Last summer, as a special Garth Brooks concert that appeared at 300 drive-in theaters across North America came to a close, a message appeared on the screen, promising fans that the band would be back on tour “soon.”
Good news for Brooks fans: “Soon” has finally arrived.
On Wednesday, the country superstar announced a stadium tour that will make a stop at Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium on July 17 — the first single-act concert at the stadium since U2 performed in May 2011, according to a news release.
Brooks’ last appearance in Utah was a string of four shows in the fall of 2015 at Vivint Arena, the Deseret News reported. At the time, the concerts marked Brooks’ first visit to Salt Lake City in 17 years.
How to get tickets for Garth Brooks’ stadium tour
Tickets for Brooks’ upcoming show at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the home of the Utah Utes, go on sale May 6 at 10 a.m. MT and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com/garthbrooks, by phone at 1-877-654-2784 or via the Ticketmaster app. COVID-19 safety protocols will be in place.
A waiting room on Ticketmaster’s website will form at 9 a.m. MT, according to a news release sent to the Deseret News. For a faster checkout, fans can create a Ticketmaster account or update their information.
Garth Brooks during the COVID-19 pandemic
Although stadiums and arenas have been shut down over the past year, Brooks has found creative ways to reach out to fans during the pandemic. Last March, the “Friends in Low Places” singer and his wife, country star Trisha Yearwood, crashed Facebook with a livestream performance. A month later, the couple asked fans to send in song requests and put on a special for CBS. They followed up that up a few months later with a Christmas special on CBS.
Brooks also spearheaded concerts at drive-in theaters, performed “Amazing Grace” for President Joe Biden’s inauguration and released a new album.
“It shows that this is what he loves. This is his passion, and he loves to bring joy to other people,” Katelyn Bosworth, an avid Garth Brooks fan, told the Deseret News from the bed of her truck just minutes before the drive-in concert last summer. “It’s nice to feel like even though he’s not able to perform live, he still cares about his fans.”
But through all of his efforts to keep music alive during the pandemic, the seven-time Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year has been vocal about his desire to get back to the stage for live shows.
“I want to see those signs,” Brooks told People last October. “I want to see those people that are at the end of their rope and somehow have found a light through music. Somehow, they’ve made a friend at a concert that changes their life and forever they are best buddies — that sort of thing. I want to see people leaving that stadium loving each other more than when they got there.”