Garth Brooks goal: to overtake the marks set by U2 360 tour

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His first album was in 89 and his last was 2001 (until now). In that time he was untouchable. He transcended country music, everyone in the US liked Garth Brooks.

My friend saw Garth in Lexington a few weeks ago, at the 10:30 show, after another show that began at 7. He said it was an absolute clusterfuck, the entire crowd had to wait outside until the previous crowd left. The parking was a nightmare. Imagine standard concert traffic, but with thousands of people trying to leave, and thousands trying to get in.

He also said it was the best concert he'd ever seen, with more energy than any rock show he's been to, including U2.


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Not everyone.

sorry, That was a poor use of a figure of speech. Not EVERYONE in the entire US of A liked Garth Brooks, but he was HUGE at the time. He was known for his energetic live shows, which was not something country was known for. He's now a "heritage act", where most of the audiences will just show up for the hits they've been waiting all these years to hear, and he won't dare do more than 2 or 3 new songs per night.
 
2 shows in 1 night in an arena was common thru the 1970's but I can't even imagine that working now, when traffic is so bad that you have leave hours early just to get into any concert on time, even a few miles away. "Even With" shows with early start times and no opening acts take the stage to houses that are still a third empty.

That said he can keep touring until he surpasses the gross. He can always do victory laps and return to the same places after a few years.
 
just seems greedy to be doing this. hard to see how any artist can deliver a 100% effort when their doing two shows a day, and hes not exactly a youngster either.

I think Broadway shows and stuff like Disney on Ice do 2 shows a night. Sometimes in arena sized venues(for the person who brought up the parking issue).

Some Vegas stuff or something like Copperfield might also do 2 shows a night.

What makes me wonder is how his voice holds up singing 12 hours in a 80 stretch and repeating that in 80 cities over a 3 year period. At any age.

BTW, Bono did a University speech and a show back in 2001. The Live 8 thing the same day as another stadium show in another country. U2 also did some crazy transatlantic flights on the Popmart tour to do MTV awards.
 
Never seen Garth. But tell me he's as good as '80's-era Springsteen live, and I might consider going to see him. Is the audience participation the same as at a Bruce or U2 show?

I hate country, or at least most country made after 1990. The reason? Sick of it. My grandma used to be the Origonal Rockin' Grandma (saw Elvis in Vegas and everything) but sometime around '92 she found the Country Music Channel on TV and switched to that. Might have been Garth, I really don't know. Don't recall her going on about him. But anywhere around her, country on the radio and her TV, 24/8, for the last 17 yrs of her life. And there was no changing the channel. She'd talk about it for hours on end, and dramatically dis all my favorite acts--and many of her former favorites--in the most dramatic terms. Even though I loved my grandma, of course, at these times I wanted to smack her. You try telling me that Billy Ray Cyrus was better then Nirvana or REM? Do you see where I'm coming from? If she was senile, I could have humored her, but she was still sharp as a tack. As a result, my attitude on country after around '92 was: "Larry can have it." :)

I remember one golden time I brought my boombox in and started playing Nine Inch Nails (You know, "I want to ---you like an animal/I want to feel you from the inside..." etc. Her reaction was priceless.) I felt bad a little, b/c I remember she had Emmylou Harris on, and I still love Emmylou Harris. But I wanted to stick it to her that day. Mission accomplished, in spades. :)

Then too-when I did like country, I always liked the old stuff, that was rough around the edges. Willie Nelson, Credence (country in my book), Johnny Cash etc. That was my personal preference.

So what things does Garth Brooks like to sing about? What's his worldview (if you can shorten this as much as possible.)

And that tour schedule is *incredible*. Do you really think anybody can keep that up nonstop like that, for 3 years, 2 times a day? It's like he's going to be a traveling circus monkey. Surreal. He might be in great shape for his age (?) but after a certain point I just don't see how he can keep it up. Did his last tour have a schedule like this? He may be a "heritage act" but he's not being treated like one! I'd love a link to an interview where he discuses how much he'd love to tour like this, and why he came out of retirement.
What's with the Chris Gaines ref? And why were the Dublin shows cancelled? Sorry, just stuff I want to know.

Ha. Just thought of something. Did Live Nation buy his management company too? Is this, along with high U2 prices, another way to bring them back in the black? I wouldn't be surprised.
 
Yes, but it will help with his questions, like "what's with the Chris Gaines reference" and asking for interviews.
 
Garth's tour just hit 180 announced show with only a handful of dates in 2016. He should be past 200 announced shows very soon.

700 shows to match 360 WW gross
450 shows to match 360 WW attendance
285 shows to match 360 NA gross
203 shows to match 360 NA attendance
190 shows to match 360 US gross
132 shows to match 360 US attendance
 
Garth's tour just hit 180 announced show with only a handful of dates in 2016. He should be past 200 announced shows very soon.

700 shows to match 360 WW gross
450 shows to match 360 WW attendance
285 shows to match 360 NA gross
203 shows to match 360 NA attendance
190 shows to match 360 US gross
132 shows to match 360 US attendance

He's not going to beat the worldwide gross, and is unlikely to beat the worldwide attendance. The only tours that could've topped 360 are a Pink Floyd reunion tour, or Led Zep... both of which the ship has sailed on. U2 won't be able to beat that record again. The Rolling Stones could probably do it, but due to their advanced age, they don't play enough shows to generate those numbers. Given the increasingly smaller number of bands who can even fill an arena, let alone a stadium, it's unlikely anybody will ever beat U2's record. Coldplay are probably the biggest CURRENT band in the world (mostly by default), but they'll never be able to sell 50,000 tickets in Oklahoma, for example. If Taylor Swift could be as popular everywhere as she is in the US, she'd have a shot... but she isn't. I honestly can't think of anybody who will ever be able to break U2's record.
 
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He's not going to beat the worldwide gross, and is unlikely to beat the worldwide attendance. The only tours that could've topped 360 are a Pink Floyd reunion tour, or Led Zep... both of which the ship has sailed on. U2 won't be able to beat that record again. The Rolling Stones could probably do it, but due to their advanced age, they don't play enough shows to generate those numbers. Given the increasingly smaller number of bands who can even fill an arena, let alone a stadium, it's unlikely anybody will ever beat U2's record. Coldplay are probably the biggest CURRENT band in the world (mostly by default), but they'll never be able to sell 50,000 tickets in Oklahoma, for example. If Taylor Swift could be as popular everywhere as she is in the US, she'd have a shot... but she isn't. I honestly can't think of anybody who will ever be able to break U2's record.

Adele could do it if she wanted to suddenly jump from theater act to stadiums.

If Garth wants to do this tour through 2017 and quietly announces it 1 city at a time the 450 show count needed for the "biggest tour of all time" bragging rights is within his grasp. Even if it's only 4 countries.
 
One Direction could break the record if they wanted to. They kind of toured non stop for 3 years but under different tour names :/

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One Direction could break the record if they wanted to. They kind of toured non stop for 3 years but under different tour names :/

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Doubtful. Most of these numbers are much lower than 360's;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road_Again_Tour

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_We_Are_Tour_(One_Direction)

My poor, poor friend got drug to a One Direction concert by his wife (he's 34... seriously, I feel for the guy) at the Ohio Stadium in Columbus last summer. The attendance was 31,000. I saw the Rolling Stones in the same stadium last summer, and there were 60,000 people there. U2 pulled 45,000 to this stadium during one of the better attended US Popmart shows.

Coldplay have surprised me with how well they're selling on their stadium tour, in South American, Europe, and so far 10 US shows. I think they've aimed too low in the US, they could've probably done another 10 stadium shows throughout the country, plus more in Canada. Rumors are they're going to announce more US shows very soon in arenas. I don't think they will challenge 360 Tour, but it'll still be an impressive showing, especially from a somewhat young band.
 
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Garth's tour just hit 180 announced show with only a handful of dates in 2016. He should be past 200 announced shows very soon.

700 shows to match 360 WW gross
450 shows to match 360 WW attendance
285 shows to match 360 NA gross
203 shows to match 360 NA attendance
190 shows to match 360 US gross
132 shows to match 360 US attendance

Garth's big tour is now at 310 shows.

Looks like U2's WW attendance record will be toast.
 
He's also packing in 2 shows per day in some places. That said, it's a very good show at a reasonable price with a built-in bathroom break (Trisha Yearwood mini set).


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Well, in the end he sold 4 million tickets to u2s 7.3million, earned $263 million to U2s $736 million, not only failing to overtake 360, but Vertigo, Popmart and Zoo TV as well, assuming you adjust for inflation

Garth still has a year of dates to be announced. It's done one city at a time with only a couple months notice. There's still a big number of markets he has yet to hit.
 
For me the most impressive statistic that is unmatched by any artist in history who has done a world tour of at least 50 shows(might be as few as 10 for all I know) is their per show average of ~65k.


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For me the most impressive statistic that is unmatched by any artist in history who has done a world tour of at least 50 shows(might be as few as 10 for all I know) is their per show average of ~65k.

Using Springsteen's 1985 dates in Europe/US/Canada gets you very close. I noticed you edited your post from 60k to 65k.
 
Using Springsteen's 1985 dates in Europe/US/Canada gets you very close. I noticed you edited your post from 60k to 65k.


I did because 65k is closer to the real number not 60k(66k is the actual avg).

I haven't come across numbers for Springsteen Born in the USA tour, what was the total attendance and number of shows? I know he was immensely popular at the time but never found numbers on that tour.


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