Garth Brooks calls fan after Texas show, rips dynamic pricing, signals end of touring

Garth Brooks must have had a good idea just how well his show went at a completely packed AT&T Stadium on Saturday night.

There was no mistaking the energy the country icon stirred up during his 27-song, two-hour-plus show. If the massive sing-along on every Garth classic by the nearly 90,000 in attendance didn’t prove it, Garth’s completely drenched western button-down shirt sure did.

But still, around midnight, as fans filed out of the stadium, Brooks made a video call to a lucky fan named Brandy to see what they thought of the show.

The video call was part of a “Text Garth” feature Brooks is experimenting with as his North American stadium tour comes to a close. He plays NRG Stadium in Houston on Saturday to close out his 113-stop tour before playing five shows at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, in September.



“Did you guys have a good time?” Brooks asked. “Did you have fun tonight?”

Yes, they did.

“It was so good,” Brooks responded, knowing he had nailed the night.

He introduced Trisha Yearwood, who was sitting next to him in the back of an SUV as they were leaving Arlington, likely headed to an airport.

“I love you. I can’t thank you enough for everything. Safe travels back home. I love you!” Brooks shouted at the end of the minute-long call.

On Friday afternoon, Brooks discussed the importance of North Texas in his career, the problems with dynamic ticket pricing, and why he’s so beloved in Ireland.

You have a rich history in North Texas. Why is the area so special for you?

It’s like coming home, even though I’m from Oklahoma, I always thought these people would never take me in, but they’ve taken me in like a native son and I’m very proud of that. It’s good to be back. This is kind of where we started our career. You got the coolest building on the planet and everyone acts like you’re doing them a favor for being here, so that’s very sweet. It has just been a great home for us.

What are your thoughts about the use of dynamic pricing on tickets? [Dynamic pricing, where the price of tickets for a show fluctuates depending on the demand for tickets, is being used by Ticketmaster ostensibly to prevent scalping, but has basically just made itself the scalper.]

That’s a tough one. [Bruce] Springsteen is going through it right now. We’re all watching it. Here’s the bottom line for me, and I know this is silly, but I have screamed and screamed as long as you’ve known me: just knock out scalping. That’s it. Just make it illegal. That way, the price of the ticket is the price of the ticket. The same money is going to be exchanged when scalping tickets, it’s just now who gets the money, that’s the difference. The thing I hate about it, the hardest it’s on is the fan, the one who allows you to live your dream.

But if you go play Vegas, you do a residency, you’re going to do dynamic pricing. It’s going to be tough, so residencies are hard, but they always are because of the limited amount of seating anyway.

Would you consider playing Dickies Arena in Fort Worth?

Oh yeah. This will be our last stadium tour. It’s just too much on the crew.

It doesn’t mean that you’re done; you’ll figure out what you’re going to do, but I doubt we’ll ever do an organized tour again. We might just pick spots and do some stuff but not have it clustered as a tour. These guys [the crew] haven’t been home in months so they need to have the same life they’ve given me.

Why are you so big in Ireland?

I have no idea. Because as you could imagine I stick out like a sore thumb there. But ever since Day 1, there was a gentleman named Jim Aiken, he was the promoter over there, he said you’ve got to come over. ‘Does he have the right guy,’ I was asking my manager. He said you could do multiple nights here. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ This was 1991 or ‘92. Went over to The Point Depot [Dublin] and did nine nights there and you couldn’t start a song without them singing it back to you in your accent.

I wish I knew. I have no idea. If somebody said, ‘Hey, man, I’ve got the answer,’ then I’d look for that answer would be the music. That would make the most sense for me.”