REGINA — Country star Brett Kissel didn’t get to play his opening act for Garth Brooks as the thunder rolled at Mosaic Stadium in Regina on Friday, delaying the show’s start by two hours.
But once the skies cleared and the show finally got going after 9 p.m., Brooks invited the Alberta-born singer onto the stage for a duet of Brooks’ hit “Friends in Low Places.”
Brooks tweeted afterward that it “may have been the most fun ever singing ‘Friends in Low Places,”’ and his Twitter account noted that Kissel will be booked to open for Brooks at a later date.
Kissel is no stranger to turning lemons into lemonade when performances don’t go exactly as planned.
When his microphone failed while attempting to sing the “Star-Spangled Banner” at a playoff hockey game at Rogers Place in Edmonton in 2017, Kissel raised his hands into the air and encouraged the crowd to sing the anthem with him.
Kissel responded to Brooks’s tweet on Saturday, saying he was still on a high after their performance together.
“I now know EXACTLY what ‘Cloud 9’ feels like!!!!!” Kissel tweeted.
Hundreds of people were left waiting in the rain for shuttle buses or had to seek shelter in the Brandt Centre nearby as storm cells began developing late Friday afternoon, just as fans began to arrive for the first of two nights of shows in Regina.
Evraz Place tweeted the concert would still go ahead once the storm moved through, and fans gave a big cheer as the show got underway.
“I fell in love with Canada tonight!! You turned a stormy situation into a DREAM night!! love, g,” Brooks tweeted afterward.