Ireland's UNHOLY Obsession With Garth Brooks: Turns Out He's Got Friends In Loadsa Places

There are certain things from the Nineties that I really didn’t expect to have a comeback. First it was hair mascara, then crop tops and now…Garth Brooks. I can’t be the only one completely bewildered by the sudden Garth frenzy that has gripped the nation.

The last time around, line dancing had taken over the entire country, almost every household had at least one of his albums and there was no escaping the sight of Garth’s red and black shirt. He was even on callcards, which is surely the highest honour that could have been bestowed upon a celebrity at the time.

With the record-breaking FIVE sold out gigs in Croke Park, complete with hardcore fans queuing for hours in the rain to get tickets and excited vox pops at the end of the news on the radio, it’s like the mid-Nineties all over again and I’m torn between fancying Zack Morris or AC Slater.

But while I had assumed that the nationwide Garth-love had fizzled out altogether, it seems like the fandom was just dormant for all these years, lurking under the surface of people that I never would have pegged for country music fans.

It works out at something like one-tenth of the entire population going to see Garth Brooks this summer, which is just incredible and has taken me completely by surprise. I mean, I’ve gleefully sung along to Friends In Low Places, although that was because my cousins and I were young enough to feel like we were being really bold when we’d shout the “you can kiss my ass!” line.

While I’d have no interest in going along to the shows this summer myself, it does seem mean-spirited to mock people for being excited about it. I’ve very enthusiastically rushed to the dancefloor for the Macarena on two separate occasions in recent months, so who am I to judge?

But this whole Garth Brooks thing really seems to have reappeared out of nowhere. There I was, thinking we'd left him behind in the Nineties and suddenly the country is gone mad for him all over again.

So tell me, are you one of the thousands going along to Croke Park in July? Or are you as confused as me by the sudden Garth fever?

And remember the time he grew a little smig and started calling himself Chris Gaines? What was that all about?