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85,000 Notre Dame Fans Singing ‘Callin’ Baton Rouge’ With Garth Brooks Is Irony At Its Finest

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Only two concerts have been held at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Both of them were Garth Brooks.

On Saturday night, the 60-year-old country music superstar played in front of a sold-out crowd at the historic football stadium. 85,000 fans showed up and packed every inch of the House that Rockne built and the scenes were incredible.

However, there was a quite significant amount of irony during one specific portion of the evening — when Garth Brooks played ‘Callin’ Baton Rouge.’

After the 2021 college football season, 11-year Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly left South Bend for the same position at LSU. Not only did he leave almost overnight, but he ghosted his staff, told his players he was leaving by text, called a 7:00 a.m. meeting to discuss the move with his team, gave an awkward breakup speech, and then got the heck out of Indiana in a hurry.

The way in which Kelly left the Fighting Irish program left a lot of resentment amongst the fans. Now he is in Baton Rouge.

A week prior to Brooks’ show at Notre Dame, he played the second-largest concert in North America history at LSU. When 127,000 Louisianimals heard the fiddle open to ‘Callin’ Baton Rouge,’ the place went absolutely bonkers and they belted out every word.

It was so loud in Death Valley that it registered as an earthquake.

That was not quite the case on Saturday night. Obviously, there was a smaller capacity at Notre Dame Stadium, but there was also a lot less excitement and a lot more irony.

‘Callin’ Baton Rouge’ is about a trucker who is trying to reach a woman he left behind in Louisiana, longing to hear her voice just one more time. By singing with Brooks on Saturday, in some twisted way, it was almost as if Notre Dame fans were trying to reach Brian Kelly, longing to hear his voice just one more time.