'I so belong here': Garth Brooks’ 10 most memorable moments in Ireland over the past week
Garth Brooks at Croke Park. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
Garth famously burst into tears during his first Croke Park gig earlier this month. It is a moment he reflected on in a [ress conference. “First night, I got behind. So I was naturally upset with myself. I just couldn't stop crying. I just kept crying and crying the first night and finally got it together.” During his final show too he remarked how proud he was that he hadn’t shed a tear — yet. His voice broke and the tears flowed as he declared: “I was hoping for a really good night to cap it off. I gotta tell you what I got was the best fricking night I’ll ever have. Thank you for loving me, for loving all of us. I love you!”
Playing with local children around Croke Park last week was a strange but beautiful moment in hindsight for Garth. “It's funny how basketball has been our thing. We play every day here. Well, we got our times wrong one day, and we ended up playing in a pickup court. And the next thing, two kids want to come play. So now we're playing. There's an iPhone, then all of a sudden, here it comes. Well, the whole thing that didn't hit me was we’re in the residence that surrounds the Stadium, where the whole 2014 thing was a discussion. But I don't know. Those kids don't know. And we're just out here playing.”
A video surfaced on social media last week which showed the country superstar gently singing in the iconic Dick Macks pub in Dingle, Co Kerry. His time in Dingle was a particular highlight for Garth. The countryside too left an impact on them, with his wife Trisha Yearwood describing it as “magical”. “We were on a big van and I spent all my time just glued to the window. Even when we were in between places, just looking at the countryside, and I've been here several times myself, but there's just something magical about it. It's just been such a magical trip,” she said.
Garth enjoyed lunch in Wicklow with his wife, who was blown away by The Wicklow Heather, where they ate before being shown some rare books. “We had lunch and it was warm and cosy. And then a lady named Betty who is proprietress took us to the writing room with all these first edition books,” she said. “You don't get to touch first edition books at home. And she let me. I love books. It was just a really great day. It’s been wonderful.”
“The first thing I would never want is for this town to roll its eyes and go, ‘oh you're already back’. I want to play it right. But I can tell you this, the next time we're back here we won’t be here to play music. We'll be back to do what we did this last week, it was pretty cool.”
Garth will be bringing a permanent reminder of his time in Ireland home with him in the form of a very meaningful tattoo. I’ll be taking a lot of stuff here with me when I go. Our daughter was turning 18 in 2014. She likes tattoos. So I promised her I’d get one when we were here together.” He touched his arm, which was wrapped in a sleeve. “That's one of the things we will be taking from Ireland with us and continuing over in the States. So we'll always have this love together inside my heart and outside as well.”
“Me not meeting Jim Aiken would be the same thing as me not meeting Kent Blazy [who wrote If Tomorrow Never Comes and introduced the artist to Trisha Yearwood]. It's changed my life and it's made me a better artist, a better musician and better songwriter. But what I love most about Ireland is it makes me a better person. I can't imagine my life without the efforts that the Aiken family has made toward our family.”
Sounding suspiciously like a Dublin football manager, Garth says he would have loved five-in-a-row at Croke Park. “I wish they could have been in a row because Sunday you start to get the momentum Sunday. And then they make you wait and stop and I had to start over again.”
One question stumped Garth during the press conference. He was asked if he identifies as a culchie. “Which one eats more often? I’m in that category. Which one likes to have more fun? I'll fit in that category,” he joked. Hours later, close to the end of his concert, he brought up the topic and told the crowd: “I was asked if I identify as a ‘culchie’. I’m not from here, but you make me feel like I so belong here.”
Garth promised some surprises in his set on Saturday night during the press conference and he certainly delivered. One highlight was his tribute to Freddie Mercury and Queen. Garth sang hit after hit to the delight of the audience, mastering We Are The Champions, Another One Bites The Dust, Radio Gaga, We Will Rock You and more. He switched genres with ease and showed how skilled a performer he truly is.
