Garth Brooks is all smiles as he announces his new one-man show at the Wynn in Las Vegas, Nev. during a press conference on October 15, 2009. Photo courtesy of garthbrooks.com.

It was supposed to be the end of Garth Brooks’ self-imposed retirement from live performing. And it was.

But now his five-year deal with Wynn Las Vegas is being hailed as a new way of doing business in America’s gambling capital.

Vegas is known for its glitz and over-the-top productions. That’s not what the audience got over the weekend. Garth showed up Friday in a hoodie and jeans, according to USA Today, kicking the show off with a cover of Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” and spending much of his two hours on stage by taking requests. Working without a band, he logged many of his own hits, including “Friends In Low Places,” “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)” and “The Dance.” As he often does in his solo acoustic gigs, he threw in covers of hits by such acts as George Jones, George Strait and Billy Joel. And perhaps the glitziest moment came with the introduction of a special guest — Trisha Yearwood, not much of a surprise since they live in the same house — leading to a collaboration on “Walkaway Joe.”

Tickets ran $125 apiece — expensive by most standards but reasonable in a town where people routinely throw hundreds and thousands away at blackjack tables. Garth’s first round of shows in the Wynn’s 1,500-seat theater all sold out, as all his concerts will likely do throughout his 15-weekend-a-year deal. And observers are wondering if, in fact, the other deal makers in Nevada might not try to follow suit.

“The triumphant arrival of Garth Brooks may be the first glimpse of the next Las Vegas and a new showbiz paradigm: the anti-spectacle,” Las Vegas Weekly posited.

The Los Angeles Times suggested other casino owners were probably kicking themselves: “You mean instead of pumping 12 gazillion dollars into a blowout production, I could have packed them in to see a middle-aged guy in a hoodie sweatshirt, baggy jeans, work boots, a baseball cap… and one guitar?”

One of the particularly unique aspects of Garth’s return is that while he’s conquered all sorts of venues — arenas, Texas Stadium, Central Park — his history in Vegas casinos is just one previous show. He played in 1991, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, at the Desert Inn with Carlene Carter.

If the low-production Wynn gig is a new idea for Vegas, it’s one with a limited time frame for Garth. At a pre-show press conference, he told reporters his youngest daughter will likely enter college in 2014, freeing him to hire a band, do a bigger production and go on his next world tour.

In the meantime, there’s one sour note closer to home. Garth has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital in Oklahoma City, Tulsa TV station KOTV reports. He donated that sum to the hospital anonymously four years ago. The two sides are now at odds over naming the Living Center, which hasn’t yet been built, after his late mother, Colleen.

ShareThis