Garth Brooks at Greensboro Coliseum — Greensboro, NC

In a rapidly declining music industry, Garth Brooks was named the best-selling artist of the last two decades by Billboard in 2012. Garth broke his previous North Carolina ticket sales record (from 1998) on this five-day stay in Greensboro. It seems that nothing can stop him now that he’s come out of retirement, and we were ecstatic to catch one of his sold out shows at Greensboro Coliseum.

To start the night off, Karyn Rochelle [★★★★★], a Wilmington, NC native, member of Garth’s band, and songwriter for Tricia Yearwood, took the stage with her band to warm the crowd up. They played “Jezebels,” which is sure to be a solid tune in the future of country music with great lyrics, “Girls like you are a dime a dozen.” Next Karyn went into her song “From a Table Away” and shared she recently released her self-titled album.

Unfortunately Karyn’s third song, “Red High Heels,” was her final song of the night, a song she co-wrote with American Idol alumna, Kellie Pickler. Just before performing her last song, Karyn’s husband appeared on stage with flowers, which got a massive “Aww,” from the crowd. This was one of her hometown shows, we could tell she could definitely feel the crowd’s love that night. We were all sad to see her set end.

After a short while, the main spectacle began with a voiceover and a giant, digital countdown clock that let us know that THE MACHINES ARE TAKING OVER in: 5.4.3.2. . . 1:

As the crowd stands, they join Garth Brooks [★★★★★] for a two-hour singalong of his greatest hits peppered with some new material off of Man Against Machine. After every song, the crowd would roar louder than the music itself, which seemed to really astound Garth. He would stand there in amazement of the crowd and shout “WOW!” Smiling widely, he said, “You know the best thing you can do for any artist, is to sing their lyrics right back at them.” Greensboro did that all night as Garth and his band cranked out hit after hit.

Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood at Greensboro Coliseum — 11/22/2014

About halfway through the shows, as “In Another’s Eyes” started to play, Trisha Yearwood [★★★★★] appeared to join her husband, Garth, on stage for an intimate duet. Garth snuck away for a break after that song as Trisha took the stage to perform three of her most famous hits, “American Girl,” “How Do I Live,” and “She’s In Love With The Boy.” She also performed her new single, “Prize Fighter.” Unfortunately, this song did not seem to register very well with the crowd, as many people took their seats, but we hope to hear more from Tricia in the near future.

Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood at Greensboro Coliseum — 11/22/2014

Garth came back out for the second half of his show with even more energy. He grabbed a video camera and ran wild on stage showing the band, stage, and crowd off on the jumbo video screens. Brooks joked before playing “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damned Old)” that we were going to have to carry him off stage, but that was far from the case! From the slow ballads like “The Dance” to the upbeat tunes like “Ain’t Goin’ Down (’Til The Sun Comes Up),” Garth had us all on our feet the whole time for this incredible live experience. Welcome back Garth and Trisha!