Garth Brooks Gives a Las Vegas ‘Pep Talk’

It's December 11, and the reality of the situation is finally hitting Garth Brooks. In a few hours, the top-selling solo artist of all time will officially end his nearly decade-long retirement as he starts a five-year run at The Encore, a 1,500-seat theater at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino.

For those used to the country superstar's high-wire, high-octane arena act, this is Garth (all the Wynn signage is first-name only) unplugged. Accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, and sometimes not even that, Garth is the star of his own one-man show. Call it the World According to Garth.

The Boot spent time with a near-giddy Garth shortly before the first show of a potential 300-concert run. We talked about the one thing that would make him walk away from the Wynn and what comes next.

You're on stage in less than two hours. What's going through your head?

[Earlier in the week] people were saying "good luck," and I just wasn't feeling it. But damn, when [Robin Leach asked about it in the pre-show press conference], all of a sudden I thought, "My God, I'm here. This is real. This is happening." I'm finally here to play, and there's this ball inside of me and now that's the ball that starts the game. I feel excited, and I feel confident ... I feel great!

What does it mean to you to be back on stage?

To get a chance to start creating again. To do what I do. I try to be a dad, but I don't know if I'm the world's greatest dad. I try to be. But I gotta tell you, when you're playing music, you go, "This is what I'm supposed to do. This is so easy." So I'm ready to get to that point now. I'm ready to get to sound check. It's the greatest sounding room I've ever heard.

Is this a chance for you to reinvent some of the songs? Can you take 'Ain't Going Down' and do it as a ballad?

No. If I'm inventing, it's going to be everything from here forward, new. The old stuff -- what I find with people is they want to hear it the way they know it.



This is the picking up the dialogue you started with your fans 20 years ago. What's the next part of the conversation?

This is the pep talk right before the second half. This is where the whole team gathers round and you say, "Look, we've been through one half of this. We've seen what we can do. We can do better, we can do bigger, we can do more fun, we can do more sincere, we can do all the good things. Let's get out and do it." This is Wynn 2009 that starts the World Tour 2014.



So you're definitive about a new word tour in 2014?

I would like to. It's been my wish. My wife [Trisha Yearwood] has granted me that wish. My wife wants to do Broadway, so I'm going to have to trade her at some point and we're going to go up there, but she understands that there's a good chance to create music coming up here.

Will playing regularly inspire you to start writing again?

Definitely. This is going to open [me] up to writing again.

What scares you about this?



I was going to say nothing, but what scares me is falling in love with it and it disrupting my home life and me having to say goodbye to it again. That would be tough.

Why would that happen the way you've got the schedule set up, so that you're home during the week and only performing on weekends?

Well, if it screws with it at all, I'm out. And [Wynn owner Steve Wynn] knows that. And if it doesn't turn out the way he wants it, he's out. We both have that right.



It was 20 years ago this month that you had your first No. 1 with 'If Tomorrow Never Comes.' Can you even remember what you used to think would happen back then?

No. The night before Central Park, I didn't think it would turn out like this. The night before Texas Stadium, I didn't think it would turn out like this. The night before this, I didn't. I dreamed [this deal] would happen, but didn't think it would come true. How many times do you find someone crazy enough to pay you this kind of money [and] give you a plane to come do what you love? This is my life and I thank God for it every day. It will last as long as it does and the day that it's over, all the money in the world won't buy you another.

There was concern over how the tickets were distributed this time in an effort to stop scalpers. (Buyers had to give the names of everyone in their party and people have to show IDs to match to each ticket.) Do you feel you accomplished your goal of not getting the tickets into scalpers' hands?



No ... I'm still as disappointed as I [ever] was about how the government turns a deaf ear to scalping. Everybody that is for it, that thing I always hear is it helps the fans. I've never heard from a single fan -- and I've talked to a lot of them -- that ever said it helps.

So you feel the whole process did nothing to stop the scalping process for these tickets?

Oh, I don't think it did nothing. For one, it got Wynn fired up, which is always a good thing because he's a smart man. You stick him on something and he'll find a way to get around it.

Tickets for the Vegas show are $125. How much would you like tickets to be in 2014 when you go on tour?

I don't know ... Do I want to see them under $50? You bet your ass. My goal? A family of four comes for $100. That would be righteous. But I don't know what 2014 is going to mean.