POP REVIEWS : Brooks’ Concert a Celebration

Garth Brooks ended his Forum concert on Friday by apologizing for his last L.A. shows. “I think we all tried too hard to impress each other, and none of us had as much fun as we should have,� he said of his Universal Amphitheatre dates a year ago.

Such self-criticism is rare for a performer on any level, and even for someone who makes humility a watchword, it was a generous acknowledgment.

That’s the kind of special moment that few artists can create, but in his brief career Brooks has already shown that he belongs in the select company of performers who can transcend the mechanics of a concert with an alertness to the moment, and a willingness to respond to it at any time.

But the country singer is also the hottest commodity in creation, and his success was part of the Forum ceremony, which was less a concert than a communal celebration of an audience hungry for a hero and a performer willing to fill that role. His Nashville rivals may make music that’s more interesting, but none of them comes close to shooting for stakes like that.

It’s a situation full of excitement and risk, and one danger is the temptation to give in to the sheer momentum of the Garth phenomenon with a big, flashy show--if we’re filling arenas like the 18,000-seat Forum, we’d better give the folks their money’s worth. (On Saturday Brooks played to an even larger audience at the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego.)

Brooks appears to be pulled in both directions--he’s seduced by spectacle, but he’s also driven to preserve his unique connection with his audience.

The spectacle came early, with Brooks’ band rising into view amid billows of smoke, flashing lights and a synthesized roar. But once Brooks was strumming and singing the rocking country of “Rodeo,� he was the only thing that mattered.

Brooks seems to be striving for perspective, and he’s toned things down a little, trimming the excesses and overeagerness of his recent TV special. He stuck to the basics, but the Brooks basics are like no one else’s.

He still races all over the place with his mobile musicians, bringing a rock-show energy to the country music. He grabbed a rope and swung out over the crowd. He drove the folks wild with a pumping arm and shouts of “This is cool! . . . I like this!� His enthusiasm might embarrass Sammy Hagar, but the key is that he was having fun with it--the roar of the crowd is another instrument for him, and he plays it like a virtuoso.

Though his singing lacked its usual warmth and nuance through the arena sound system (the band also dipped in and out of distortion), Brooks delivered his music with ease and authority.

He combines country with mainstream pop elements, and when he gets to the country roots, it’s generally a swinging brand of hard honky-tonk. The one new song, the brotherhood anthem “We Shall Be Free,� was nearly pure gospel, and there was a sense of adventure in a new arrangement of “The River�--an arty, percussion-based ambience that recalled Peter Gabriel.

In the succession of songs, this pensive, amiable Everyman becomes a starry-eyed dreamer and a preacher-like moralist, a madman and a confidante. Friday’s only solo song was the reflective “Unanswered Prayers,� and the show could use more of the intimacy Brooks established there to gain a real balance. Spectacle is easy. Connection is a much rarer and more precious thing, and it should be clear to Brooks which side deserves his attention.