Garth’s Summer of Sold-Out Stadiums
Armed with the pent-up energy of a stabled race horse, a penchant for setting records, and a lineup of the best touring band of his 32-year career, Garth Brooks is leaning hard into the final lap of a 30 city Stadium Tour that he launched back in the spring of 2019.
And judging from 104 thousand fans at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge whose enthusiasm registered as a small earthquake on an LSU seismograph, the remaining stops on this monster tour, culminating in 5 sold- out performances in Dublin’s Croke Park, should be ones for the books.
Perhaps the strongest evidence of Garth’s intent to finish strong is his recent inclusion of veteran Nashville session aces, Chris Leuzinger (lead guitar) and Bobby Terry (acoustic) among his usual well-tuned lineup of Dave Gant (keys), Mark Greenwood (bass/vocals), Mike Palmer (drums), Jimmy Mattingly (fiddle / acoustic guitar), Gordon Kennedy (electric guitar), Steve McClure (steel), Blair masters (keys) and Robert Bailey and Vicky Hampton (background vocals).
As always, Takamine Guitars will be carrying the acoustic flag from beginning to end. New guy Bobby Terry has turned to the CP5D-OAD as his number-one acoustic and the EF360GF Glenn Frey Signature model for the occasional drop-D tuning. And while GB mainstay Jimmy Mattingly carries a P7NC and EF360GF both of which have seen significant stage time over the years, it is the P3D from Takamine’s popular cedar-top, satin-finish Pro Series 3 that has become his primary piece.
Garth, an underrated guitarist in his own right tends to prefer the exclusive custom Circle-G version of his signature model for those broader performances, but reverts back to his trusty GB7C for the more intimate offerings (see upcoming Paul Simon Tribute performance with Trisha Yearwood).
If you’ve never seen Garth live, you may consider cherry picking a city from the remaining shows and booking a flight. There really is nothing else like it. Meanwhile, check out the clip derived from the recent Fayetteville Show to get a mini-blast GB energy.
It’s probably safe to say that these final stadium shows will not his last, but you can bet your house that Garth and Co will play each and every one as if they were.
