Now that was a special gig…

Garth fever has completely consumed Ireland over the last two weeks, with the country music star selling out five shows in Dublin’s Croke Park.

Thousands of people from the Red Hand county made their way to see the Oklahoma-born musician play some of his biggest songs live for the first time on these shores since 1997.

Going to see a favourite band, DJ, or singer live can be a memory to truly cherish. My Granda, who is 86 years of age, has lived his whole life listening to country music, and his hero is Slim Whitman.

The country crooner was at one time the world’s richest singer and had the longest-running number one in UK charts history with Rosemary, until that pesky Brian Adams came along singing a song about some guy with a bow and arrow.

He still tells me about the time he had the chance to see an older Slim Whitman perform live in Derry’s Millennium Forum. He even got to meet the man that he has been a fan of since his early teens and shake his hand.

For a fan, these little interactions mean everything, and these stories and songs will keep getting talked about and passed along for years and decades to come.

Fans of Garth Brooks will continue to think about that concert for years to come and remember the little things about seeing him live. There is always the guy who thinks the wave was directed at him or the girl who thinks the love songs were sung for her alone.

In last week’s Ulster Herald, Dromore man Peter Kelly recounted his experience.

“At several points Brooks was visibly floored, fell to his knees and took off his signature Stetson in respectful awe of the packed-to -capacity stadium. Such theatrics whipped up further frenzy and he left the stage to reach out to embrace ravenous fans.

“Some 50 cameras are reputed to be following Brooks’ Irish visit, and he is accompanied by a production team from US streaming channel Netflix who are filming a documentary special called ‘The Homecoming’ around his Irish visit,” Peter reported.

“Concert-goers enjoyed his stand-out hits including Friends in Low Places, The River, We Shall Be Free, The Dance and Standing Outside The Fire. Brooks, who had arrived in Dublin airport in his private jet on Tuesday, opened with a resounding performance of his hit Ireland to wow the local scene.

“Garth Brooks’ passionate set was spiced with shouts of ‘let’s raise some hell’, ‘I love it here’, and ‘Ireland, you rock!’ as he teased the crowd and wrapped the Irish flag around himself on stage to a whooping response.

“The affection was certainly mutual.”

So this week, we asked the people of Tyrone: What is your favourite concert memory?