to continue it as an interview between Enid Buzz and Curtis Tucker.
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EB: Are you a big Garth Brooks fan?
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CURTIS: Let's say I do not own any country CD's or have many country songs in my iTunes collection but I'm a huge fan of Garth. I've watched every special that has been on TV and heard enough of his music on the radio that I can sing along to most of his songs. He and I are the same age, attended OSU at the same time and studied advertising. I also hung out at many of the bars in which he worked and played music back in Stillwater.
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EB: Had you ever been to a Garth concert before?
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CURTIS: Not in person. But again, I've seen every Garth special on TV so I know pretty much what they are like.
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EB: Many people are saying that there's no way the shows could be as good as in the 90's because Garth had so much energy back then. Do you agree?
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CURTIS: No. Garth has every bit as much energy if not more than in his younger days. He ran, he jumped, he climbed, he fell and he rolled just like before. He did admit that he would not be swinging from a rope due to a very slight weight increase.
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EB: Were you bored when he played all of his new songs?
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CURTIS: New songs? I hardly even noticed the couple that he played. This was a greatest hits concert. He admitted that when he goes to a concert he wants to hear the old stuff and he knows his audience does as well, so he accommodated.
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EB: Did you like the few new songs he sang?
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CURTIS: Loved them! People Loving People was great and Man Against Machine was rocking. As Garth would say, "It has a lot of muscle." You can hear the new tunes here.
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EB: Did the crowd seem to be enthused that he was back on tour?
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CURTIS: LOL! You could say that. Pretty much the entire crowd stood for every song, they sang almost every word and he received, what amounted to, a standing ovation after every hit. The crowd noise was deafening. My feet were killing me but there was no way you could sit and watch this concert. At one point I believe he said, "So you're going to treat every song like it's your favorite?" I'm not sure he could believe the response. After one song, the ovation was so loud and lasted so long that he unhooked his guitar and threw it into the air. It literally crashed on the stage and he just threw his hands up.
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EB: Is this concert is in your top ten best of all time?
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CURTIS: Honestly and without exaggeration, this was the best concert I've ever seen. Seeing a Garth show is more like having an experience or being a part of a performance. In his news conference Garth talked about giving his fans their money's worth because he hopes that will draw them back for another show, and another.
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EB: What made this concert so great?
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CURTIS: The energy, the crowd, the interaction and the music. I'm not a huge country fan and this was not a country show. Garth's music and showmanship verge on the edge of rock, blues and pop. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that any of his other shows could be as loud as this one in terms of fan response and the feeling that every person in the place felt like a close Garth friend. I would be surprised if any of his shows outdo the 7:30pm Saturday night show. It literally was epic.
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EB: Was there a song he didn't play that you wished he had?
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CURTIS: I can't think of a single one.

EB: Did Garth talk much?
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CURTIS: Yes! He had something to say between almost every song.
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EB: How was his voice?
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CURTIS: Garth sounded just like he always has. I think many of his songs sound better live than on CD.
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EB: What highlights do you recall?
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CURTIS: He did an eight minute version of Friends In Low Places that set the arena on fire. It was electric. The lighting and stage setup were fantastic. There were maybe two oldies that I did not recognize that I would now buy the singles for. I was blown away by the encores. Just when we thought the concert was over he'd come back out for another song. The stage mechanics were also unbelievable.
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EB: How long was your show?
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CURTIS: I believe ours was around 2 hours and 20 minutes with Trisha included. We also had a warm up act which was his background singer, Karyn Rochelle. She rocked it and had an awesome voice. According to Garth each show might be a bit different and it will evolve as the tour goes on.
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EB: How was Trisha?
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CURTIS: She was great. She played many of her hits as well. I had forgotten that she had so many popular songs including the song, How Do I Live, from the movie Con Air.
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EB: Was Trisha the opening act?
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CURTIS: No. Trisha actually came out midway through the concert and then disappeared again. She later joined Garth for a duet at the very end.
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EB: Would you see another Garth show if he came back?
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CURTIS: In a heartbeat.
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I did not have a photo media pass and actually never saw any photographers so these are my iPhone pics. Small cameras are allowed in the arena but video, iPads and cameras with detachable lenses are not allowed. I did capture some video which I use to pluck photos out of and also have a few background clips in my Garth news story and interview.
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