Angela goes to five Garth Brooks Dublin concerts

It was definitely a case of “unanswered prayers” for devoted Garth Brooks fan Angela Wilson in 2014 the first time she attempted to see the singer in concert – and again a year later in Florida when she made her second attempt.

On both occasions, the concerts were cancelled.

Delvin resident Angela did, however, manage to see the country megastar in 2019 with hubbie Andrew and their then seven-year-old son Corey – but this month, primary school teacher Angela is on a high, having managed to get to every one of his five Irish gigs, while Andrew got to attend four and Corey got to one.

“Altogether, between tickets and buses, we spent over €1,000,” reveals Angela, although some of those tickets were gifts she bought.

“We queued in 2014 for the tickets overnight, and we had tickets to three out of the five shows and then they all got cancelled. And then we happened to be going on a holiday in 2015 to Orlando, and he announced he was playing over there – but the day before we flew out, that also got cancelled,” says Angela.

“Eventually in 2019 we were going back over again to Orlando on a family trip and he just happened to be playing at the same time, so we all ended up going then – me and my husband and our little boy and then my two good friends were over with their children as well.”

Angela’s passion for the music of Garth Brooks came about due to the influence of her dad, Paul Sheerin, a musician and a member of The Sheerin Family. Meanwhile, in Andrew’s family, Garth was also hugely popular.

“So when we got together, we were both real Garth Brooks fans.”

Now, Corey – a veteran fan at the age of just 10 – is on the team also.

Out of the five nights she attended in Croke Par, it was Friday last, September 16 , that was the real highlight for Angela. Not alone did she have the joy of being in a front row location, but she actually was gifted a guitar pick used during the concert by the singer.

“He has this guy called ‘Big John’ who takes his guitar from him when he finishes a certain song if he doesn’t want the guitar any more. So Big John was kind of beside me, and I motioned at him to get a selfie with me. So he took a picture with me. And then he took the pick out of the guitar and just handed it to me.”

“I also got copy of the setlist. And it was just like he was right in front of me. I could hear him singing without the microphone. It was brilliant.”