Garth Brooks Pulled A Strange ‘Trick’ At His Concert That Made The Crowd Fall Silent

When Brooks chose to start performing again, he was worried his fans had moved on to other country stars. He didn’t know if they’d buy tickets for what was supposed to be his comeback tour. This would be one of the first times he’d played publicly since he went into retirement 14 years before. He knew things couldn’t be exactly the same as they were back then.

Brooks retired from country music on October 26, 2000 — the same day his record company held a party to celebrate his selling 100 million albums. He was tired of the hectic touring life and wanted more time to spend with his wife and three daughters. 

But with so few public appearances since then, Brooks wasn’t convinced he could fill stadiums in the 2010s. “I was scared nobody would show up, scared to death,” he said. “Because you don’t want to disappoint people.” If the fans were paying to go, he didn’t want them to be disappointed with his performance, either.

“That’s the whole thing. And you sure as hell don’t want them walking out going, ‘Poor Garth. But, man, in his day.’ I wanted them to say, ‘That’s better than I remember it,’” Brooks said. This self-doubt was interesting, as it was coming from someone who broke an ACM Awards record in 1991.

Oh, and Brooks’ music has traveled somewhere few humans have had the chance to go: into outer space. Astronaut Colonel Bill McArthur took the album The Hits into the cosmos in 1995 during his visit to the International Space Station. Yep, Brooks’ talent is literally out of this world!

Six of Brooks’ albums have also attained diamond status by selling more than ten million copies each. But he still remembers the time before he hit it big. Before becoming a major success, Brooks sold cowboy boots. When he had breaks in his workday, he wrote “Not Counting You,” one of his first hits.

Brooks’ school background is just as diverse as his post-education boot selling. Outside of music, he was an extremely gifted javelin thrower, earning a full-ride scholarship to Oklahoma State University. Then, in 1984, Brooks left school with an advertising degree. Of course, music soon became his full-time passion. But when he thought back on his past before his 2014 comeback, Brooks wondered if he still had the goods.

Even with such an impressive background, Brooks was terrified on the opening night of his world tour with Trisha Yearwood — the start of a three-year run of shows. He may have been worried about fan interest, but tickets for his shows sold out. That only put more pressure on him to dazzle his fans.

On opening night in Rosemont, Illinois, Brooks was overcome by pre-show jitters. “I was so scared,” he said. “When music is playing, something happens to me. I don’t know what to do. Stupid is a good word.” This seems like a random comment to make about a performance — until you learn what happened during the concert.

As a part of the stage setup, there was a rotating fiberglass orb around his drummer. Brooks thought it would look cool to grab the moving edge of the circle to swing across the stage and out of sight. It wasn’t until he gripped the orb that he realized fiberglass was cutting into his hand. Blood dripped down his arm backstage.

While he was scrambled off the orb, Brooks fell. His knee smashed into the stage and also started bleeding. “I’m thinking, ‘This is just getting worse,’” Brooks said. “So, when I got in the car that night, my wife goes, ‘What happened?’” He was in rough condition after the show.

But Brooks didn’t let his painful, messy, accidental injuries ruin his mood. Even with such an unexpected end, the Rosemont concert was the start of an unforgettable tour. Throughout 390 shows, the country musician performed for 6.4 million people in total, and he kept looking for new ways to bring his music and the crowd closer together than ever.

One of the major reasons people see Brooks is to hear special versions of his songs. Two of his most popular ones are “Friends in Low Places” and “The Thunder Rolls,” which he adds extra verses to during concerts. He really cares about connecting with folks — and not just musically.

The secret lyrics are impressive, but there’s another reason Brooks’ fans are so loyal: he’s a generous person. When he learned country musician Chris LeDoux had liver cancer, Brooks tried to donate a part of his own organ. The only thing stopping him was a medical mismatch. But that offer showed just how giving he can be — a virtue he took to new heights during a more recent tour.

In 2021 the country artist hit the road again and revealed a new practice during his #AskGarth session: a mid-show Q+A interview during his Inside Studio G Facebook show. Interestingly, Brooks didn’t allow anyone to buy tickets for the first two rows of his shows. This was for an important reason.

Brooks wanted to deter ticket scalpers and instead surprise some of his diehard fans with a treat. Before the start of his shows, his scout team went up into the nosebleed seats of the venue and offered people sitting in those sections tickets to the first or second row. Brooks revealed what inspired him to make these last-minute seat swaps.

The star heard this was something that worked well for Nirvana, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, and U2, and so he decided to give it a go too. “They go up into the upper decks, and they just give them away,” Brooks said. That exchange completely changes the concert experience for Brooks and his band as well.

“And it makes it pretty cool, because when you come out of the hole [on stage], there’s some pretty excited people in those front two rows,” Brooks said. He wanted fans who were enjoying the performance up front instead of other people who weren’t thrilled to be there.

Brooks toured again during the summer and fall of 2021, and we’re sure he continued to surprise people with upgraded tickets. Unfortunately, some of these shows were later reported as major COVID-19 events. In response, Brooks’ team are making vaccines a mandatory requirement. But there’s one concert practice that Brooks has probably left behind him for good.

Thirty years before his 2021 run of shows, the country legend put on an enormous tour. And after his Dallas concert, he wanted to leave the audience with something to remember him by. At the end of his act, Brooks smashed his guitar and threw pieces to the front row. The fragments were then given to the Smithsonian Institution, so it was far from a total loss! But while he’s always spicing up his career in new ways, Brooks has also made some curious decisions in his personal life.

Brooks and Yearwood first encountered each other in 1987; suffice to say, though, that in their case the path to true love definitely didn’t run smooth. You see, both were each married to other people back then: Yearwood’s husband at the time was Chris Latham, while Brooks was coupled up with Sandy Mahl.

During a 2013 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, however, Brooks opened up about meeting Yearwood, saying, “It’s strange, because I felt that feeling like when you just meet your wife [with Yearwood], but I’d been married for 13 months.” Then in 2001 both parties found themselves single – and the rest is history.

Brooks often sings Yearwood’s praises, and – perhaps because he’s a songwriter – he certainly doesn’t lack the vocabulary to describe how she makes him feel. When he and Yearwood were interviewed jointly by Parade in 2016, for instance, Brooks said something rather poetic about his wife.

Yes, when Parade asked the couple how they knew the other was “the one” for them, Brooks pulled it out of the bag. “I just want to be wherever she’s at,” he answered. “I love breathing the same air she’s breathing.” And certainly it appeared as if the feeling was still mutual, as Yearwood claimed in the same interview that she and Brooks were always “meant to be” right from the start.

When Brooks and Yearwood started dating, they apparently tried to keep their budding relationship on the down low. However, in 2002 Yearwood convinced her new partner to go with her to the memorial service for Nashville legend Harlan Howard.

At the ceremony, Yearwood and Brooks were seen holding hands – the first time the pair had been spotted showing affection towards each other in public. The service itself, meanwhile, took place at the famous Ryman Auditorium, which Brooks went on to play in 2016; and when he did, Yearwood joined him on stage for a duet.

In 2005 Brooks decided that he would pop the question to Yearwood, and he pulled out all the stops for the proposal. On that occasion, the pair were attending an event at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, where Brooks himself was being honored with a statue in his likeness.

As soon as the statue was unveiled, though, Yearwood noticed that it was wearing a wedding ring – and she realized right away what was going on. Then, in front of a crowd of thousands, Brooks got down on one knee and asked Yearwood if she would be his wife. Her answer, of course, was yes.

Although Brooks and Yearwood are obviously very close, they believe in supporting each other through individual endeavors as well. “He’s the guy who says, ‘There’s nothing you can’t do.’ One of the things we respect about each other is that we’re both independent,” Yearwood said of her husband in a 2015 interview with People.

Yearwood added, “[Brooks] makes more money than I do, but I’m an independent girl and always have been. I want to pull my weight in life and in the relationship.” And she does so both through her musical career and her Food Network show Trisha’s Southern Kitchen.

In 2017 Yearwood dropped by the Today show and spoke to Jenna Bush Hager about the adorable nickname her husband has for her. Brooks calls her “Queen,” she revealed, even after more than a decade of marriage. And Brooks’ Instagram account makes that plain, too, as there he sometimes refers to his wife in that manner.

“I’m like, ‘Garth, we’ve been married for 12 years; we’ve known each other for 26 years. You can call me ‘Trisha.’ Like, it’s cool,’” Yearwood told Bush Hager. “But he still [calls me ‘Queen’], and now he has other people doing it. Like, ‘So what does the Queen think?’”

It’s almost a rite of passage for married couples to talk about who would prefer to die first. And in 2018 Brooks appeared to have made his feelings on the matter obvious when he debuted a song called “Stronger Than Me.” The track, which Brooks has dedicated to Yearwood, features the lyrics, “I pray God takes me first ’cause you’re stronger than me.”

And Yearwood would later speak to Entertainment Tonight about the content of the song. “This is a conversation we have in our lives,” she said. “So yeah, it’s like, ‘I can’t, I hope I go first,’ and he’s like, ‘No, I have to go first. I can’t. I won’t be able to.” Needless to say, the lyrics to the track also touched her deeply.

In 2017 Brooks made an appearance on iHeartRadio to talk about Yearwood. And perhaps because the occasion came right after his 12th wedding anniversary, the star was full of love for his wife. “Every day is like the first day for me. [I love] everything from the way [Yearwood] smells to the way she talks,” he said.

But while the musician’s appreciation of his spouse’s scent may sound a little weird, there’s actually a scientific explanation for it. We all have distinct pheromones that can potentially stimulate sexual urges in others; apparently, it’s said, pheromones also assist us in matching with someone compatible for parenting. Well, if it’s worked for Yearwood and Brooks...

Apparently, Yearwood isn’t short of cash, with website CelebrityNetWorth having estimated that her singing and acting work has earned her a cool $40 million. Even that is nothing compared to her husband, though: the same site claims that Brooks possesses a whopping $330 million fortune. He is also said to earn $90 million every year.

However, both Brooks and Yearwood have done good with their riches, as they are known to have bought fabulous gifts and even a honeymoon for newly married fans. The couple also have philanthropic sides: Brooks co-founded the charity Teammates for Kids, for instance, while Yearwood has previously worked with Habitat For Humanity.

Before any wedding took place, Brooks went round to treasured family members and asked for their permission to marry Yearwood. These individuals included his three daughters with ex-wife Sandy Mahl, Trisha’s parents, his own father… and Mahl herself.

And in 2006 Brooks told Oprah Winfrey about Mahl’s reaction. “She looked at me and said two things, which I’ll never forget as long as I live,” he said. “She said, ‘It’s about time.’ Then she said, ‘This is a good move for you.’” It appears, too, that Mahl was right.

Brooks and Yearwood didn’t go in for an extravagant celebrity wedding; instead, they tied the knot during a quiet ceremony at their house in Oklahoma. “It’s the perfect Christmas gift to each other. We could not be happier,” Brooks announced in a statement released to the media in 2005.

Curiously, though, only four members of the couple’s respective families attended the wedding – three of them being Brooks’ daughters Taylor, August and Allie. The fourth person, meanwhile, may have been Yearwood’s mother, who had provided the bride and groom with a towering wedding cake.

In an interview with WMUK in 2018, Yearwood was asked about how her husband referred to her in public as “Ms. Yearwood.” “That strikes me as both really gentlemanly and weird,” host Peter Sagal said of the way in which Brooks addressed his wife.

And Sagal went on to inquire of Yearwood, “At what point will you allow [Brooks] to start using your first name?” The star herself replied, however, “I call him Mr. Yearwood. So I don’t think it’s weird at all.” And chances are that she won’t start referring to herself as “Mrs. Brooks” any time soon, either.

In 2017 Yearwood gushed about her husband to HuffPost. “He’s whatever I need him to be. He can be my best friend, he can be my lover, he can be my shopper. If I need a dress for an event and I don’t have time to go shopping, this guy can buy a dress. And it’s gorgeous, and it fits,” she said.

So that’s why Yearwood always looks well dressed! But Brooks is considerate in other ways towards his wife, too. For instance, even though he doesn’t drink coffee himself, he still gets up every morning to make the beverage for Yearwood. Now that’s what makes a marriage.

When Yearwood spoke to People in 2010 about her five-year anniversary with Brooks, she brought up the subject of her husband’s daughters. “When we got married five years ago, we married the girls, so the five of us always celebrate together,” she said. And, in actual fact, Yearwood did indeed “marry” the three young women after a fashion.

You see, on Brooks and Yearwood’s big day, Taylor, August and Allie all had wedding dresses of their own. Then the trio each exchanged rings with, and gave vows to, Yearwood just as though it were a regular ceremony. And even now Yearwood is still very close to her three stepdaughters.

Brooks and Sandy Mahl’s divorce was reportedly a very expensive one; some outlets have even suggested that Mahl was awarded $125 million as a settlement payment. And yet, even after the split, Brooks announced that he and Mahl wanted to remain at least close enough to co-parent their children.

It seems that Mahl and Brooks did keep things cordial, too; the country star even had a separate home for his ex-wife on his Oklahoma ranch. Today, Mahl apparently still lives in the state, where she also helped set up a wildlife rehabilitation charity.

The Yearwood-Brooks wedding was a casual sort of affair, it seems. After all, although Yearwood wore a traditional dress for the ceremony, Brooks chose to pair his tuxedo jacket with jeans. The groom may have made up for that fashion faux pas, though, through the wedding gift he purchased for his new wife: a yacht.

Meanwhile, Yearwood’s wedding gown would go on to be included in a 2015 exhibition at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame. “Our wedding was such a small, personal affair back in Oklahoma, and not many people saw the dress, so it’s a big deal to include it here,” she told the media at the time. Unfortunately, Brooks’ jeans weren’t also put on show.

Brooks and Yearwood have no children together, but it’s said that they did nevertheless consider expanding their family at one point. According to an anonymous source who spoke to the Daily Mail in 2014, the pair did try and get pregnant; in the end, though, it didn’t work out.

“Garth and Trisha did talk about adopting,” the source went on, “but in the end they agreed that it was enough to parent Garth’s three girls together.” Yearwood, Brooks and the girls certainly seem to form a good family unit just by themselves – and there’s even a grandchild in the mix now, too.

When Brooks appeared on an episode of The View in 2017, he chose to open up a little about his marriage to Yearwood. “I introduce her as the love of my life everywhere that we go,” he said, before quipping, “She introduces me as her current husband. So you can see how the relationship kinda works here.”

However, Yearwood had actually been married twice before she wed Brooks. First she was with Chris Latham, whom she divorced in 1991. Then, a few years later, she tied the knot with Robert Reynolds of The Mavericks; that union would officially end, however, in 1999. Perhaps it was third time lucky for her...

While on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006, Brooks and Yearwood shared a parenting technique that they had dubbed “The Honesty Club.” As for what that involves? Well, Brooks revealed that firstly all lights in the home are turned off. Then a candle is lit, with everyone involved going on to touch the candle and reveal what is on their minds.

Of the ritual, Yearwood explained that she wanted her three stepdaughters to “feel... that they can always tell [her] everything.” The young women were allowed to share things about her and Brooks, too. “You want to make them feel like they can say anything. And it can be about us... And they’re very honest,” Yearwood added.

It’s fair to say that Brooks has got a pretty good life. He’s got a wife whom he clearly loves very much, after all, as well as three children, a grandchild, worldwide fame and considerable wealth. And the musician knows just how fortunate he is, too.

Indeed, as Brooks launched a comeback tour in 2014, he told reporters, “You’re looking at the luckiest, most blessed guy on the planet.” And while talking about his wife, he cried a little as he said, “I’m madly in love with her, and I can’t stand to spend a day without her.” Awww.