Garth Part VII

I saw Garth in concert for the last (5th) time in October of 1998. I had seen him 4 times over the previous 8 days. Now my fantastic voyage was coming to an end. But I wouldn't be alone. My younger brother, Matt (4th from left)



had agreed to come along. He arrived in Rochester in the late afternoon. His mode of transport: a SHO.

After exchanging some pleasantries, we headed to the Twin Cities. Matt had been a fan of Enya in the early 90's, so he had a chuckle when we passed the town of Oronoco (one of Enya's most popular songs is called, "Orinoco Flow"). We caught up on things. He wasn't able to attend my wedding 2 months prior due to some issues he was experiencing. He was doing quite well now, though.

As we got closer to the Cities, I realized that I would need to stop for gas. So, I turned off at a truck stop and filled 'er up. I then went into the bathroom (Matt was buying a couple snacks). After the head, I went to my car and we headed out. I drove a few miles and looked at my fuel gauge, happy that I now had a full tank. I was about to tell Matt that it's good we stopped for gas when I realized that I hadn't paid for it. I had forgotten to pay at the checkout after getting out of the bathroom. Oops. I looked in my rearview mirror to be sure there were no police following us. There wasn't any time to return to the truck stop and make payment (showtime was getting closer).

We arrived in Minneapolis and parked the car. We found our seats (in the lower balcony) and the place began to fill up. Matt said that seeing a sellout crowd all fired up was worth coming for in and of itself. Trisha came out, GB performed. Garth's show (and his 9-night stand in the Cities) came to an end.

Garth posters had been put up all over the bathrooms. I decided I wanted to take one. No luck. They had all already been taken down by other Garth fanatics. On a related note, I should also mention that a couple times when I was in the men's bathroom over the 5 shows I attended, women came into the men's bathroom to "eliminate" (the lines to get into the women's bathrooms did get quite long). Suprisingly, none of the guys seemed to mind the women being there. Neither did I, though I did cover up my "equipment" pretty good when I saw that one (or more) of them were around.

Matt and I left Target Center and returned to southeastern Minnesota. He said he had a great time. About 6 months later, he was married and now has 2 sons. And with that, my Garth adventure was over. Perhaps one day he'll perform again, but if not, those 5 nights in October '98 will be a treasured memory of mine for many decades to come.