Here Goes!

     Buffalo, where do I begin???  I had the pleasure of attending 2
of the 6 sold out shows in the Marine Midland arena in Buffalo, N.Y.
I traveled there from Ontario, Canada, which was about a 3 hour drive.
I always worry about finding my way around, and especially on the Fri. 
night show because I had my two daughters with me who are 7 and 9.
This was to be their first time to see what exactly it is that motivates
their mother to travel all over the U.S. to see Garth Brooks.  You see,
these were to be my 9th and 10th show for this tour. I had a couple of
friends traveling with an extra set of eyes. We got to the arena at 
approx. 12 pm. I always like to be early because I like to hang around
the buses hoping to catch a glimpse of either Garth, or Stillwater, his
band. I have heard of many people getting invited in by someone Garth 
sends out to watch the sound check. No, that didn't happen to us, but 
that is okay because I had my Garth moments on both nights. We hung 
around the buses after we had some lunch, and around 3 pm we had some
action. One of the buses pulled in with some white vans following. 
Knowing from experience what the white vans meant, I got very excited
knowing people were starting to show up for the sound check. We saw 
James Garver, Dave Gant, Mike Palmer, Jimmy Mattingly, and Debbie Nimms
all get out of the vans. I couldn't resist, I had to yell out to Jimmy 
and Mike who both turned and waved.  Now if you have ever been to a 
Garth concert, you know that Jimmy (his fiddle player)  and Mike (his
drummer) get quite a bit of ribbing through the show, so I love getting
their attention.  Then, one more bus pulls up, followed by a white van
that proceeds to pull into the venue. The other vans did not do this, 
so I know Garth is in this van. All that we could see was a shadow in
dark pants turn and look at the crowd, then walk away. The bus, which 
is driven by Jim, Garth's personal bus driver, parks and Jim goes into
the venue. A few minutes later, he walks back out, and walks strait up 
to my oldest daughter and hands her a guitar pick. I am going nuts at
this point looking at the pick because the "G" is worn off it!  He used
this pick!  How cool is that???  Then he asks me if the other little 
girl was mine, and I said yes, and he asked me to call her over, so I 
do, and he hands her another pick. This one was not worn, but it didn't
matter. Jim tells me that he took those picks out of Garth's pants 
after a show. Too Cool!  I know for a fact that Jim is always with 
Garth. When Garth is on stage, Jim is never far away. I even seen him
once bringing Garth's pants into one of the venues. I had to touch them,
just because!  Jim got a good laugh out of that one!  He jokingly told 
us that they weren't Garth's pants, but rather his own, and if you have
met Jim, you would know that these pants would never fit him! Okay, 
back to memories!  He was telling us how Garth intended to do as many 
shows in Tampa as he could sell out. I asked him how Garth thought he
could get through the 9 shows he was to do in MI. and he just answered
with "He thinks he's superman!" Well, isn't he???  LOL  He said Garth 
needs to realize that he is not 16 anymore and I had to agree with that.
I mean, I have heard him talk after doing 6 shows, and his voice is
literally gone by then, how will he make it through 9?  I remember 
reading a prediction by some guy near the beginning of the year, it 
said something about Garth opening his mouth this year and nothing 
coming out.  Let's all pray he makes it through til December! Okay time
to go to the show. I always get excited going to find my seats, and the
excitement was even greater this time because I had floor seats 21 rows
back. I worried about my girls being able to see, but everyone around 
there was sooo sweet, they all told them to stand on the chairs, and 
the guy in front of us made sure to not put his hat on so they could 
see. It was wonderful the concern they all had for my kids, and we had
never met any of them before.  Shows ya what kind of people Garth fans
are- caring people!  Trisha Yearwood was wonderful, gotta say, but it 
is Garth that I go to see, and Garth I wanted!  Okay, G-minus 5 minutes
the count is on!  The light show at the beginning is spectacular and 
very difficult to describe. The noise is sooo loud, Garth himself d
describes it like a rocket launch, and I tend to agree. Up comes the
piano, and those sweet first few notes, "Oh I said a little prayer 
tonight before I came on stage as I came walking past the drivers and 
the locals on the union wage!"  Unknowing people thinking that is him
sitting at the piano. I know better, I wait for that cowboy hat to
come out of the piano before I strain my voice. I look at my little
girls whosw eyes are wide with wonder!  I love seeing that look on
peoples faces at their first concert!  What a wonderful sight! "I ask
the dear Lord up in Heaven, (theres the hat!) Let me treat the music
right, then I pray that New York, goes wild tonight!!"  The crowd goes
wild, and Garth stands there for a few seconds taking in the crowd. 
You can always see the look of surprise on his face when he looks 
around. Like he didn't think we were all gonna be there. Silly Garth!!
LOL  He jumps down off the piano and runs to the center of the front 
of the stage! Those lucky gals out front get to touch his legs, oh to
be that lucky to be in front row. I have never been blessed with the
opportunity to be upgraded to 1st or 2nd rowm maybe next tour! Once 
done " The Old Stuff", he does his trademark, "helloooo Buffalo" How
you all doing tonight, as tradition woul have it, thanks for letting 
us come back to the beautiful state of New York, we appreciate it. 
Have  I been to too many concerts, or what???? Okay, I can't remember
exactly what he snag, the concerts seem to all become like one after 
a while.  Not that they are all the same, just the memories tend to
bond.  He broke into "Rodeo", which always brings back memories of 
'Central Park' for me. He did other songs like, "Two of a kind", "The
Beaches of Cheyaenne", "The River", "Papa Loves Mama" and many others.
He introduced his band, and when he gets to James Garver, he picks up
that steel guitar, and says, this don't look so hard, and goes to play
it, and of course, no sound comes from it.  He looks at James and says
"Whats the matter with it?" and James tells him to turn it on.  Soooo
funny listening to him laugh and repeat, "Turn it on?" Then he jumps
into "Callin' Baon Rouge", definitley one of my favorites to hear in
concert. Before he does that though, the first person he introduces 
is always Dave Gant, the keyboard player. I know when he is introduc-
ing him, he is gonna play one of my all time favorites, and that is
"We Shall Be Free". In Garth's words, "It is a song that was meant to
remind us all to love one another". I watch him go  through the first
words of this song. It is one of the songs that I love hearing live
more than I like to hear it off the radio or cd player. He does it so
much better live, and the song has so much more meaning to it after
Buffalo, because dreams came true during this song. You see, I have 
never had floor seats and I always bring a gift to Garth at every 
concert I go to.  I have even sent a huge cake backstage once for him
and the band. I am crazy, I know, but I love it!  So, this time, I 
baked cookies, and bought my girls a single rose each to give to Garth
I knew I had to time it right so he was on the side we needed him on
to give it to him, and I did. As soon as Garth saw us coming, he
started digging in his jeans for guitar picks. He always gives them to
the kids, and it wouldn't surprise me if he sent Jim out to give them
to my girls earlier in the day. He drove right past us, so I am sure
he saw us! He wasn't able to find any picks, and I could see the 
disappointment on his face. I felt bad knowing they already had some.
He got on his knee, and took the roses from my girls, and shook their
hands. I had already placed the cookies in front of him on the stage,
they were heavy!  He then looked into my eyes, (My dream come true!)
and rubbed my arm. I almost fainted right there. He then stood up, and
took a few more flowers, and I had to touch his foot before I walked
away. The girls were excited, and I was extremely excited. The concert
could have been over for me then, and it wouldn't have mattered. He
went on introducing band members, and of course, someone had brought
a sign for Jimmy. It was a woo hoo sign, and as usual, Garth made good
use of it calling Jimmy, Jimmy "Woo Hoo" Mattingly. The next night,it
was a "Taterbritches" sign, You know, so tight they have to be pealed
off! Garth had so many potato sayings, it was so funny. One of them
was separating the "Big Potato from the small fries!" I love those 
Jimmy moments. Then, boom, into "The Fever". Trisha came back on and
they did "In Another's Eyes", then Garth sang backup for "Walk Away 
Joe". I have to say, next to my moment with Garth, the best moment for
me was when Garth sang "Standing Outside The Fire". In a way this is
like a signature song for me. It was the song that brought me into
country music, and made me fall in love with Garth's music. I had 
never heard it live due to the law suit that was pending with it, and
it was a pleasure to hear it two nights in a row. Thanks Garth! I was
not blessed to hear "Shameless", and a few other songs, but I know he
can't do everything, so no disappointment here!  I ended up leaving 
early because my youngest daughter got sick. Got to hear "If Tomorrow
Never Comes" while leaving the arena. Watched his bus pull out. So 
long Garth, until tomorrow. Okay, I have gone on quite long here, and
have probably lost most of ya, the next night I had won tickets for a
bus trip, and my husband went with me. I have never gone on a bus trip
to a Garth concert, and it was a blast. I didn't have floor seats, but
I knew it was my last concert for a couple of years, and decided to
buy flowers and write a note on them to say thank-you and give it to
the security before the show to put on the stage. Trisha came and went
another great performance! "How Do I Live" sends shivers down my spine!
I proceeded to take the flowers to the security, and to my amazement,
she said I could bring them to the stage during the show. Now, out of
all the shows I have been to, they have never let me down. The 
security in the place was amazing. So, I waited for the same song, I 
had such luck the night before, thought I would try it again. Brought
a couple of girls with me, one had a camara, and I pray the pictures
of me up there turn out! When Garth saw me coming, I am positive he
remembered me from the night before. There were other people there,but
he singled me out, and got on his knee again, and took the flowers 
from my hand while running his other hand down my arm. I don't know
what kept me from falling, but somehow I mangaged to say "Thank-you"
and hopefully he got the message. He then stood up and took flowers
from other people, and before I walked away, I took both hands, and
put them just below his knee, and ran my hands down his legs. I 
couldn't help myself, I had to do it. The rest of the concert is more
or less a blurr. Through tears I watched him again do "The Dance",
and "Ain't Going Down". I always pray he doesn't hurt himself on that
ladder! He has fallen off of it a few times. He did "Piano Man, and
"Alabama Clay" for my friend who got 2nd row. Lucky gals!  I don't
know how to end this thing except to say, that if you have never been
to a Garth Brooks concert, I hope you have the opportunity to get to
one on his next tour. I am going to miss the man, the music and the
friends I have had the pleasure of meeting on my road trips. I hope
to see them all again in the year 2000!  Garth Rules!!!!!
Tracey Gibson (c)1998

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