This Is Garth Brooks (1992)

Filmed during Garth’s September 20th and 21st, 1991 sold-out concerts at the Reunion Arena in Dallas on September 20 and 21, 1991, This Is Garth Brooks first aired on January 17th, 1992. The Boston Herald headline read: Red-Hot Brooks Out To Shatter Country Music Stereotypes. Peoplesaid: “Garth Brooks proves he ain’t no flash in the panhandle.” Garth simply said: “Welcome to the ‘90s!” Garth’s first network special interspersed interview clips with performance footage, proving that country music was exciting, vital, and no longer taking a back seat to any music genre. This Is Garth Brooks gave NBC its highest-rated Friday night in more than 2 years (17.3 rating/28 share), and was the #9 show in the Nielsen ratings for the week. The second airing of This Is Garth Brooks remained powerful, receiving a 6.9 rating and a 12 share.

This Is Garth Brooks, Too! (1994)

Garth wanted to go back to Texas for his second NBC special, but he had concerns about filling the huge stadium where crowds usually cheered for the Dallas Cowboys. He needn’t have worried. On June 12, Texas Stadium sold out in 92 minutes, selling over 65,000 tickets and breaking the previous sales record held by Paul McCartney. Dallas fans demanded and got more shows: a second show sold 65,000 tickets in 92 minutes, as did a third. Reviewing the NBC special, John Voorhees wrote in the Seattle Times: “Probably the only reason Brooks doesn’t include a simulated earthquake in his dynamic NBC special is that there wasn’t time enough to include it. But there is fire and rain, a huge chorus and great backup musicians, all of it taking place on a center stage in the Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, which looks large enough to hold most of the population of the state, all of whom hoot and holler and carry on as if this is the greatest concert they’d ever seen. And they may be right.” This Is Garth Brooks Too! aired in May of 1994 and gave NBC its best adult (18-49) rating in the time slot since January of 1994.

Garth Live from Central Park (1997)

When it was announced that Garth would play a free concert in New York’s Central Park on August 7, 1997 so many fans from throughout the world began making plans to attend that they started calling the event Garthstock. Daily Variety’s Adam Sandler called the concert, “…two hours of non-stop entertainment.” And Playboy pronounced, “Garth Brooks owned Central Park that night.” In May of 1998, the New York Fire Department officially announced the final attendee numbers at 980,000. This made the concert the largest ever held in Central Park. Garth Live From Central Park was nominated for six Emmy awards. It was HBO’s highest rated original program in 1997, as well as the most-watched special on cable television in 1997, drawing 14.6 million television viewers. Garth Live From Central Park also drew the largest audience of any program on CMT Canada since its inception. On April 22, 1998, Trisha Yearwood presented Garth with the Academy of Country Music’s Special Achievement Award for Live From Central Park. Garth received a standing ovation when he walked to the stage to accept his award.

Ireland and Back (1998)

In April of 1994, when Garth played at the Point in Dublin, he promised the Irish people he would return – with cameras. Three years later he did just that. Three shows quickly sold out for Dublin’s Croke Park May 16 – 18, 1997, nearly 150,000 tickets. The previous sales record was set by U2 in 1992. Polls showed that one in every twenty people in Ireland wanted to attend the concerts. VH-1’s Mark Hagen described the show as “…a genuine spectacle, with a stage stretching the length of Croke Park that completely filled the field of vision with a panoply of ramps, catwalks, platforms, flying saucers, streamers, glitter, explosions, not one but two helicopters, and Trisha Yearwood! Highlight of the set for me had to be 40,000 people singing ‘Unanswered Prayers’ and Garth’s fantastic solo version of ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ from a tiny platform in the middle of the crowd.” The NBC special, Garth Brooks: Ireland and Back, first aired on March 5, 1998. TV Guide named the special its Editor’s Choice for the night. The two-hour show won the night in ratings and was tied with Me.Law & Order as the #20 show for the week. Over 15.7 million people watched the special.

Video Greatest Hits

“If Tomorrow Never Comes,” Garth’s debut 1989 video, is a powerful testament to the importance of making every day count. For Garth, it was the beginning of the healing process after losing Jim Kelly and Heidi Miller, the two college friends for whom his debut album was dedicated. The song “If Tomorrow Never Comes” won an impressive list of awards: London-based Country Music People’s International Single of the Year, and the 1990 Song of the Year from the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI); American Music Awards Best Country Song of the Year, Music City News/Nashville Network Viewer’s Choice Top Ten Award, in 1991. When Garth started thinking about the video for “The Dance,” he wanted to broaden the song’s meaning from one lost relationship to the value of life no matter how or when it ends. The result was one of the highest impact videos ever made. “The Dance” won the Country Music Association 1990 Video of the Year, the Academy of Country Music 1991 Video of the Year and the Music City News/Nashville Network 1991Video of the Year. “The Thunder Rolls” was the only video made from Garth’s critically acclaimed second album, No Fences. With its controversial spousal abuse theme concluding with a woman striking back, this 1991 video was initially banned by the Nashville Network and Country Music Television. On Dec. 31, 1995, when Great American Country (GAC) went on air for the first time, the first video the station aired was “The Thunder Rolls.” Named 1991’s Video of the Year by the CMA. “We Shall Be Free” featured a wide array of public figures speaking of tolerance and understanding. Celebrities included John Elway, Boomer Esiason, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Marlee Matlin, Reba McEntire, Warren Moon, Eddie Murphy, General Colin Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, and many more. The clip first aired during the 1993 Super Bowl. "We Shall Be Free" received an Outstanding Recording Award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation/Los Angeles (GLAAD-LA) and won the Academy of Country Music’s 1993 Video of the Year. “Standing Outside the Fire” is a three-minute movie spotlighting the heroic efforts of a young man with Down Syndrome who competes in his high school track meet. Despite initial discouragement from his father and his coach, the young man triumphs, making an important personal win. It is an inspirational tale with spectacular special effects from video producer Jon Small. “Callin’ Baton Rouge” was taken from concert footage filmed in Dallas at Texas Stadium on September 23 – 25, 1993 (200,000-plus in attendance) while Garth was making his second NBC special, This is Garth Brooks, Too! This was during Garth’s world headlining tour in 1993. At that time it was the biggest and fastest selling concert tour ever fronted by a country act in the U.S. “The Red Strokes” is one of the most dramatically artistic videos ever made, and one that Garth feared was going to kill him before it was completed. Garth explains what happened when he was lowered into a pool of red paint for the opening scene: “The paint, which had been stored outside, was so cold that as I was going under I started hyperventilating. I thought it was the last anyone was going to see of me.” Making the clip required 18 white tuxedos, 12 white Stetsons, 5000 gallons of mud, 35 gallons of red paint and six days of filming, and the result is so powerful that it propelled the song into the country music charts although it was never released as a single. "Ain't Going Down ('Til The Sun Comes Up)" was filmed during a history-making event: the 1994 sold-out World Tour. The music and the performance is full-tilt boogie. This video includes some of the last footage including Garth’s sister, bassist Betsy Smittle, and his friend, guitarist Ty England, before they left Stillwater to pursue solo careers. “The Change” was Garth’s tribute to the heroes of April 19, 1995, when the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in downtown Oklahoma City was bombed, killing 168 people and injuring 850. The video features Garth singing against a backdrop of news footage from that day, including moving shots of firemen carrying children to safety, police officers overcome with emotion, and volunteers who assisted survivors. “I Don’t Have To Wonder” was made in 1997 and is yet another example of Garth taking a video away from an obvious interpretation of the song. This is a powerful piece, dealing with lost love and lost hope. Garth’s performance scenes in a deserted building are especially poignant. “Anonymous” is an intensely personal video filmed when Garth was just winding up his World Tour 1996-1998. While the song is about an individual who loves another at a distance, the video is also a near religious experience in finding sanctuary in solitude. “Tearin’ It Up (And Burnin’ It Down)” shows why Garth fell in love with the Irish people. Taken from Croke Park in Dublin when Garth filmed his acclaimed Ireland and Back NBC special, the video is a stunning concert experience. “When You Come Back to Me Again” highlights film clips from the 2000 movie Frequency, starring Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel. When New Line in Los Angeles asked Garth to write a song for the film’s moving finale, he began to reflect on the family as a lighthouse in one’s life. The astonishing behind-the-scenes fact about this recording is that is was a magic rough cut, and left as such. “Wrapped Up In You” is one of the most lighthearted videos Garth has ever made. Its All American theme takes Garth and the band to a small town in the Heartland for a storefront jam session. The percussion scenes are classic. “Good Ride Cowboy” is Garth’s tribute to the life of a true American hero, Chris LeDoux. Directed by Jon Small, this video is the Times Square performance for the 2005 CMA Awards in New York City at which Chris was awarded the CMA Award of Merit. Garth Brooks The Entertainer 2018, 5-Disc DVD Set.