Garth Brooks Opens His Tour at the Delta Center

Garth Brooks opened his "Blame It All On My Roots" arena tour at the Delta Center on Friday, October 9, and the Salt Lake City stand ran four nights, through October 12. The tour had already been on the road since August 20 in Indianapolis, so Salt Lake was one of the first stops for many fans who had been waiting years for him to return to arenas.

The run didn't go entirely smoothly. According to the local coverage, a third show was canceled after about 30 minutes because of bot interference during ticket sales, and a fourth night was added to make up for it. Brooks thanked fans for dealing with the problem, and the extra date gave more people a chance to see the show.

The concert itself ran about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Brooks leaned on his 1990 to 1997 catalog, playing "Rodeo," "Friends in Low Places," "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House," "The Beaches of Cheyenne," "Unanswered Prayers," "Amarillo by Morning" and "The Dance." Every night of this tour opens with "The Old Stuff," a number that looks back at the clubs and songs where he got his start. He was backed by his original band, and fiddler Jimmy Mattingly added his parts to the older songs, which gave the set a sound that fans of those records would recognize.

The show also brought back the flying UFO drum pod, the stage piece from the 1996 Drum Pod tour that the label has tied to the live album "Double Live." Between songs, Brooks greeted the crowd, tossed water bottles into the seats and sent people hunting for posters, moves that kept the arena involved for the whole night. Deseret News ran a concert review of the Salt Lake shows, and it's a good read for anyone who wants a closer look at how the night unfolded.