CONCERT REVIEW: Garth Brooks, Live at the Encore Theater-Las Vegas

Garth Brooks-Live at Encore Theater, Las Vegas

September 23, 10:30pm show

When you enter the Encore Theater it’s almost surprising how small it is. A 1500 seat show room in Las Vegas is usually reserved for flavor of the month acts, one off performances by a current artist or a game show/Vegas show of some sort. As we entered the room, it was almost hard to believe that one of the most successful entertainers in the history of music was going to take the stage shortly. Another revelation that occurs is this; everything you’ve heard is true. For months I’d heard that this show was “Garth, a guitar and a light” which is contrary to every performance Garth Brooks is known for, but when you enter, there is it; a guitar and a light and of course, no Garth just yet.

At exactly 10:30pm the house lights went down followed by a short taped introduction, followed by Garth Brooks literally running from side stage to grab his guitar. Dressed in an un-tucked, grey button down shirt, blue jeans, work boots and a ball cap he enjoyed the massive ovation from the small crowd. When it seemed everyone had calmed down, an occasional shout would happen from somewhere in the crowd, and Garth would acknowledge it as has he was getting his guitar and mic ready. He laughed a little and said “The 10:30 show, the drinkers, this should be good”

With no song introduction, he launched into his classic “Much Too Young To Feel This Damn Old” followed by a monologue on how he’d planned for these shows to go. He spoke about how the song prior was released in 1989 but that his music heritage went back to the 1960s. He said he would be going back to the 60s and walking us through his musical life influences from his mom, dad and the rest of his family until we all arrived back at 1989. Each story he told whether it was about his parents, an artist or a song was conveyed passion and a genuine feeling. The stories would lead to covers of songs that had an influence on him and the cover would sometimes lead to a hit of his own that had been influenced by the cover he’d just played.

When preparing for this review, I struggled with how much detail to include about the set list. In the end, I decided to just give one example to make clear how cool the show is. That way it doesn’t spoil the whole show for those interested in attending but still gives a good idea of the format. An example that comes to mind is when he started talking about how different parts of the country were producing very different types of music in the 70s. He talked about how living in Oklahoma, they would hear all these sounds from the rest of the country and it would go over better with some of his family than others. He said his mom and brothers were open to all of it while his father was far more reserved and believed in only two artists (there’s a funny joke that goes along with this that’s a regular part of the show, so I won’t spoil it here). He brought up the subject of Bob Seger and how Bob was a story teller who’s music was the type that made you think he was talking to only you.

He covered three songs by Bob Seger to make his point about how storytelling from different parts of the country affected him. The third Seger cover was “Turn The Page” which Garth sang the first verse and chorus from then continued strumming the chords while explaining how thankful he was for other artists’ influence. He talked about how the Seger song sounded like the open road and a tired superstar, but to him, those chords and tone sounded different. He then segued into “The Thunder Rolls” which was just excellent seeing as he even included the last “controversial” verse. So hopefully you get the picture of how the night went from the above example because that’s roughly how the first hour of the show went. If I listed off some or most of the songs he covered during that portion of the show, you might actually be in disbelief that Garth Brooks had covered them. And I should make clear that he covered these songs well. There was no tongue in cheek business (save for a funny story about hard to understand lyrics) or any sort of feeling that he’d included certain songs because they were a hit or they would get the best reaction.

As we wondering through the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s we arrived back at 1989 as promised. He played a couple of his early classics slowly progressing through the early 90s. After he’d knocked a couple of his biggest hits out of the way, he brought the house lights up to interact with and take requests from the audience. Although the overall idea is cool, I thought it was even cooler that he seemed to take a genuine interest in each person, talking with them for more than a few minutes. He could easily said “What’s your name and request?” then just launched into the requested song, but he took a few minutes to have a real interaction with each person he talked too. Another cool thing is that he told a story for each requested song instead of just going into the cut. Again, it was a nice touch that made the audience feel even closer to the superstar. One of the audience members had flown in from Egypt for the show and requested a song from the Ropin’ The Wind album that Garth seemed surprised by. He explained that he hadn’t performed that particular song in at least a decade but that he couldn’t say no seeing as the fan had traveled so far. After playing around with the chords for a few minutes, he seemed confident and launched into the song, nailing it perfectly.

During this section of the show, an audience member requested “any spiritual or gospel song”. Garth explained that he hasn’t really ever recorded a song that would qualify in a straightforward fashion of “spiritual or gospel” but that he’d included little things in the lyrics of many of his songs that eluded to the subject. He said that he’d always toyed around with the idea of doing an entire album but that he’d felt it’d been done better in the past by other artists and that he’d only be deluding what’s already out there. As he was explaining this, he remembered that he and Steve Wariner had written a full spiritual song that had never been recorded. He went on to say that he didn’t think it had ever been recorded or performed live but that if he could remember most of it he would perform it. Before playing the song he explained that so far he hadn’t seen any of his show on YouTube and that he’d hoped it stayed that way in the future. He reminded the audience that we hadn’t been searched for recording devices upon entering and that was because he trusted us not to record and share the show on the internet. This is one of the many reasons why you do not see any pictures of video clips included in this review. Having said that, he recalled and played the song which received an excellent ovation.

After a few requests and interactions, he returned to performing songs he’d selected. He seemed humble and “real” throughout the entire performance. He included another song from the Ropin’ The Wind album not before assuring us that he was terrible at playing the guitar on it. He explained that he chose to include it in the regular set because he know that even though he couldn’t play it right, it was a big enough hit that people would request it anyway. So when he played it, he would just stop playing guitar on the parts he couldn’t play and let his voice carry the song. It was a really cool touch and something I don’t think many artists would’ve attempted.

He played only one more cover which was near the end of the show. It was a “classic rock sing-a-long” tune that got the entire theater shouting at the top of their lungs. This lead him into a story about always wanting to be an artist who had that one song that everyone on Earth knows and can sing. He then said that he felt beyond blessed to have accomplished that and asked that the entire audience stand, put their arms around each other and sing along if they happened to know it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which of his hits he closed with, but again I don’t want to name it here. If you’re interested in spoilers, feel free to leave a comment on this review with your email address and I’ll give you all the details you’d like.

After he finished, I looked at the time and noticed that the show (scheduled for 90 minutes) had run 2 hours and 20 minutes. To be honest it felt like it was maybe 30 minutes long tops, that’s how fast it went by. The show was engaging, enlightening and most of all extremely entertaining. There’s a reason that Garth Brooks is consider one of the world’s greatest entertainers. No one’s ever accused him of “relying” on the huge stadium productions of his 1990s tours, but if anyone ever thought that, they need only sit through this show once to see their error.

This show is only scheduled a couple of weekends a month with shows at 8 and 10:30pm on scheduled Friday’s and Saturday’s. If you’re going to be in the Las Vegas area at any time in the next 4 years the show is scheduled to run, I cannot recommend enough that you see this show. To anyone who truly loves any genre of music, I believe it would be impossible for you not to love every moment of this show. This is one of the few true music superstars left on the planet and he’s putting an amazing show out there that anyone can enjoy.

Garth Brooks Live At The Encore Theater, Las Vegas:

10 out of 10