Garth Brooks Surprises Tootsie’s Crowd With ‘That Summer’, ‘Ain’t Goin Down …’ [WATCH]
Garth Brooks made an unexpected appearance at a Nashville bar on Thursday night (Aug. 9). The country superstar hopped onstage at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge to sing a couple of songs for a surprised crowd.
Nashville news channel WKRN reports that Andy Gibbons, a local singer-songwriter, was performing on the second floor of Tootsie's when Brooks showed up to help him out. Gibbons was performing Brooks' song "That Summer" at the time; readers can press play above to watch Brooks and Gibbons sing Brooks' song "Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)" as well.
Gibbons' Facebook page notes that he plays at Tootsie's every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 6PM-10PM. He tells The Boot that he played "That Summer" as his third song of the night, as a request from a couple by the stage. During the song, someone pushed through the crowd, jumped up onstage and started singing with Gibbons -- a Brooks lookalike, Gibbons thought.
"I was for it though," Gibbons tells the Boot. But then, "I did a double take and listened closer and thought, 'Oh, man, nope ... This is actually Garth Brooks!"
Gibbons admits that it was then that he got nervous. "The crowd was going crazy, I was going crazy, the band members were in complete awe, Rob the sound engineer was grinning past his ears, and our female singer, Jasmine Rae, was at the front of the stage looking up like, 'What?! Is this real?!'" he remembers.
After "That Summer" was over, Brooks shook Gibbons and his bandmates' hands and hopped offstage, taking photos with the fans in the crowd who wanted them. That might have been that -- but Gibbons called Brooks back to the stage to keep the fun going.
"He came up, gave me a hug, and said, 'What do you want to play?'" Gibbons remembers. Gibbons told Brooks it was his choice, so he was the one to select "Ain't Goin' Down ..."
Gibbons says no one he's spoken with knew Brooks was showing up at Tootsie's on Thursday night: "As far as I know, he was just walking by and heard his song being played," he says. He speaks highly of Brooks and the whole experience, calling him "such a genuinely nice person," and "such a humble and kind man."
After concluding his three-year World Tour at the end of 2017, Brooks has been enjoying some time off the road. He released a brand-new single, "All Day Long," in mid-June and has said numerous times that he's working on another studio album, to follow 2016's Gunslinger.
In July, Brooks announced plans for the first-ever concert at Notre Dame Stadium; a date and further details about the show have yet to be announced. As for another full tour, he has hinted that he's working on plans to get over to Europe and Australia.
Garth Brooks' Best Live Shots
Test Your Garth Brooks Knowledge!