Sunday, August 31, 2014

Garth Brooks kicking off comeback tour at Allstate Arena

The Milwaukee Journal reports:
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. In the case of Garth Brooks' comeback tour, which kicks off Thursday at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., the figurative heart nearly exploded.

About 45 minutes before tickets went on sale July 25 for the concert, Brooks announced three additional shows. Due to demand, six more shows were added, and three hours later, all sold out: more than 160,000 combined tickets. An 11th show was recently added, for 10:30 p.m. Friday; tickets are still available.

"I'm not surprised at all," said Kerry Wolfe, program director for all six Clear Channel stations in Milwaukee, including top-rated country station WMIL-FM (106.1). "It's like Elvis coming back to touring."

Before a shocking retirement in 2001 (recently divorced, Brooks said he wanted to be a full-time dad), Brooks wasn't just the biggest country star; he was arguably the biggest star in music.

To date, he's the top-selling artist in Nielsen SoundScan history, selling 69.6 million albums since SoundScan started in 1991. Brooks has six of the 200 top-selling albums on the SoundScan charts, more than any other artist.
He's back.