Garth Brooks makes his triumphant return to the Twin Cities

Album Releases - 2014
Concert Information - 2014
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By minnesotacountry / November 7, 2014
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Garth Brooks performs Thursday night at Target Center in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of Adam's Travel Photography

Garth Brooks performs Thursday night at Target Center in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of Adam’s Travel Photography

With no disrespect to Chicago, Garth Brooks should have kicked off his mammoth comeback tour in Minnesota.

After all, Minnesota is the state where Brooks helped raise 141,720 pounds of food for Sharing and Caring Hands of Minneapolis in October 1998 when more than 170,000 people took in his 9 shows. And, it is the state that welcomed him back with open arms Thursday night. Back at the Target Center for the first date of an 11-show run, Brooks said the main difference between his shows 16 years ago and his shows now are simply that they are better.
Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, who went to two of the shows in 1998, said at a press conference Thursday afternoon she is delighted that two of country music’s all-time greats are in Minneapolis and are performing the volume of shows they are. Hodges said the magnitude of what this means for the city of Minneapolis in terms of exposure, people coming to know the city, and the dollars that people spend in the city as they come to town for the shows is massive.
“It’s a big deal for me, personally, that they are here,” said Hodges, who clearly is a Brooks fan. She shared a story about being at Brooks’ infamous 1997 Central Park concert with thousands of other fans.
Calling Brooks and Yearwood to the stage, Hodges presented a personally-written proclamation to the couple, proclaiming Nov. 6 as Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood Day in Minneapolis, and noting major highlights from each of their respective careers. Brooks said Target Center and the Minneapolis/St. Paul market is one of his top five places in the world to perform.
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood perform Thursday night at Target Center in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of Adam's Travel Photography

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood perform Thursday night at Target Center in Minneapolis. Photo courtesy of Adam’s Travel Photography

“Cleanest city on the planet,” Brooks said. “I just love being here. The crowds are the best.” He said Minneapolis holds a special place in his heart because it is the first place his mother was able to come back and see a show following a surgery she had. “This place just means the world to me because they treated my mom and dad so great. I have great memories of this place.”
Yearwood said the first time she was on a bus west of the Mississippi River was for a trip to Minneapolis to meet with Target representatives, and she said it was the first time she had really ever been out of Georgia or Tennessee. She also remembers being amazed at how beautiful and clean the city is. “The people treated us incredibly well, too, so I share the same sentiment and experience,” Yearwood said. “I’m also a huge Prince fan so I went to First Avenue.”
In his 1996 and 1998 world tours, Brooks said he and and his crew visited close to 90 cities. The volume of tickets being sold for the shows on this world tour will prohibit him from seeing about 40 percent of the cities he saw in those tours. Brooks hand-picked the cities that he’s played and that have been announced so far. He said fans who were at one of his first shows literally did not want to leave the building. “Usually you see people start to trail out at the end,” Brooks said, “but they were there to have a great time. The fire marshal was getting all upset because they wouldn’t leave.”
Despite being perhaps the most seasoned entertainer in country music history, Brooks admits the pressure that is felt when thousands of people show up to hear him night after night. And, he does compare to the crowds that came out years ago. “These crowds have some living up to do, man,” he said with a smile. “We’re going to put the pressure back on them, and I can tell you this, the show is a better show than it was in ’96 and ’98, and the crowds have reflected that.” 
Blame it all on his roots, he still shows up in boots 
The night before he kicked off things in Minneapoils, it was Brooks who was called upon to present the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award to Luke Bryan. Brooks himself was the CMA’s entertainer of the year in 1991, 1992, 1997, and again in 1998. MinnesotaCountry.com asked Brooks about being back on that stage again and how country music has evolved since he pulled off the road in 2001. He said during the awards show, there were no monitors, so it was hard to even hear what Bryan was saying. He had to pull it up on television after the show to see how it went. “It was cool to see the youth there. I came there to see George Strait,” Brooks admitted with a laugh, joking about how he passed Strait in the hallway and how he felt starstruck. “Miss Loretta (Lynn) was also there and Miss Martina (McBride). It was good to see old-school coming together.” 
Yearwood, who presented the male vocalist of the year award, shared a story about standing backstage with Luke Bryan and said that Bryan had never met Brooks and was starstruck over him. “He was telling me that he’s a huge Garth fan and kind of freaking out that he was there,” Yearwood said. “He said, ‘I have been around him four times, and every time, it was this is the time, this is the time, but nope, nope, nope,’ he had never met him. Yearwood said she told Bryan he better win that entertainer of the year award or he wasn’t going to get a chance that night, either. She said there is a level of respect shown that was evident with Bryan and Brooks exchanging hugs on stage. Brooks hadn’t been part of an awards show since he sang “Beer Run” with the late George Jones. 
Since his first single, “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” debuted at country radio in 1989, Brooks has taken 25 singles to the number-one position on country airplay charts and his albums have spent more weeks at number one on sales charts than any other artist since the inception of SoundScan. In 2001, Garth retired and moved back to Oklahoma to raise his children. Upon the request of the President of the United States, Brooks headlined an inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in 2008, performed five concerts in two days in California to help the state with fire catastrophes, and in 2010 hit the stage for nine sold out shows to raise money for flood relief efforts in Tennessee. 
“The greatest gift I’ve ever been given in my life was from you guys and God for the 14 years to be able to afford to step away and watch the children,” Brooks said Thursday. “The second greatest gift I’d ever been given in this career would be a second half.” 
In what he considers the infant stages of his new world tour, Brooks will be selling the millionth ticket at one of the next stops down the road. His new album, “Man Against Machine,” is available Nov. 11. Brooks released a new single, “People Loving People,” in September, which is his first single since 2008. He got emotional when talking about the song “Mom,” which features a conversation between God and an unborn child getting ready to come down to earth.
Yearwood also has a new album due out Nov. 17, and performed her first offering from it, “PrizeFighter,” in concert Thursday night.
Brooks was recently inducted into the International Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In October he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Performing for his induction were his heroes George Strait, James Taylor and Bob Seger. With the interest in his career and legacy again spiking, Brooks was asked what his children thought about him being back out on the road. “They’ve been wanting us to get out of the house for the last 10 years,” Brooks said with a laugh. “They have come out and seen the show. Hey dad – we love you, but go. We made all these decisions together. They’re on their own journey and own paths.” 
Not much different than Papa Brooks himself, who has always blazed his own path in the country music industry. He and Yearwood married in 2005 and, though they have toured together before, this is the first time it is “their” show. “This is the first tour we’ve ever toured together as an act,” Brooks said. “She’s opened for us before, but this show is ours. Somewhere in the middle of it, I’ll step back and Trisha will take center stage.”
One of the highest-selling female artists in country music history, a New York Times Bestselling cookbook author, and now a Food Network star, Trisha Yearwood has a habit of surpassing expectations. Since her 1991 debut, Trisha has recorded eleven albums and achieved a hit-list of nine number-one hits and twenty Top Ten hits under her belt, including “She’s in Love With the Boy,” “Walkaway Joe,” and “How Do I Live.”
“There’s 21 hours of the day that’s hard about touring,” Brooks said. “There’s three hours in the day that’s eating ice cream, and that’s while you’re on stage. Being able to spend the other 21 hours with my best friend also helps.” 
By Ryan Gueningsman
Watch the full press conference below. 
To see some more great images of the show from Adam’s Travel Photography, click HERE.

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