I Survived Garth Brooks Weekend 2016

From the title of this post, you might assume that I was caught up in the Garth Brooks fever that swept through our area this past weekend.  The legendary country singer and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, brought their World Tour to the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa for four shows this past weekend, and judging by my Facebook newsfeed, I think literally everbody in the world went to one or more of the concerts this weekend.

But no.  I was not one of them.

I remember back in January, when the first concert was announced, thinking, "Meh.  I'm good."  I mean, I like Garth Brooks.  I remember sitting in our basement as a kid with my sister and her friends as they played GB CD's, and loving them.  I pretty much wore out a cassette tape of his greatest hits back then.  "The River" was one of the first songs I ever learned to play on guitar.

But I wasn't a superfan like so many of the people I know.  I wasn't at his Ottawa concert 19 years ago, so I don't have those memories of "the best show ever" like so many others do.  And I have different priorities right now. I've been kind of trying to save my pennies better than I have in the past, trying to pay off the last of my line of credit, trying to keep my credit card paid off, maybe trying to get a little savings going instead of always owing.

One of the sacrifices I've had to make is giving up my title of "Queen of the Concerts".

In my 20's, I went to literally every show I could get tickets to.  And there were some good ones.  Many that I don't regret, even though I blew a lot of cash on concerts.

But I feel like that era of my life is over.  I honestly can't think of very many concerts I'd consider splurging on right now.  Ed Sheeran is really the only one that comes to mind - I regret not going when he was in town last year, and would probably jump on it the next time he does - but other than that, I think I'm good.

That is, until everybody and their dog starts posting on Facebook that they're heading to Garth Brooks, at Garth Brooks, going to Garth Brooks again, posting pictures and videos and calling it the best concert they've ever been to... for three straight frigging days.

Yeah.  It was kind of a lonely weekend, not being able to join in on the Garth hype.

I took solace in the fact that, while it did feel like all I saw on Facebook all weekend was Garth-related posts, most of my close friends were not actually in on the hype either.  We seem to be a select group, my inner circle and I - the non-Garth-type, apparently.

Still, it was this bizarre feeling I had all weekend of being left out.  And I did sort of regret not jumping at the chance to get tickets to one of the four shows.  I had ample opportunity to go, and everyone says GB tickets are reasonably priced... I coulda been there.  I wished I'd done it.

That being said, I made the most of my weekend, despite not having Garth on the agenda.  Friday after work, I headed to Shawville with my ma to get groceries and out for supper, then I spent the rest of the evening catching up on PVR'd shows and watching Suits on Netflix.  (I finally love Suits! Woo hoo!) On Saturday, I joined my little buddy Sam and his family for his 2nd birthday party brunch, as his momma Lindsay had asked me to come be the party photographer.  Then later that day, my mom and I joined my sister, as she had to take Danica to a party at Cosmic Adventures for 4:30, so we killed time by shopping and having dinner at the nearby St. Laurent Shopping Centre.  Sunday was Holy Humour Sunday at church, which was a lot of fun as the hymns were upbeat and jovial, and all throughout the service, people shared jokes and inspirational quips.  After brunch at the restaurant, we visited with my sister's family for a bit, I had a nap, and then Mom and I watched the Blue Jays opening game for the season.  (which they won!  another Woo hoo!)

So overall, it was a great weekend.  Relaxing, laid-back, and enjoyable.

Even if it didn't include Garth Brooks.