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IN LESS THAN a week’s time, tens of thousands of people will converge on Croke Park stadium to see a man whose return has been very, very long awaited: Garth Brooks.
After his attempt to play five dates at the same venue in 2014 was scuppered, fans wondered if the country music legend would ever play on Irish soil again.
They got their answer last year, when it was confirmed he would play five concerts (across 10 days) at the stadium.
Ireland has a particularly strong relationship with Brooks. For starters, his mother Colleen McElroy Carroll was of Irish ancestry, so he has that connection. And since the 1990s, he’s always had a huge fanbase to draw on here.
His first performances were a string of gigs in 1994 at the Point Depot (now the 3Arena). At the time, the then 32-year-old was the biggest-selling country star in the world, having sold 35 million records worldwide.
He then returned to Ireland to play Croke Park stadium in 1997 – and hasn’t played since. When his 2014 gigs were cancelled, he was said to have been devastated. But even though it’s been years since he last played, his fandom hasn’t waned – his latest gigs sold out in hours.
So what accounts for the longevity of Brooks’ popularity in Ireland, and what has people running to go see him not once, but multiple times?
Rhinestone and glitz
Arts and culture journalist Alan Corr of RTE.ie has watched Garth Brooks’ success grow over the past four decades. He’s also interviewed him at least five times over the years.
He first saw Garth Brooks perform in London on his 1992 tour, and though he’s not personally a big fan, has attended some of his gigs in Ireland.
Corr told The Journal that he believes Ireland loves Brooks “because he’s so homespun – he’s got moral values”. His fans connect with these values, said Corr, and see Brooks as being very genuine about them. (He adds, though, that when it comes to the singer’s image, it’s good to note he is a graduate of advertising, so he certainly knows how to sell something.)
“Rural Ireland has really fallen for him because he espouses those values they hold on to,” added Corr. “It appeals back to that traditional value base and moral base people have.”
He wasn’t at all surprised by Brooks’ initial success in Ireland in the 1990s, given a number of factors. The line dancing craze was taking over the country, while the era of the showbands had died down, meaning people could have been looking for something to replace them with. “We have always loved that rhinestone and glitz side of country music in Ireland,” said Corr.
Anyone who remembers the 1990s will remember how popular line dancing in particular was (not that it’s gone away – there are still line dance classes going on), with almost every local community hall in the country holding a class at some stage.
But not everyone loved the pursuit – Dustin the Turkey started his own organisation SOLD: Stamp Out Line Dancing.
And country songs were in the charts, though it wasn’t just acts like Brooks – Swedish band Rednex had a huge hit with their country song Cotton Eye Joe in 1994.
Country was having a moment, and people were really leaning into it. “People wanted a good night out, they enjoyed going out, seeing a live band and having a dance,” said Corr. “But certain people in the Dublin media were snobby about this.”
Brooks picked up on Ireland’s love for his music quickly, and has always talked highly of his fans here. He even wrote a song himself called Ireland. “It’s clear Garth Brooks’ relationship with Ireland was always going to be very strong; he genuinely does love the place,” said Corr.
The media picked up on the fandom too. The RTÉ Guide, for example, knew that its ‘middle Ireland’ readership was a fan of Brooks. “When I worked for the RTÉ Guide, he was on the cover at least twice a year,” said Corr. Garth Brooks occupied the same space as the likes of Daniel O’Donnell for the Guide’s readership – they loved him.
Fandom
To appeal to audiences big enough to fill stadiums, you could argue you need to make the sort of country that has a very broad appeal. So while Brooks is no Townes Van Zandt, clearly the emotion and drive behind his songs has helped him find connection with fans easily.
Though they’re musically different, Corr said he would compare Brooks to occupying a similar place in the minds of some music fans as U2 and Bruce Springsteen, both acts which can sell out stadiums here, and who both have a huge and dedicated longtime fanbase.
But despite all of his success, Brooks has his detractors too. Corr described Brooks as “very sincere” when he interviewed him, and said he definitely felt the impact of the negativity:
I found him to be very honest and open. Anytime I asked him about the criticism and sneering he said it hurts – he is just trying to please an audience.
‘I’m going to all five gigs’
Regardless of any cynicism, Garth Brooks’ fans are nothing if not dedicated.
Dee Lawless from Dublin is going to all five Croke Park gigs, and has a group of friends who are doing the same. She was gutted when the 2014 Croke Park gigs were cancelled. She’d seen him play the previous Croke Park gig, and had been into his music since around the time of his Point gigs.
She described herself as a “lifelong fan”, but adds: “I wouldn’t be a country and western fan. I like him, and we would have liked Shania Twain and stuff like that, but it was always just Garth Brooks.”
Her fandom dates back to her teen years, when she was in school (she found an old tape that she used to listen to recently while cleaning the house). “I’ve followed him ever since,” she said. She’s originally from Clonsilla, so doesn’t buy into the idea of an urban/rural divide among Garth fans.
A lot of the appeal to Brooks is nostalgia for her, but above all she just really loves his songs. And with a gang of friends who are also into him, the gigs are a big social event for them all.
Lawless and some of her friends had booked tickets his Vegas tour – but then Covid hit. When his Vegas gigs were rebooked, the gang didn’t get to them because of Covid travel restrictions. “So we are determined to see him this time in case we never get to see him again!” she told The Journal. “We were so looking forward to the big comeback [in 2014] and it just never happened. This is worth waiting for anyway – it’s literally a week of gigs.”
She said she and her friends have high hopes for next week, as they still talk about the last Croke Park gigs over two decades on. “He was just brilliant, a total show. We had friends with us that didn’t even follow him and even still they’d talk about it, saying it was the most amazing gig ever,” said Lawless.
She’s taken the week off work so she can go to the gigs. “It’s just been the anticipation of ‘is it going to happen, is it going to happen?,” she says of the excitement they’re feeling now.
While some people might be dressing up in full cowboy regalia for the gigs, Lawless will be going more lowkey – maybe a cowboy hat might make its way into her outfit.
Above all tough, she’s looking forward to the craic: “It won’t be a messy crowd – everything there is for fun and banter.”
‘Country music is accessible’
Peter O’Brien is a Labour councillor in Dublin who’s a big music fan – you’re most likely to find him at a Guns and Roses or Red Hot Chili Peppers gig, so it might be a surprise to hear he’s going to be one of the thousands heading to see Garth Brooks next week.
He’s been a fan of Brooks since he was a child. “It’s because of my brother and sister and my mum,” he said. “We listened to albums like In Pieces and The Red Strokes – they were the albums in the car if we were heading down to Limerick or Kilkee.”
Why does he think people are drawn to Garth Brooks?
Country music is just accessible – Irish people like to sing along, so it was songs that I was singing with my parents.
He says people like Brooks because “the tunes are catchy – you can remember them”. “Even people that don’t like him know his music. Even people who would scoff at him, they know Friends in Low Places; they know The Dance.”
O’Brien also believes that Brooks taps into the respect that country artists in particular tend to have for their fans. “There’s always great respect given by performers in the country genre,” he said. “There seems to be good connection with people, you see that more in Ireland than anywhere.”
O’Brien’s not an obsessive fan – he likes all genres of music – but it’s that nostalgia factor that has him going to the gig. “The group of friends that I’m in, only two of us are into Garth Brooks and we are both going to the concert together. But it is the cause of much slagging,” he said.
Though he is from Dublin, his parents are not and he believes that in general Dublin people “don’t get” country music. “My Dublin friends, very little of them are into him. Most of my friends would be Dublin-based and they wouldn’t think twice about slagging him off,” said O’Brien. “There is no way in hell I would get them into Croke Park.”
Do people have some misconceptions about Brooks and his music? “I don’t think it’s a misconception – you either like stuff or you don’t. I like it and some people don’t,” said O’Brien. “If they went to the gig I’d say they’d love it.”
He sees his fandom as a generational thing – he is the son of big fans – and that contributes to the nostalgia around going to see Brooks live. He first went to see him during his tour in 1995 in Ireland. “My brother took me – my brother is 15 years older than me. I do remember that gig, so I’m going back with my friend Philip Doyle, he was there with his family as well in 1995.”
At the 1995 gig, O’Brien remembers how “the crowd didn’t stop singing from start to finish – they knew every word of every song that he had”.
It was like being at a football match, if you get caught up in a crowd singing the same thing, it’s a really positive vibe you get from that.
And it’s that positive vibe that he expects more of when Brooks plays Croke Park. “You know you are going to a gig where there will be craic – I can’t see one bit of hassle,” he said.
At the gig, he hopes to “have fun with my friends – it’s going to be an escape for the night”. They’re going so they can “lose yourself for three hours”.
But he does add: “I’m 37 – I could be one of the youngest people there!”
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Greed.
@Liam Clifden: They’ll take the shirt off any man’s back….
@Gerard Carey: as Gordon gekko said ….greed is good
Another company who care more about their share holders than their customers.
@Paddy Murphy: tell me a comparison between profit and loss
@Paddy Murphy: Be great if our government could do the same for us.
Really are they trying to close the bars … And just stay at home..
I’ve been drinking pints in Waterford City today for €4.60 a pint of Guinness, same price for a pint of Coors, explain that, I think the VFI are responsible for a lot of the inflated prices.
@sean whelan: Waterford is a good place
@sean whelan: You’ve been drinking pints at that price because the publican has absorbed the cost increase. His profit margins have been lowered because he doesn’t want to lose business. He takes the hit,not his loyal customers. It’s sad to see so many bars and hotels closed down around the country because of the greed of their suppliers. The town centres suffer with so many abandoned but once much loved hosteleries boarded up. Say what you want about alcohol,but it is a fully legitimate business operating a public house. It provides employment,creates a lively atmosphere in a town centre,and is an important factor of providing a social community for those who seek a place to interact with others.
Because they think they can get people to pay it. They will keep on doing it until they see a fall in sales.
This whole VAT excuse from pubs……its a charge they simply pass on to us, this mass wringing of hands in nothing but a cynical ploy – not one of them dropped their prices when the VAT rate dropped and so were trousering the difference. Most put their prices up when the VAT rate increased to maintain the profits they were making off the difference and they’ll continue to do it. The VFI will be solely responsible for killing pubs but like most of Ireland will want to blame someone else.
@Niall Whyte: The 9% VAT rate never applied to alcoholic beverages as far as I know, just food and lodging if I remember correctly.
@Niall Whyte: Jesus not this again. The VAT rate didn’t change on alcohol.
Paid 15 euro in mc daids on Friday what a fu…king rip off for 2 pints,1 Guinness 1 Carl’s berg,won’t be back in fact won’t be drinking in city centre anytime soon,Ireland the land of rip off prices.
@David Clarke: check out the snug, the lark inn and o’reillys on Tara st. Thank me later :)
The pubs in Temple bar are refusing to increase the price of the pint, they have all agreed to leave it at €25.
ireland is a rip off straight and simple ,i was in the uk last week and i went to lunch with a few friends we had 2 pints of fosters and a pint of strongbow while we waited for or meal we had 4 starters 2 soups and a roll and 2 chicken appetisers,4 man courses i think it was 2 gammon steaks with pineapple and a side of veg i had something similar to and irish stew and there was also a steak pie for a total of 53 sterling!! i genuinly thought the server had made a mistake until she gave me the itemised reciept ,yes you read that right, soup and a roll was 3 quid! the mains where around 7 sterling the side of veg was 1,50 and the pints around the 4 sterling mark the same thing in ireland would be well north of 120 euro
@John O’sullivan: you drank Fosters? Crikey!
@John O’sullivan: pub grub in the UK is, in general, vastly inferior in quality to what you get over here (doesn’t justify the gouging that goes on all the same)
@John O’sullivan: The best car market in the world is right next door. Can we access it? no chance. Overloards dont allow it.
@John O’sullivan: you’d no doubt get similar in Witherspoons here, too. Those prices are certainly not typical of the south of England where hospitality is, generally, more expensive than it is here.
Drinking attitudes in Ireland have drastically changed (for the better) too expensive, plus it would be very naive to say that the smoking ban wasn’t a big contribution to the demise of the pub, it has been, nobody wants to spend €6+ for a pint of Heineken in a pub and then be expected to go outside in the rain to have a cigarette! Crazy
@Fintan Pox: Simple. Quit smoking.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: In fairness, there are a decent sized cohort of people/smokers who only have a ciggy with a pint when they go out for a drink now and again. Fair play to them for not getting hooked on nicotine, not easy!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: simple, a coffee table, my drinks at my convenience, my cigarettes on the table, a fire going, watching anything I want on TV. I get to enjoy all those things at home. Good luck to talking to yourself in the pub lol
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: why?
@Fintan Pox: o one gives a flying toss about smokers and rightly so,why should I or anyone else want to breath obnoxious poison into our lungs,get outside and kill yourself in the fresh air,leave the rest of us alone
@David Clarke: but people like you are the very ones who complain about the cost of smokers on the public health system. Unfortunately, politicians don’t give a toss about smokers either. It’s a very foolish approach to public health. We should cherish all citizens and do our very best to help smokers quit with harm reduction like vaping.
@David Clarke: a glass of Guinness and home? Nobody wanted the stupid ban only obnoxious people with a vanity problem, you probably took the vaccination too
@David Clarke: i suspect would rather breath the smoke alone than talk to you in clean air dave
One of the biggest bug-bear’s I have is people in pubs tapping their card/phone for pints. Anecdotally I’d say 70% to 80% of customers now do it. Think folks! You are adding to the price of a pint with these practices – the publican has to build in a bank charge for you using your card into the price – this affects everyone, including the cash-paying customer. Stop it please.
@Laois Weather: So,you’re saying pay in cash instead? Great,pay in cash and you pay the same price for those who use contactless.
@Larry Betts: yes, but you’re missing the point. The person who charges you, your local bar who has a family doesn’t pay a percentage on your card payment. Charging by card costs more than cash.
@Larry Betts: So, pay by card then. That €5 you paid the bar owner last night, it’s worth roughly €4.85 to them.They then take that €4.85 and pop into the service station and fill up with €4.85 to drive home a few customers, tapping their card of course. That €4.85 is worth roughly €4.61 to the service station owner who pops down the bar tomorrow night for a pint. The €4.61 won’t buy a pint. But the bank is up €0.39.
Now, do the same with a €5 note, and see how it goes after just two transactions.
@Laois Weather: cash isn’t free. Banks charge to lodge cash and to withdraw cash and then charge for coins, too. Then there’s the security issues associated with holding cash and the inconvenience of travelling constantly to and from bank. Unless someone is hiding money, card transactions are not more expensive to the vendor than cash. Businesses that only accept cash are 100% hiding income.
No customers, no shareholders
@N D K: lovely
Greed of this government taxation to the last on every single thing ,the government are distroying this country its no longer competitive, you can’t even go stay in a hotel in Ireland for a weekend without it costing you the same price as a Weeks holiday abroad .tourism is finished in this country our government would rather spend billions housing migrants in hotels than dropping vat rates and fill our countrys hotels restaurants and bars up with money spending tourists .
@M G: Western seaboard where Tourism is vital for the economy & for survival has been destroyed by this Govt. Along the Western seaboard all associated businesses that depended on the tourists in hotels for spin off business are now closed or are on verge of closing. Hotels are full of Migrants, tour buses have gone elsewhere, Roderic O Gorman has killed off the Tourism industry in less than two years, a business that took decades to build & now locals have no jobs & are competing with Migrants for jobs, school places, GP availability. It has lead to societal breakdown & division.
Congrats Roderic.
12 euro for two pints of Guinness tonight. No wonder the pub was empty. It’s over for the pubs and clubs.
Who cares? Free the green!
There is a monopoly here with Diageo,C and C and Heineken .
I work in Germany and we drink local beer and the prices are good , around 5€ a pint.
I am not saying we should go local what I am saying is there the beers we drink are not the best but they have been marketed as if they are .
@Marty OMeara: In Dublin Guinness is the local beer.
@Deano: Guinness is cheaper down the country.
There was a fella called Charles Boycott….
@Charles Kingston: Yes, the pubs should ban selling Guinness until they reverse the price rise.
To stop us drinking of course…we all know rising the price saves us from ourselves ;-)
Stop buying it. There greedy. 5 euro all pint should be in whole country.
Lovely times out and about a year ago, the Dutch know how to party, not a Fianna Fail nanny state, could go into a pub in a designated smoking section of the bar, very good ventilation. Ireland is the only country in the world, to have a blanket ban on smoking, and pubs struggling! Lol
Shooting themselves in the foot.
So for a 6 euro pint Diageo (who makes the pints) gets about €1.50, the publican (who sells the pints) about €2.50 and the taxman gets €2 (for doing nothing)
Because people will continue to pay it?
@Oh Mammy: Ireland, land of the gullible
They’re probably keep raising the price until people stop buying it… then they’ll reduce the price to what or was just before people stopped buying it. It’s called “testing what the market will bear”
Because they know the Irish will still pay it.
@Shane O Mac: I think it’s because they know the tourists will pay it.
The Irish are mere collateral damage.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: the Irish are paying for a lot of other things as well, and we still put up with it. We do nothing about it
Earlier tonight I got €5.40 back in change from €10 for a lovely pint, few nights away in Co. Sligo……..something ain’t right
The maximum price used to be fixed in Bars by regulation.
They are legally obliged to maximise profits for their shareholders.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: That’s not true at all!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill:Simple . That’s 100% BS
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: complete BS. No such law exists
Let the publicans suck it up. They’ve raised prices in an ad hoc and crazy way since Covid. Customers have no idea now of how much their pint will cost from pub to pub. If only we had old school journalism now. This company raising their charges by 8c is not the story. The story is how pubs jumped from €5 pre Covid to €6.20 plus plus whatever you fancy after. And still have the brass neck to complain about loss of custom and the vat rate on hospitality. It’s draught lager from a barrel. Not liquid gold…or is it?
Am I wrong but is there a price point called diminishing returns if there is its approaching fast
People will complain about the ” price of a pint ” , again , and again , and again. Yet , even with the arse hanging out of their trousers , would still go and pay it. If there’s one certainty in Ireland, people will prioritise money for drink , for better or for worse . It’s just the way it is in this country .
We need to form a union for drinkers, Critical Union of National Tipsy Swiggers, for example. Then said union calls a national walkout at 8pm on a given Saturday night. 1% of the cost of what they would have drank that night goes to the union, a one off payment. Then the union reps can go back into the pub and have a few free subsidised quiet pints on a Saturday night. Aces!
Seriously is it any wonder some people choose to do drugs when out. 100e wouldn’t even get a 20 Yr old drunk these days. But a 2euro tablet would get u there in minutes. People don’t have the money they just don’t have it. Will be no pubs in ten year in ireland. I hate to think what will be.
Because after over and 120 odd years off ffg lying entitled scom anyone within the top 1 percent can do what they like , but the reality shocking thing is , the poorly educated that voted for them
They rise the price because they are greedy. Next, they will give the jobs to non Europeans to reduce the costs, like everywhere
Hopefully when Sinn Fein get in, they will allow smokers some compromise
Greed that’s why. It’s actually depressing.
7.20 for a pint of Heinekin in The Foggy Dew. The bar girl would not even look me in the eye. Drive anyone to drink….at home. A lot of trendy looking heads there drinking/laughing while coming to terms with the realisation they’ll be renting forever.
The more expensive the pint, the less customers, the more expensive the pint etc. The pub is history. Drink at home.
Because they can.
Now shut up and drink their products.
The price of Drinks in this country is gone beyond a joke the VFI are killing all the pub trade and pubs are closing down in droves, where I’m from we used to have 52 pubs in our town 20yrs ago then with the smoking ban the pubs all started closing. We now only have 15 pubs left, the rest are all closed and gone to wreck and ruin we used to have 4 night clubs now there is nothing. I’m not a drinker or a smoker but all these increases are killing the pub trade I used to love going out at weekends now the atmosphere is gone, if something doesn’t change soon we will have lost part of our heritage forever
They are off their rocks
Dirty Jopenses Bistars
“if a pub sells a pint for €6, 23% of that goes to the government in the form of VAT.
€6 – €1.38 = €4.62″
This isn’t correct. If €6 includes 23% VAT, then the price before VAT is €4.87 (6/1.23) and the VAT is 23% of €4.87.
100% greed. Doesn’t bother me I don’t drink any their muck
Because they can.
Who is going to stop them ?
about $14 nz dollars a pint,and brewed in auckland.ALL beer in NZ is costly.
What is the story with Murphy’s now….is it still available? As expensive as a pint of Guinness. Can you still buy a pint of Beamish?
Ffg have collided with the Catholic child and women abusers since the foundation of the state, as yourself why the maternity hospital is been built in Vincent’s and a 400 hundred room children’s hospital, probably the most expensive piece of shit ever built, and the answers are look in the mirror
Because they can. The same for vintners who will charge 6c for diageo increase and 5c or 10c for themselves. With no major competive markets in Ireland they will gouge us senseless. Take mobile phones as a reflection of the markets, each company increases rates by 3% + inflation annually. No competition and no investigations by most regulaters
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