DETROIT (WXYZ) — Country superstar Garth Brooks owned Ford Field on Saturday night as he and 70,000 other gave as much they had for more than two hours.
He took the massive, new stage just after 8:30 p.m. sporting a Barry Sanders jersey, calling it an honor to wear the Lions' No. 20 on his back.
Brooks went to Oklahoma State and graduated in 1984, just two years before Sanders started at the university.
“You guys have the greatest player in NFL history, in my opinion,” Brooks said before fans started chanting "Barry, Barry, Barry." You can see it in the video player above.
He hit the stage with the high-energy Brooks is know for as he and the band played "All Night Long" followed up by "Rodeo" and "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House." The crowd's energy never faltered throughout the show – Brooks' first of the year.
Fans were alerted the show was being recorded a few minutes before it began, and later confirmed when Brooks announced the next song would be the final track on an upcoming live album. It would be his third after 1998's "Double Live" and 2019's "Triple Live."
The song – "All American Kid," is part of his 2014 album "Man Against Machine" and tells the story of a high school football star who chose to join the military instead of playing in college.
In all, he played 30 songs throughout the show, including one of the most well-known crowd pleasers, "Friends In Low Places," which ended with the mysterious third verse only heard live and an explosion of confetti throughout the crowd.
He finished as he always does – by playing songs he sees on posters held up during the show. "People Loving People," the first single off "Man Against Machine," was played shortly for a young girl near the stage holding up a sign, as was "Ireland," off of 1995's "Fresh Horses," which Brooks said is one of the most requested sign requests for a song that wasn't a single.
Brooks set the concert attendance record for Ford Field, and sold out the stadium in nearly 90 minutes back in November before extra tickets were found just one day before the show. It was his first in Detroit since playing back-to-back weekends at Joe Louis Arena in Feb. 2015.
