Our Rockin' Halloween

We had so much fun this Halloween. It all started after work on Friday. We met up with Alison's family at Bucca Di Beppo downtown to celebrate both Debbie's and Kent's birthdays.

Right after dinner Blake, Debbie, Kristin, Dan, Alison, and I headed over to the Vivint Smart Home Arena for the Garth Brooks concert. We were so excited. We got tickets because a family friend accidentally bought 40 tickets to the concert. It was a case of poor planning, which worked out well for us. If they wouldn't have been looking to get rid of tickets we probably wouldn't have gone to the concert.


Our seats were way up at the top of the stadium. From this vantage point, we had great views of the lighting and visual effects, which were stunning. The downside was that it was difficult to hear Garth talking from where we were sitting.




Even from the top of the stadium, the energy of the show was electric. Garth fed off that energy throughout the show. He has a way of getting the audience to sing along to every song. He is truly a world-class performer and delivered on his promise of a legendary show.




One of our favorite songs during this show was "The River." It is such a good song. What really made it incredible was the way the lighting mixed with people holding up the flashlights on their phones and the singing of the crowd.


Too many times we stand aside
And let the waters slip away
'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow
Has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline
And say you're satisfied
Choose to change the rapids
And dare to dance the tide.
-The River

He sang all of our favorite Garth songs, really focusing on his old stuff. He told us that when he goes to concerts he goes to hear the old stuff, so that is what he sang for us.  With so many great performances it is difficult to pick a favorite. One of the most powerful performances was, "The Thunder Rolls." Garth described this song as one of his most treasured. The effects of this song matched the words and music perfectly. It was haunting.

The thunder rolls
And the lighting' strikes
Another love grows cold
On a  sleepless night
As the storm blows on
Out of control
Deep in her heart
The thunder rolls. 
- The Thunder Rolls

There were two highlights that were unique to this show. Near the middle of the show, John Stockton took the stage to raucous applause. He was there to announce that Garth had set a new ticket sales record for the downtown SLC arena (beating the record Garth set in 1998 the last time he performed in SLC.) Another cool moment came during Trisha Yearwood's set. She invited one of the backup singers, Karyn Rochelle, to join her at the front of the stage to sing, "Georgia Rain," a song Karyn wrote for Trisha. It was a touching moment. 


The encore performance included songs we all loved. There was a sign in the crowd requesting Garth sing "Mom". Debbie was so excited he obliged because this is one of her personal favorites. A cowboy near the front requested "I'm Much to Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," which got an excited fist pump from Blake. The concert ended with one of our favorites, "Standing Outside the Fire." What a way to end the concert on a high note. 



After the show, Alison and I rode home on Trax with Blake and Debbie. I took Trax to work in the morning, and Alison rode down with Kristin and Dan. Blake and Debbie rode to dinner with Kent and Aleene thinking they could catch a ride home with us. It was kind of a funny situation and the train ride home was actually pretty fun.

We had so much fun at the show on Friday night that when Blake and Debbie told us they were going again on Saturday night we wanted to go. We started looking at tickets and found they were pretty reasonably priced. We still went back and forth on it for a little while. The more we thought about it the more we realized this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. 

This time we bought seats on the floor. We wanted to be close enough we could hear everything and Alison wanted to be in a section where everyone would stand up and dance. 



We bought our tickets from StubHub. So we went down early with Blake and Debbie to pick up our tickets at the last-minute pickup area. It turned out to be a zoo. They were totally overrun with people. Fortunately, we purchased our tickets early enough in the day that they were preprinted so we were able to get in and out relatively quickly. 

We got to our seats early and ended up waiting a long time for the show to start. Since this time there was no time constraint there was a warm-up performance before Garth came out. Karyn Rochelle came out and sang a handful of songs. She was the backup singer they highlighted during the Friday show. She is very talented and we enjoyed her songs. 


Once Garth came out the show was pretty similar to Friday night. We could hear better and it was pretty cool being up close enough to really see Garth. Plus everyone in our section was standing up and dancing, which Alison loved. She had so much fun dancing at this show. I don't know if it was the better seats or the show itself, but the energy seemed even better than on Friday night. 



Once again "The River" was a highlight. That song is just so amazing. This time he followed it up with another great ballad, his very first number one, "If Tomorrow Never Comes." This performance was awesome. He started off playing his guitar, but by the end, he put down his guitar and sang the song a cappella (with a ton of help from the audience). It was really a treat. 


One of my favorite quotes from both concerts was when Garth thanked the crowd by saying, "We've played drinking songs, cowboy songs, and cheating songs and you've treated everyone like your favorite." It was really true. Every song was incredible and the energy for each one blew us away. Whether it was the fun songs like "Two Pina Coladas," "Ain't Goin Down (Til the Sun Comes Up)" or cowboy songs like "Beaches of Cheyenne" and  "Rodeo" they were incredible. 



My personal favorite from both concerts was the performance of "Unanswered Prayers." This was already one of my favorite songs and the live performance was so touching. This was a song where the audience was super involved and many people were moved to tears. I loved it both times. 

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talking' to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. 
-Unanswered Prayers

The climax of the show was "The Thunder Rolls." Once again Garth Brooks made it as memorable as possible. Since we were close the fog and lighting effects gave the stage a really eerie look. We also paid more attention to the verses this time around and noticed Garth sings a third verse we weren't familiar with. We looked it up later and found out he only sings the third verse in live shows. We were really glad we got to experience this incredible performance again. 

To end the first half of his show Garth sang "In Another's Eyes" with his wife, Trisha Yearwood. Only since it was Halloween did Trisha come on stage dressed as Elphaba. She was all covered in green and everything. It was epic. Garth basically laughed his way through the entire song. It was great. Trisha took over and sang a similar set to the Friday show. One of her songs was called, "Prizefighter." It is a song about fighting against breast cancer. In the audience, there was a sweet lady who came down the stairs of the arena carrying a sign about how she beat breast cancer. Trisha paid a touching tribute to this lady during the song. The applause for this lady was one of the loudest applauses we heard the entire night.




Garth came back out with his performance of "Shameless." His live version of this song is so intense. It really blew us away. He is just so passionate. Shortly after that, he played the song Alison was the most excited about, "Callin' Baton Rouge." It is such a fun song and the whole time he was singing she was dancing her heart out.  


Tonight when Garth came back out for the first part of the encore it was just him and his guitar. He did this thing he called housecleaning where people would hold up signs with the songs they wanted him to sing and he would just start singing. It was amazing. He went through 5-6 songs like this. It really showed off what a talented person he is. Then he called the band back out for a big finish. Once again his last song was "Standing Outside the Fire." It was such a perfect way to end another incredible night. 

Standing outside the fire
Standing outside the fire
Life is not tried, it is merely survived
If you're standing outside the fire
-Standing Outside the Fire



The show ended pretty late, but after such a high-energy performance we were starving. We went with Blake and Debbie to get some pie at Village Inn. We are glad they wanted to go see Garth Brooks again so that we had someone to go with. 

Alison and I do not really like Halloween. It is a holiday we tolerate more than anything. This Halloween was epic. It was easily our favorite Halloween together since we have been married. We went back and forth when we decided to go to Garth Brooks again on whether or not it was really worth it, especially since we saw the show the night before. It was totally worth it. It was awesome. It was one of these experiences we will remember and cherish forever. 

Comments

Popular Posts