Garth Brooks opened his Nashville honky-tonk with a globally-streamed 'Dive Bar' concert
In his estimation, Country Music Hall of Famer and Grand Ole Opry member Garth Brooks has played over 15,000 live concerts.
The "Dive Bar" edition, streamed live Friday evening via Amazon Prime, added another layer to Brooks' creative and entrepreneurial legacy -- serving also as the maiden voyage for his long-planned Lower Broadway honky-tonk: Friends in Low Places.
"This is the first home game for us. You have spoiled me to death for not just today but my entire career," Brooks said as he neared the end of his 55-minute set in front of an invitation-only crowd of die-hard fans.
Some lined up outside 411 Broadway for 18 hours before the event's 6 p.m. CT start. Via the streaming broadcast, it was clear that they congregated anywhere they pleased once they were inside the venue's two open levels. Were they standing 18 inches away from their favorite performer? Sure. Crowding a staircase while screaming lyrics in his face while awaiting a fist bump, high-five, or hug? Absolutely. Upstairs on the second-floor balcony facing the stage? That was fine, too.
Maybe that will not be the protocol every night through Friends In Low Places' expected weekend schedule through Valentine's Day 2024. However, as Brooks noted, his $50 million honky-tonk is the "house that [his fans] built." On its opening night, they had free reign and he -- alongside "Rodeo Man" collaborator Ronnie Dunn and his wife, Trisha Yearwood -- was the house entertainment.
More than anything, the concert highlighted precisely what the vibes would be inside Friends In Low Places.
Ronnie Dunn took to the stage to pair for "Rodeo Man," Brooks' lead single from his new album "Time Traveler."
Hearkening back to 1985, Dunn, alongside Kix Brooks and yes, Garth too, cut their teeth at Tulsa, Oklahoma's now-closed Tulsa City Limits honky-tonk.
That space was a roughly 1,000-capacity room where live music, "boot scootin' boogies" and a fun, raucous atmosphere were the perpetual expectation.
Watching Brooks and Dunn -- but this time, substitute Garth for Kix -- onstage at Friends In Low Places felt like watching a '90s country video, like, say, the one Kix and Ronnie shot at Tulsa City Limits for "Boot Scootin' Boogie" in 1990.
Timeless, too, was Yearwood's appearance to perform her and her husband's take on Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born" duet "Shallow," plus her own 1991 classic "She's In Love With The Boy."
Brooks, clad in his trademark cowboy hat, "Just Ledoux It" Chris LeDoux sweatshirt and blue Wrangler jeans, hugged his wife, clad head-to-toe in a black leather pantsuit. Add Ronnie Dunn's blue jean jacket to the mix and the sensibilities Friends In Low Places is looking to cultivate were readily apparent.
At the mini-concert's penultimate moment, Brooks highlighted how his original G-Men band member, Steve McClure, was still his steel guitarist. Standing alongside the man who had played with him before a massive crowd in New York City's Central Park a quarter-century prior, Brooks' inaugural show at his long-anticipated honky-tonk felt like another career milestone.
The power of that full-circle moment only increased the magic behind cuts like "That Summer" and "Two Pina Coladas."
And then, of course, was his extended, ten-minute take on his 33-year-old hit "Friends In Low Places," the song for which his bar is named.
Four days earlier, Brooks stood in the middle of the Lower Broadway area he rechristened the "Neon Neighborhood" and offered that the bar earned its name because "the song outlives the artist. Whether you like me or don't, you love 'Friends in Low Places.'"
On the first of what will likely be many Friday evenings in the "Neon Neighborhood," the entirety of Friends In Low Places loved "Friends In Low Places.
Brooks closed the set with a stirring rendition of his 1989 hit "The Dance."
"How's the new house doing?" queried Brooks.
The full-throated, sweat-drenched and tear-jerked honky-tonk singalong that ensued answered his question.
Garth Brooks Friends In Low Places 'Dive Bar' mini-concert setlist
Rodeo
We're Two Of A Kind
Two Pina Coladas
Shallow (w/Trisha Yearwood)
Trisha Yearwood - She's In Love With The Boy
The River
That Summer
Rodeo Man (w/Ronnie Dunn)
The Thunder Rolls
Friends In Low Places
Friends In Low Places (live version, third verse)
The Dance
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Garth Brooks' Nashville Friends in Low Places opens with Amazon show
