WEEKEND RESIDENT: Garth Brooks to play acoustic concerts in 1,500-seat Encore Theatre - News

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Oct. 16, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WEEKEND RESIDENT: Garth Brooks to play acoustic concerts in 1,500-seat Encore Theatre

By COREY LEVITAN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

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Video and slideshow

Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn, right, and Garth Brooks announce Thursday at Wynn Las Vegas that Brooks will come out of retirement for a five-year engagement.
Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Garth Brooks sings the opening song at the 1998 Billboard Awards at the MGM Grand Garden.
Review-Journal file photo

If Garth Brooks and Steve Wynn had anything close to a sticking point, ticket prices might have been the issue.

"This is where we really went at it," Brooks said Thursday.

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But that as well as all the other details were sorted out leading the biggest-selling solo performer of all time to end his retirement with an extended engagement at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Brooks admitted he wanted cheaper tickets. He charged $35 for his first Las Vegas show, in 1991 at the Desert Inn, which stood where the Wynn does now.

The Wynn Resorts CEO said he told Brooks: "If you charge $25, someone in Las Vegas might think there's something wrong with you, you lost your voice or something."

Brooks eventually caved. But he made Wynn promise to set every seat at the same price and to reserve only 200 seats per show for hotel and casino VIPs.

"I've always been a one-ticket-price person," Brooks said.

Brooks' five-year residency of weekend acoustic shows at Wynn Las Vegas begins on Dec. 11.

For 15 weeks each year through 2014, Brooks -- accompanied only by his guitar -- will perform 8 p.m. concerts Fridays through Sundays at the Encore Theater, with a 10:30 p.m. show added on Saturdays.

Tickets for the initial five sets of shows (Dec. 11-13, Jan. 1-3, and 22-24, and Feb. 12-14 and 26-28) go on sale over the phone or through the Internet at 8 a.m. Oct. 24 at (702) 770-7469 or wynnlasvegas.com/boxoffice.

All seats are $125 plus $18 tax and fees.

To thwart scalping, advance tickets will not be available in person at the Wynn box office. They can only be picked up the day of the show by customers showing valid ID.

The residency ends Brooks' retirement from music, which he announced in 2001 to become a stay-at-home father to three daughters. It also marks the permanent replacement of Danny Gans, who performed in the 1,500-seat theater until his death in May. (Brooks, Beyoncé and Larry King have performed limited engagements there since.)

"This is Garth Brooks' home," Wynn said during a news conference at the theater Thursday, for which he and Brooks wore matching jeans and cowboy boots.

"I told him he couldn't afford me," Brooks said. "I was wrong."

Wynn would not reveal how much the deal cost.

"If I were to tell you that, I would probably lose my job with the stockholders," he joked.

However, he said, "I confess, I had to buy him a jet plane."

That Challenger aircraft will rush Brooks to and from Oklahoma, where he drives his youngest daughter, 13, to school every weekday morning. (In addition, Brooks said, start times of some of his shows might change to accommodate more important obligations -- such as soccer tournaments.)

"My life is not gonna change for the next five years," said the 47-year-old, "except I'm gonna get to play music."

The show, 90 minutes, will be a musical retrospective of Brooks' multiplatinum career. Occasional guests are possible -- especially his second wife and occasional collaborator, fellow country star Trisha Yearwood.

Brooks has sold more than 128 million albums in the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. He was one of the most popular concert attractions during the 1990s.

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Big Disappointment wrote on October 27, 2009 09:06 AM: I was never a big fan of Brooks UNTIL I heard (and saw)how he insisted on concert ticket prices that EVERYONE could afford ($40). After that, It was my respect and appreciation for him moreso than his music that made me a fan. My friends and I made it a point to purchase concert tickets just to support his humane gesture regarding the ticket cost. Nonetheless, it was enough to make him a multi-millionaire within a few years time. And THIS ($143 per ticket)is the thanks his fans get! HE was the last person I expected to turn his back on his FAN BASE and succumb to GREED! SHAME ON YOU GARTH! I hope and expect that your TRUE fans (HINT: they are NOT high-rollers) turn their back on you! Your ticket price has already assured this for most of us! CHOKE ON THE MONEY and THANKS FOR NOTHIN'! Hey, that sounds like a great title for a country western song ABOUT YOU! Perhaps I'll write it. Big Talent wrote on October 20, 2009 12:32 PM: Lee your math is off 1300 sets$1254 shows per weekend*15 weeks/yr= 9.75 million opportunity. $650,000 per sold out weekend Benny's Ghost wrote on October 18, 2009 06:17 AM: ...so let's see...Garth Brooks performing with the NFR and NASCAR coming to town...I smell marketing here. Of course, the Wynn ain't exactly the old 'Shoe, now is it? Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on October 17, 2009 01:54 AM: But what about Balloon Boy? Brooks Sucks wrote on October 16, 2009 11:55 PM: Brooks will be standing in fron of Star Nursery looking for work within a year. He has always sucked and this show will bomb. Lee wrote on October 16, 2009 11:39 PM: 15 shows at 125 at 1,300 seats means about 2.4 million gross a year. Wynn probably is paying him a million per year plus the cost of leasing a private jet. Kenny wrote on October 16, 2009 11:25 PM: I love the music of Garth Brooks, but it would cost my family of five over $700.00 just for tickets! I can understand Steve Wynn not wanting working families in his hotels, but Brooks surprises me! Piss on Steve (Screw Las Vegas) Wynn, and I hate to say it, but piss on Garth for that kind of greed! I guess I'll just stay home, and listen to my George Strait CD's! Truth wrote on October 16, 2009 03:36 PM: This will go over like a lead balloon. Garth Brooks?? Who cares. RjC wrote on October 16, 2009 02:53 PM: I hope to see him. Oddly enough, his 'Chris Gaines' cd of ten years ago is my fav and I lisen to it often. He's good to go in my book! Sterling wrote on October 16, 2009 02:23 PM: Garth Brooks is a has-been. The 300 or so fans that show up will be proof. Read All Comments