GARTH STILL HAS IT!

When hotel mogul Steve Wynn loured country legend Garth Brooks out of retirement last year, I knew at some point I'd end up in Vegas to check out the show. Well this past Saturday night became that "some point."

Heading into Saturday I really didn't know what to expect. I had seen Garth's high octane show twelve years ago in a hockey arena alongside 20,000 other screaming fans, but I knew the Encore Theater was small and would lend itself to a more intimate performance. I had heard it was just Garth and his acoustic guitar, but wasn't 100 percent sure. I hadn't heard if his wife, country star Trisha Yearwood was making appearances at the gigs. All I knew is that I was willing to pay a pretty hefty ticket price to see who I tell people is the best entertainer I've ever seen live.

So it makes me very happy to report that Garth still has it- the voice, the charisma, the love of performing. The show was intimate (helped by our fourth row seats) with only Garth and his belly hiding guitar. The cool surprise (spoiler alert) is that Brooks didn't just perform his own songs, but rather took us on a journey of the music that shaped his life and how those songs and those artists shaped his music. Over the course of two hours, Brooks in his ball cap, plain black shirt and loose fitting jeans worked his way through several decades playing the songs of Haggard, Jones, Seger, Croce, Joel, McLean and many others while sharing humerus stories of his family and life in the music industry. Of course Brooks didn't just play covers, he had plenty of time to work in Garth classics like "Friends In Low Places," "That Summer," and "Shameless."

The whole night was a treat, but there were a couple highlights in my opinion. The first was when Garth opened it up for requests from the audience and this guy stood up three rows directly in front of me and asked to hear "The Dance" for his brother. So Garth sits down on the stage, about ten feet from me and plays my favorite Garth Brooks song ever. It felt like it was only me and the few people I could see in front and to the sides- it was simply AMAZING. The other highlight came when he brought out his talented wife Trisha Yearwood to duet on "In Another's Eyes." The love and passion between them was so intense that I don't think anyone breathed during their performance.

When the show wrapped up at one o'clock in the morning, it was defiantly a different Garth experience than I had had twelve years ago, but equally as good. How often do you get to see a legend in a small theater talk about his songs, play his songs as well as classic hits of others - NEVER.

So to Mr Wynn, thank you for bringing Garth out of retirement and if you are looking for an excuse to go to Vegas, Garth spends 15 weekends a year there!