Garth Brooks Announces Stadium Tour; Glendale, St. Louis First Stops

Garth Brooks this morning announced a North American stadium tour, with its first stops being State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., and the Dome At America’s Center in St. Louis, Mo.

Further details are scarce, but the announcement promises ticket onsales and dates will be announced soon, and that five cities will be on sale before Christmas. Also, the tour will feature new stage production and new band members.

Brooks also announced that his Notre Dame concert this Saturday night, the first in the storied university stadium’s history, is to become a TV special that will air Dec. 2 on CBS.

It’s possible – or even likely – that Brooks’ stadium run will employ the same announcement style as his recent tours, with cities rather than dates announced and tickets put on sale and dates added until demand is met. Few artists can get away with telling major venues to block out entire weeks, but Garth is on a whole other level.

Ticketmaster President Jared Smith, speaking during Brooks’ keynote Q&A panel at this year’s Pollstar Live! conference in Los Angeles, described the exhilarating process.

 “He doesn’t say we’re going to do 11 shows in Chicago. He says we’re going to put Chicago on sale. Then we put a show on sale and when we sell it out 80 percent, we put another one on sale. And every time you can hear (promoter) Ben Farrell in the background on the call yelling, ‘Roll another one boys!’”

Brooks was the inaugural inductee to the Pollstar Live Hall Of Fame in February.

“It’s a total shock and quite an honor,” Brooks said upon accepting the surprise honor before a packed Wilshire Ballroom at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown Hotel. The country superstar thanked his team, including co-manager Bob Doyle and longtime promoter Ben Farrell, whom he said “made my career possible.”

In December, Brooks wrapped up a three-year run in which he sold a record-setting 6.3 million tickets, which marked a return to touring after 13 years off to concentrate on family.