As I am sure everyone knows by know, Garth Brooks announced yesterday that he was coming out of retirement to play in Las Vegas. During the press conference, a question came up that I wanted to comment on:
The question to Garth had to do with performing in Nashville. His answer was "I want to do more stuff everywhere. I want to do more stuff here. I'd love to play the Opry more. I know I owe them, and if they want it, then they should have it."
Garth always says he loves playing the Opry and it is the highlight of his professional career. His press conference was at the Grand Ole Opry House yesterday and Pete Fisher was involved in the conference. As far as playing the Opry, he has appeared 3 times since 2001. If he wants to appear at the Opry, what is stopping him? I am sure if he called up Pete and said he wanted to appear next Saturday night, they would let him. I remember when he appeared at the 80th Birthday celebration in 2005. He talked to the press then and he was asked about being on the Opry more. His response was that anytime they wanted him at the Opry, all they had to do was call and he would be there. I remember talking to one of the reporters at the time and she told me that Steve or Pete must have lost Garth's number for over 5 years and just happened to find it in a desk drawer!!!(His last appearance before that night was in 2000 at the Opry's 75th birthday celebration). And, since he made that comment 4 years ago, Garth has been at the Opry one time, the night they made Carrie Underwood a member. You would think with some of the attendance issues that the Opry is having, they would be calling Garth everyweek and asking if he wanted to stop by and do a song or two. I am sure that there are other issues involved and I know that Garth would not do the Opry everyweek, but for someone who loves the place, as he says, you would think that he would be there more than 3 times in 8 years!!! Oh, and since Pete and Garth were together yesterday, do you think Pete got the chance to ask Garth if he had a couple of free Saturday nights coming up soon and would like to stop by?
Let's hope, now that Garth is officially unretired that we will see him at the Opry more. I would give him the benefit of the doubt during his retirement years. . .he didn't really do much of anything, except a few benefits and the Kansas City and LA shows. But now that he is active again, I would hope we would see him at the Opry at least 2 or 3 weekends a year. You do wonder,though, if he was even approached more than the 3 times during those years by Opry management. . . .
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, I agree that Garth could have done the Opry. On the other hand, he really has been pretty much retired. But now, I expect him to show up a bit more. IF he doesn't, well, I live in Vegas, so I'll go to the Wynn and yell at him!
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