BOK Center Dedicates Green Rooms To Homegrown Heroes Garth Brooks, Leon Russell, Woody Guthrie

BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., has dedicated three backstage green rooms to homegrown stars, with the venue paying tribute to Garth Brooks, Woody Guthrie and Leon Russell.

The makeovers are designed to create a memorable vibe for visitors and entertainers at the venue.

Courtesy BOK Center – Thunder Rolls
Garth Brooks room

“We truly consider ourselves first and foremost a marquee concert venue, so we really have tried to celebrate Oklahoma’s musical history and specifically Tulsa’s musical influence on the world,” said BOK Center general manager Jeff Nicker. “We came up with the idea to take our three basic green rooms, which were these empty and very blank spaces, and do some simple enhancements to celebrate Oklahoma. We wanted to pick artists from different genres of music and pick three people who we think represented Tulsa well and Oklahoma well.”

Garth’s room is called “Thunder Rolls,” and pays tribute to the Tulsa-born superstar, with signage that includes lyrics from his hit “Rodeo” track that name-checks Tulsa. The largest of the new rooms, it also includes a built-in bar.

See: Team Garth, Pollstar’s Interview With Garth Brooks And His Team

“Be The Machine” is the Woody Guthrie room, which includes a reproduction of an image painted by local artist John Hammer, with oversized handwritten lyrics to “This Land is Your Land” adorning a wall in the room.

Courtesy BOK Center – The Church Studio
Leon Russell Room

The Church Studio (Leon Russell room) has black and white classic images of Leon with the Church Studio logo and it is meant to celebrate not only Russell, but the resurgence of his memory in Tulsa with the future renovations of the Church Studio and how that will play a role in the future of music in Tulsa.

Upcoming dates at the 19,199-capacity venue include Five Finger Death Punch / Shinedown, Willie Nelson, Depeche Mode, George Strait, Chris Young and many others.

BOK Center was No. 64 on Pollstar’s 2017 Year End Top 200 Arenas chart, with 325,548 tickets reported sold for the year.