Sigh.
The wait is finally over, as this morning Brooks announced he's ready to go back on the road with a proper tour, which includes back-to-back shows at American Airlines Center on September 18 and 19. As the release notes, Brooks hasn’t made a stop in Dallas since 1998, two full years before he announced his retirement from making music and playing shows.
Back in 2000, after selling 100 million records and more than a decade of ceaseless touring, Brooks announced his official (first) retirement. According to Brooks, ever the family man (except for that whole dumping his wife for Trisha Yearwood thing), he wouldn’t be coming back on the road until his youngest daughter turned 18.
That it's been so long since he's visited Dallas does seem surprising though, retirement or not. According to an archived Ft. Worth Star-Telegram story from 1998, he sold out six shows held over three nights in Dallas in just three hours. The show, hosted at the long-gone Reunion Arena, resulted in nearly 100,000 ticket sales. And yet he didn't come back for the two years before he retired.
Before the Reunion Arena shows, Brooks had performed last in Dallas five years before, in 1993, when he sold more than 200,000 tickets for a series of three performances at Texas Stadium. Given this history of sellout shows in Dallas, you should probably mark your calendar for July 24 — when tickets go on sale — if you want any chance of seeing the man live in Dallas before another two decades go by.
But that past also raises an important question: Why isn’t Brooks playing one blockbuster night at AT&T Stadium? George Strait’s final date of The Cowboy Rides Away tour set a world-record for concert attendance, attracting over 100,000 people. Since then, Jason Aldean and Kenny Chesney, two artists who have certainly sold fewer records and concert tickets than a guy like Brooks, have also filled the home of the Dallas Cowboys. 17 years ago, fans were lining up outside the venue to buy tickets. In 2015, will the demand for Garth Brooks be as high?
Likely so. If Twitter is any indication, Dallasites are already pretty stoked about the shows this fall. A quick search of “Garth Brooks Dallas” resulted in more than 5 tweets per minute from fans who are ready for Garth’s return to our fair city.
It's been 17 years since you came to Dallas. I was there then and I am ready for your return. @garthbrooks
— Melody Kincaid (@miceprincess) July 15, 2015Follow @DC9AtNight
