from interesting opinion piece in today's Indo.
DARRAGH MCMANUS – 07 FEBRUARY 2014
Garth Brooks fever has surely now been officially upgraded from "interesting moment" to "bizarre phenomenon". Over 400,000 tickets and five sold-out concerts make it this year's main 'cultural' event. So why are the critics so pompous about it?
"How dare these morons watch a bland pop-country singer whose heyday was two decades ago?!" Who cares, really – it's just entertainment, there's no need to cry about it. You couldn't pay me to see the guy, but however people choose to spend their time and money, leave them at it.
What's really interesting about Garth-mania is how it highlights an urban-rural rift. Tickets were overwhelmingly sold in the provinces; we saw folks queue for days in small towns, while people in Dublin, Cork and Limerick remained mostly immune to his pastoral charm.
MOD please refrain from copying full articles and include link to the original source, which is
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/culchies-love-garth-but-urban-snobs-have-friends-in-low-places-of-their-own-29987658.html