\n<\/p>\n
\n\tLast Sunday afternoon, Garth Brooks<\/a> stared down 10,000-plus fans gathered inside the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa. It was his third concert in the arena in as many days, and the matinee was a de facto homecoming show for Brooks, a native Oklahoman and a one-time resident of the Tulsa suburbs. He had been playing the biggest hits of his career for more than an hour on a tour he\u2019s calling \u201cBlame It All on My Roots,\u201d and it was time to perform its namesake. Brooks, country music<\/a>\u2019s bellwether showman for nearly 40 years and counting, opted for self-deprecation.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI have no talent,\u201d he said from the front of the stage. \u201cI can\u2019t play guitar. But I do know this one chord.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWith that, Brooks picked the first notes of \u201cFriends in Low Places.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe had already whipped the crowd into a frenzy with staples like \u201cRodeo,\u201d \u201cThe Thunder Rolls\u201d and \u201cThat Summer\u201d \u2014\u00a0a fan in the sixth row tracking sound levels on a smartphone app picked up readings above 110 decibels. But \u201cFriends in Low Places\u201d topped them all, as the frenetic fans gave Brooks the climax he sought. Even before he played the song\u2019s rewritten last verse \u2014 the one that ends with \u201cYou can kiss my ass!\u201d \u2014\u00a0he already had the crowd swaying and singing along with the biggest of his 19 career No. 1 hits.<\/p>\n \n\tIt was obvious that Brooks would build his setlist toward the song, and he wanted the venue sufficiently ready and rowdy for the moment. From the time he took the 360-degree stage singing the first verse of \u201cThe Old Stuff\u201d \u00a0\u2014 after his light rigs lifted from the floor to the ceiling to rocket-ship sound effects \u2014\u00a0the seven-time CMA Entertainer of the Year was dialed in.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThis is the time when people are at church,\u201d Brooks said before \u201cTwo of a Kind, Working on a Full House.\u201d \u201cWell, at my church in Oklahoma, we have some fun, and we raise some hell!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhether that energy came from his gut at the spur of the moment or had been carefully choreographed over the course of his career was irrelevant. Fans had come to see Brooks douse himself and the front rows with water from his onstage bottles during \u201cAint\u2019 Goin\u2019 Down (Til the Sun Comes Up.\u201d They had come to see him dart around the stage with the abandon of a blitzing linebacker, imploring each side of the arena to scream louder than the rest. They came to see him break down in tears during \u201cThe Dance.\u201d<\/p>\n