Las Vegas Weekly

December 15, 2009 · 6:24 AM

Q&A: Garth Brooks most at ease onstage with just songs and his guitar

By Robin Leach

Country superstar Garth Brooks, back onstage after a nine-year, self-imposed retirement, chatted about performing, his influences, his family and McDonald’s last Friday, the day his show premiered at the Encore Theater in the Wynn. The Strip will be his second home for the next 15 weekends each year for five years in a residency estimated to be paying him as much as $100 million.

And who knows if that astounding total even includes the big gift from hotel mogul Steve Wynn, a $15 million jet that will shuttle Garth back and forth from Las Vegas to his home in Tulsa, Okla., that he shares with country singer wife Trisha Yearwood and three teenage daughters.

Robin Leach: Are you nervous about tonight’s show?

Garth Brooks: Everybody has been telling me good luck, you know, and this and that, but I haven’t been feeling it in my stomach, and I was worried. I thought, “Am I cold or am I dead? What’s up?” And when you said that, I don’t know, something went right in here and out here and said, “Oh, my God, I am here, and it’s going to start.” Now there is that feeling that you want, that you have to get over.

RL: When you walked in, you were wired and ready to do this.

GB: Well, I just had a nap, too. You sleep well on that thing. Now I get to do what I do.

RL: So this business of no nerves, is it really because you are just telling your life story like you are sitting down with people who have dropped by your home? Is that how it’s going to be?

GB: I hope they are here because they want to hear that story.

RL: I don’t want to destroy what you were trying to tell us.

GB: No, that is the story, and what I am trying to have people do is not give the song list. Are we are going to be doing stuff from Merle Haggard and George Jones? Yes. And are we going to do stuff from Billy Joel? Yes. These are all influences from my life.

RL: You will change this nightly?

GB: My influences won’t change, but I can do 20 James Taylor songs that affect me differently.

RL: Is that tough on you?

GB: No.

RL: Is it easy on you?

GB: I get to go back to 1972 with “Mudslide,” “Sweet Baby James.” You get to play cuts that you never get to play in a regular big arena because you have your stuff to do.

RL: How do you incorporate your wife into that? Or a guest star?

GB: Just as I incorporate my mom and dad into it. It’s pretty easy. Are you going to see the show?

RL: Tomorrow night at 8 o’clock.

GB: You will see how it’s done. I hope she feels better by tomorrow night (Trisha was battling a cold), and I hope she is coming out.

RL: Is she going to go back and forth with you tomorrow?

GB: Yes, we are partners, and she wants to see the games, too. She is at every soccer game.

RL: So explain this: You pick up your daughter in Tulsa, which is two hours, and then where do you fly?

GB: Well, we fly out to Tennessee to do a showcase out there for soccer kids. All the colleges come and watch the teams.

RL: And when is that?

GB: Tomorrow morning at 8.

RL: So you will be singing?

GB: No, it’s her showcase. I will be sitting on the sidelines trying to stand up.

RL: You don’t think this is the busiest weekend of your life?

GB: I’m thinking this is what the next five years will be for me.

RL: But only 15 weekends. Next weekend you can take off.

GB: Yes, next weekend I can be in my underwear, eating chips and watching football.

RL: I can’t have that image. Seriously, you’re not going to wear something other than this tonight?

GB: Other than what?

RL: Than just take off the jacket?

GB: This is part of the thing. I came in to sound check the room and asked Steve to bring people he loved. He brought the architects in here, and I came like this, and when he got through with the show, he said, “I love the show.” And I said, “I will dress up,” and he said, “No, I want you just the way you were, boots, hat.” And I said, “Are you sure?” And he said yes. So we are going to see how it works this weekend. The main thing I want to make sure people know is that this is not any disrespect. This is how I dress every day.

RL: So what happens if people come in and they don’t see what they are expecting to see?

GB: That’s the good thing about this thing. If this disturbs what I have going on at home, then I can quit. If this doesn’t work out for Mr. Wynn and the audience that comes in here, he can quit.

RL: Well then you can’t keep the plane?

GB: Well, you may have to look at the contract on that one.

RL: Fair enough! Was the plane a lifeline this afternoon or a pain in the neck?

GB: It was unbelievable, I mean unbelievable. The whole thought was like getting into your car and driving somewhere for a gig that takes you a few hours to get there. It was amazing. I had my daughters with me. We have a soccer tournament on Eastern Time at 8 tomorrow morning, so we leave right after to get here. … We are supposed to land here 45 minutes before show time tomorrow night.

RL: Do you have a regimen or routine that you do before you go onstage or are you just comfortable getting off the plane and going onstage doing what you do?

GB: On the regular tour, which is all I know, we have a routine, which is anything goes. You have to be ready because the time is coming whether you’re ready or not, but you are trying to get routines because you are superstitious. Here, it’s kind of like flying by the seat of your pants. Thank God I got enough room to fly by.

That’s what the whole plane was for and Mr. Wynn saw that, and that’s what Mr. Wynn gave me as a gift to do this and be a parent at the same time. I have five years left for these kids. I have one that is a senior, a sophomore and an eighth-grader. I have to tell you without ringing my own bell, I am very proud of Sandy (Garth’s ex-wife) and have been with these kids. … Why blow the last five? We will finish strong, and that’s what allows me to do this.

RL: You said you have a regimen because you are superstitious. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what you are superstitious about?

GB: There are little things. Some fans gave me some buckeyes that I have had forever. The next night after they gave me them, we were lucky enough to win a lot of American Music Awards. Joe Harrison, my one-time agent who passed away, I carry his lament with me.

RL: Garth, have you rehearsed for this show tonight already?

GB: Yes. No. This is me. This is going to be me. You just go out, and you will be who you are. I need you guys to find a way to reach deep inside of you and review this like you have never reviewed before. Review it like a movie because this is going to be about my life. It starts in 1962, and my influences can’t change. I can’t be born in a different year, and my influences can’t change, so if the show sucks, the show sucks.

If the show moves you, it would be nice to hear that. But if we could not give away the stuff for the people that are coming the next night and the next night. There are 300 of these shows, and I would like to do all 300. And I would like the last ones to come in and be as surprised like the first ones.

RL: So when you say yes, you have, and no, you haven’t, what have you done and what haven’t you done?

GB: I have done this show since I was 21 years old. This is my life. The band thing and the tour thing that you might know me for is totally new. This is me. Mrs. Yearwood, when they ask her what her favorite part of a Garth show is, she always says the same thing. It’s when he comes out, when it’s just him and the guitar, and he starts to play the stuff he was raised on. We will eventually get into my stuff, but I like playing the stuff that influence me.

RL What did you do for your anniversary?

GB: Thank you for remembering. We are celebrating four years, but all of us are, including the children. Everyone exchanged rings. All five of us had a big night planned, and at the very last minute, they moved the youngest one’s Christmas program that night. So we were at the carol and I promised them a big fancy meal, so we went to McDonald’s and got some fries and went home and that was our night. Mrs. Yearwood and the girls exchanged gifts last night for their anniversary. Ms. Yearwood got some really good handmade stuff from the girls.

RL: It sounds like you are going to do something that we are not used to seeing. What are you most excited about and proud about for this show?

GB: The other show, there is so many things you can hide behind. You got the band. … This is going to be very honest.

RL: Is this very liberating for you?

GB: You know, it depends on the crowd. If they want to know about your life, then I can do my thing, but for people who are expecting the band, it’s different. Not sure this is a kid’s show. This is more for people who are my age or my dad’s age.

RL: Garth, did the realization of tonight and what it means for the next five years, did it hit you this morning? Did it hit you last night?

GB: You just hit it. Now.

RL: Right this second?

GB: It might have been around during the tour. I would come in for a press conference and do my thing, and that’s when you knew it was real. When you just said that now, I realized, “God, I’m doing a press conference. I’m about to play. I’m starting to understand. Damn. Everyone has been excited about this week, calling me, like, “Hey, dude,” and I’m, like, I think I just got it.

RL: So after all these years of doing it, do you have butterflies?

GB: Yes. I was good a minute ago. I’m sorry, man. That’s weird.

A little more from Garth

My ABC Radio producer Al Mancini also chatted one-on-one with Garth.

Al Mancini: Hours before your first show, how does it feel?

Garth Brooks: It feels good. I guess you will be the first person to hear that we are canceling it. So you will have the lead story on that.

AM: Nervous?

GB: Yes. I wasn’t till Robin Leach asked. Thanks! All of a sudden, it just hit, and it’s good. I was worried that I was too old or wasn’t feeling what everyone was calling and saying, “Hey, this is great. We are excited.” I was, like, OK, good, but now this is it.

AM: Now you feel it?

GB: I do, and getting over whatever that is and getting into the fun part of it is why I love doing this, and it’s here. I am going to have a great time.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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