Country singer Garth Brooks is out of retirement and now headlining a show on the Las Vegas Strip. Thanks to Steve Wynn, Brooks can fly in and out of Las Vegas on his private plane. This gives him the opportunity to be a full time Dad and play his music at the same time.

The price to see Brooks at the Wynn/Encore is 143 dollars (which includes taxes & fees) and many of you have wanted to know: is it worth the money? I say, yes, especially if you are a Garth Brooks fan. There will be no other single experience that will bring you closer to Brooks.

At Saturday night’s 10:30 p.m. performance, Brooks walked on stage in a hooded sweatshirt, hat, and jeans. It’s just him and his guitar. And that’s it.

Somehow, Brooks’ charisma and voice take over the stage, and suddenly it becomes a personal experience that you will probably never forget.

Brooks admits he’s not the best guitar player. He takes the risk of taking song requests from the audience. Some songs, he can’t remember how to play… so he just sings it without music. The fans loved it. His voice sounds like you are playing one of his CDs.

At one point, Brooks couldn’t tune his guitar so he asked someone back stage to bring him a new one. Then, a woman in the audience begs for the one he is about to ditch. Brooks looked at her and said something like, “you want it? Okay.” Yup, he unplugged it and handed her his guitar!

Brooks sang a lot of cover tunes. At the beginning he talked about the great musicians that have influenced his music and sound, like Cat Stevens and James Taylor.

Once the requests started rolling in, so did the energy. Audience members stood up and raised their hands hoping Garth would pick on them. Some just shouted out songs.

Brooks even brought out his wife, country singer Trisha Yearwood. The two joked and played around. Brooks told his wife he wouldn’t ask for requests because some people may not know her songs. He laughed after he said it, and eventually they sang together perfectly.  I really enjoyed that part of the show.

Brooks sang many of his big hits, “The Dance” and “Friends in Low Places.”

The 10:30 show had some breathing room. There wasn’t a show afterward. After Brooks’ encore, he came back out and played for another half hour. The show didn’t wrap until 1 a.m. Even after that, a couple celebrating their anniversary walked to the stage and Brooks unplugged his guitar serenading the them with one of his slow songs. The wife was crying. It was really nice.

Brooks’ one man show was entertaining and personal. More personal than any other show I have seen.

If I had to pick anything that I didn’t like about it, I would say this: I wish he played more fulls songs, because when he did, they were beautiful. Also, he did fuss around with the guitar a little too much. Hopefully he will get that worked out, as he gets used to it again.

Brooks will perform Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 and 10:30 p.m., and Sundays at 8.

You can check out my one on one interview with Garth Brooks, here.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, October 24th. Brooks will peform one show on Friday nights and two shows on Saturday. All tickets are $125.  

Credit: Denise Truscello/Wireimage