Saskatoon 'guitar boys' get ultimate gift from Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks has left a lasting impression on two Saskatoon boys.  

Curren Wintonyk-Pilot, 12, and his younger brother Jayce were with their parents for Friday’s late show at SaskTel Centre.

It was the first concert for the whole family to see together, and the boys admittedly had to get acquainted with the country star’s music ahead of the big show.

“First off, I didn’t know who Garth Brooks was,” nine-year-old Jayce said.

“But then as the days went by, I started getting excited because we listened to Garth’s music in the car with a CD.”

Brooks’ is candid about his good run in the 90s – a time when his name and songs topped the charts, and a time long before Curren and Jayce were born.

“I started listening to it and yeah, I thought it was really good music,” Curren said.

With an idea from mom, the boys decided to send a message to Brooks: alongside other excited fans in the sixth row, they held up a sign saying, “my first concert.” 

“Garth pointed at me when I was holding my sign and yeah, it was pretty cool to see Garth Brooks looking at me,” Curren said.

During the encore, Brooks went a step further and gave the boys two guitar picks.

“Then he looked at his guitar and took off the strap and by that time the whole stadium is going crazy – they’re going bazonkers,” Curren said.

“(Garth Brooks) said, ‘I’ll make a deal with you. If this is your first concert, you have to invite me to your first concert.’”

That’s when the country legend handed over his guitar to Curren.

The moment was caught on video, and shows the young Saskatoon boy in disbelief, holding his hands to my mouth before flashing an excited smile.

“We kind of thought, ‘Wow, this is really happening? He’s actually talking to our kids,’ and he really made a connection with us,” said dad, Troy.

The piece of Brooks’ history also resonated with other fans; the family was swarmed with requests for photos and a chance to touch the guitar following the show.

Fans even started calling the brothers, the “guitar boys.”

“One of the security guards actually tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘We actually need to escort you out to your car,’” said mom Janaya.

“One of them followed us out to the parking lot and we had actually taken a shuttle, and they stayed at our side the entire time and stayed with us until we were on the bus.”

Garth Brooks played six sold-out shows Thursday through Sunday in Saskatoon.

The string of shows goes down as the biggest concert event in Saskatchewan history.