More than nine years after officially retiring from show business, Garth Brooks [ tickets ] found himself back before a live audience once again over the weekend in Las Vegas.

Dressed in civilian clothes and settling into a set that embodied the "antithesis of Vegas glitz," according to USA Today's Brian Mansfield, Brooks--backed only by the sound of his own guitar--performed Saturday night (12/12) in front of about 1,500 people who paid $125 apiece to see the country star's opening weekend at the Wynn Las Vegas, during which he played four shows. Brooks drew material from throughout his long career for the initial shows of his projected five-year run at Steve Wynn's Encore Theater, performing "exactly 100 minutes" Saturday night, according to CMT.com's Chet Flippo, who discovered afterward that "many Garth fans were sharply divided about the show."

"Some I spoke to were greatly disappointed by their evening and with what they got for their $125 ticket and the cost of their flight to Vegas and the hotel room," Flippo wrote. "Their complaints? His dress and appearance. They felt his jeans and hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap weren't suited to a big Vegas show."

The other common complaint, according to Flippo, was that many fans "came expecting to see and hear a traditional Garth Brooks concert, not the unexpected monologue-with-music-bits that they got."

Mike Weatherford of the Las Vegas Review-Journal surmised that Brooks' regular-guy appearance may have been something of a calculated move, "a deliberate visual to reinforce the off-the-cuff vibe and exploratory nature of the gig."

Weatherford went on to say that Brooks seemed to settle into his own as the performance went on, adding that if the audience "didn't love him going in Saturday, they loved him going out."

Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times commented on how "utterly anti-Vegas" the production is. "It's got not an ounce of glitz, and that's the selling point: just Brooks--the top-selling solo act in pop-music history--up close and very personal in the intimate 1,500-seat Encore Theatre at Steve Wynn's namesake hotel and casino."

"By the time Brooks has a few dozen of these shows under his belt, they'll probably feel smoother and more perfectly paced, but they couldn't possibly feel more personal, or more intimate, than these early ones," USA Today's Mansfield predicted.

Brooks' residency at the Encore continues Jan. 1, when he's set to play four-more sold out shows over three days. Three additional sold-out weekends are also on the books through the end of February--details are to the right--and more shows will be announced.