The Garth Brooks World Tour (1996–1998)

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The Garth Brooks World Tour
Tour by Garth Brooks
LocationEurope, North America, South America
Associated albumFresh Horses, Sevens
Start dateMarch 12, 1996
End dateNovember 22, 1998
Legs5
No. of shows344
Box officeUS$105,000,000
Garth Brooks concert chronology

The Garth Brooks World Tour was a concert tour by American country music artist Garth Brooks. Launching in support of Brooks' albums, Fresh Horses (1995), and later Sevens (1997), the tour followed Brooks' 1993–94 tour and also featured appearances by Trisha Yearwood. The tour ran from March 12, 1996, to November 22, 1998, for a total of 344 concerts. Even though this was Brooks' final concert tour before his retirement in 2001, it drew record-breaking crowds in North America, two places in Ireland, and one place in South America, becoming the third-most attended concert tour of all time, as well as one of the decade's highest-grossing concert tours.

Background and content[edit]

Brooks and band performs in 1998 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.

After his first successful world tour, Brooks embarked on his second, covering many cities at random throughout the United States and Canada, with appearances in Ireland and Brazil. Initially launching to support Brooks' 1995 album, Fresh Horses, it also began to feature songs from Sevens, released in 1997. The concerts' outline evolved as the set lists changed throughout the tour. Each show began with smoke-filled entrance by Brooks, appearing via hydraulic lift through a piano as the opening notes of "The Old Stuff" were played.[1] Wearing a wireless microphone headset, Brooks proceeded to dance about the stage, performing a series of old and new songs. The high energy and pyrotechnics garnered comparison to hard rock performances by bands including Kiss, while still achieving a country atmosphere.[1] Following the release of Brooks' album, Sevens, Trisha Yearwood began making periodic appearances to perform duets, such as "In Another's Eyes".

Ticket sales and revenue[edit]

Brooks' 1996–98 world tour continued the tradition established by his first tour, selling each ticket for the same price ($20), regardless of location in the venue.[2] Because of this, demand was extremely high breaking many records worldwide, including arena ticket sales and attendance records. Concerts began selling out in minutes, resulting in such high demand that multiple shows were added for many cities.[1] Many of these ticket sales and attendance records were broken by Brooks once again on his 2014 tour.

Despite each ticket costing well below the average ticket prices at the time, the tour managed to gross nearly $105 million worldwide, and is listed among the highest-grossing concert tours in the 1990s.[2] Its total attendance, approximately 5.5 million, ranks fourth all-time (behind U2, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones).

Recordings[edit]

Audio[edit]

Portions of various concerts from the tour were recorded and released as a live album to coincide with the tour's conclusion. The two-disc release, called Double Live, went on to become the best-selling live album of all time, certified 21× platinum by the RIAA, and is the seventh-most shipped album in United States music history.[3]

Video[edit]

The tour's concerts in New York City's Central Park and Dublin's Croke Park were filmed for later broadcasting. Garth: Live from Central Park was a free concert attended by 980,000 fans, the most-attended concert in the park's history. Paying homage to Woodstock, the concert was dubbed "Garthstock", featuring appearances by Billy Joel and Don McLean.[4] It was broadcast on HBO, receiving nearly 15 million live viewers, the most of any concert special that year, and it received six Emmy Award nominations.[4] Garth Brooks: Ireland and Back, footage of the concert of May 16, 1997, was filmed and later broadcast on NBC with a live ending featuring Brooks performing songs from the newly released Sevens from Burbank, California, receiving 15.7 million viewers.[5] Both specials were included in Brooks' The Entertainer DVD collection, released in 2006, with the Dublin concert being renamed “Garth Brooks: Live in Ireland”. While the live ending was not a part of the main show, a couple songs from the segment were put in the Special Features.

Set list[edit]

This set list is representative of the performance of May 20, 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the series.[6]

Tour dates[edit]

List of concerts, showing date, number of shows, city, country, and venue
Date
Number of shows
City Country Venue Tickets Sold / Available Revenue
Leg 1
March 12, 1996 Atlanta United States Omni Coliseum 83,293 / 83,293 $1,556,138
March 13, 1996
March 14, 1996
March 15, 1996
March 16, 1996
March 20, 1996 Cleveland Gund Arena 82,447 / 82,447 $1,572,667
March 21, 1996
March 22, 1996
March 23, 1996
March 27, 1996 Indianapolis Market Square Arena 69,653 / 69,653 $1,165,571
March 28, 1996
March 29, 1996
March 30, 1996
April 2, 1996 Landover USAir Arena 90,317 / 90,317 $1,762,294
April 3, 1996
April 4, 1996
April 5, 1996
April 6, 1996
April 9, 1996 East Lansing Breslin Center 28,850 / 28,850 $481,780
April 10, 1996
April 11, 1996 Milwaukee Bradley Center 56,726 / 56,726 $998,594
April 12, 1996
April 13, 1996
April 18, 1996 Miami Miami Arena
April 19, 1996
April 20, 1996
April 26, 1996 Manhattan Bramlage Coliseum 26,419 / 26,419 $474,246
April 27, 1996
May 2, 1996 Kansas City Kemper Arena 66,400 / 66,400 $1,228,400
May 3, 1996
May 4, 1996
May 5, 1996
May 8, 1996 Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills 104,625 / 104,625 $1,859,850
May 9, 1996
May 10, 1996
May 11, 1996
May 12, 1996
May 16, 1996 Birmingham BJCC Coliseum 54,980 / 54,980 $978,656
May 17, 1996
May 18, 1996
May 30, 1996 Las Cruces Pan American Center
May 31, 1996
June 2, 1996 Tucson McKale Center 26,860 / 26,860 $483,480
June 3, 1996
June 6, 1996 Phoenix America West Arena 53,248 / 53,248 $958,464
June 7, 1996
June 8, 1996
June 13, 1996 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena 41,336 / 41,336 $805,467
June 14, 1996
June 15, 1996
June 19, 1996 Inglewood Great Western Forum 52,686 / 52,686 $934,074
June 20, 1996
June 21, 1996
June 22, 1996 Anaheim Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim 55,671 / 55,671 $987,228
June 23, 1996
June 24, 1996
June 26, 1996 Albuquerque Tingley Coliseum
June 27, 1996
June 28, 1996
July 18, 1996 Denver McNichols Sports Arena
July 19, 1996
July 20, 1996
July 25, 1996 Portland, OR Rose Garden Arena
July 26, 1996
July 27, 1996
August 1, 1996 Vancouver Canada General Motors Place 53,339 / 53,339 $912,143
August 2, 1996
August 3, 1996
August 7, 1996 Calgary Canadian Airlines Saddledome 53,076 / 53,076 $909,101
August 8, 1996
August 9, 1996
August 10, 1996 Edmonton Edmonton Coliseum 50,871 / 50,871 $872,924
August 11, 1996
August 12, 1996
August 14, 1996 Saskatoon Saskatchewan Place 28,144 / 28,144 $514,780
August 15, 1996
August 17, 1996 Winnipeg Winnipeg Arena 46,280 / 46,280 $935,375
August 18, 1996
August 19, 1996
August 27, 1996 Portland, ME United States Cumberland County Civic Center 40,684 / 40,684 $720,108
August 28, 1996
August 29, 1996
August 30, 1996
August 31, 1996
September 2, 1996 Ottawa Canada Corel Centre 36,892 / 36,892 $740,802
September 3, 1996
September 5, 1996 Hamilton Copps Coliseum
September 6, 1996 Toronto SkyDome 28,617 / 28,617 $800,510
September 7, 1996 Montreal Molson Centre
September 9, 1996 Saint John Harbour Station
September 10, 1996
September 11, 1996
September 12, 1996 Halifax Halifax Metro Centre 39,592 / 39,592 $800,510
September 13, 1996
September 14, 1996
September 15, 1996
October 3, 1996 Carbondale United States SIU Arena 28,335 / 28,335 $466,344
October 4, 1996
October 5, 1996
October 10, 1996 St. Louis Kiel Center 60,210 / 60,210 $1,069,980
October 11, 1996
October 12, 1996
October 17, 1996 Ames Hilton Coliseum 43,080 / 43,080 $784,234
October 18, 1996
October 19, 1996
November 1, 1996 Knoxville Thompson–Boling Arena 50,006 / 50,006 $895,382
November 2, 1996
November 13, 1996 Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum 83,856 / 83,856 $1,487,808
November 14, 1996
November 15, 1996
November 16, 1996
November 17, 1996
December 5, 1996 Jackson Mississippi Coliseum 26,002 / 26,002 $441,125
December 6, 1996
December 7, 1996
December 13, 1996 Biloxi Mississippi Coast Coliseum
December 14, 1996
December 15, 1996
Leg 2
January 16, 1997 Shreveport United States Hirsch Memorial Coliseum 29,102 / 29,102 $522,755
January 17, 1997
January 18, 1997
January 23, 1997 Hampton Hampton Coliseum
January 24, 1997
January 25, 1997
January 30, 1997 North Charleston North Charleston Coliseum
January 31, 1997
February 1, 1997
February 13, 1997 Charleston Charleston Civic Center 49,976 / 49,976 $907,407
February 14, 1997
February 15, 1997
February 16, 1997
February 20, 1997 Richmond Richmond Coliseum 35,942 / 35,942 $644,132
February 21, 1997
February 22, 1997
February 27, 1997 Jacksonville Jacksonville Coliseum 56,648 / 56,648 $1,090,474
February 28, 1997
March 1, 1997
March 2, 1997
March 3, 1997
March 4, 1997
March 7, 1997 Champaign Assembly Hall 49,412 / 49,412 $851,078
March 8, 1997
March 9, 1997
March 28, 1997 Columbia Carolina Coliseum
March 29, 1997
April 3, 1997 University Park Bryce Jordan Center 74,399 / 74,399 $1,339,182
April 4, 1997
April 5, 1997
April 6, 1997
April 7, 1997
April 10, 1997 Albany Pepsi Arena 47,356 / 47,356 $799,017
April 11, 1997
April 12, 1997
April 17, 1997 Boston FleetCenter 35,183 / 35,183 $591,719
April 18, 1997
April 19, 1997 Worcester Worcester's Centrum Centre 56,696 / 56,696 $950,793
April 20, 1997
April 21, 1997
April 22, 1997
April 25, 1997 Syracuse Carrier Dome 53,526 / 53,526 $1,004,644
April 26, 1997
May 16, 1997[a] Dublin Ireland Croke Park
May 17, 1997
May 18, 1997
Leg 3
July 3, 1997 Oklahoma City United States Myriad Convention Center 43,388 / 43,388 $835,458
July 4, 1997
July 5, 1997
July 11, 1997 Amarillo Potter County Memorial Stadium
July 12, 1997
July 17, 1997 Tulsa Drillers Stadium 80,782 / 80,782 $1,557,173
July 18, 1997
July 19, 1997
July 20, 1997
July 21, 1997
July 26, 1997 Columbus Cooper Stadium 95,924 / 95,924 $1,804,601
July 27, 1997
July 28, 1997
July 29, 1997
July 30, 1997
August 14, 1997 Sacramento ARCO Arena 83,277 / 83,277 $1,478,160
August 15, 1997
August 16, 1997
August 17, 1997
August 18, 1997
August 21, 1997 Fresno Selland Arena 50,702 / 50,702 $900,018
August 22, 1997
August 23, 1997
August 24, 1997
August 25, 1997
August 29, 1997 San Jose San Jose Arena 53,509 / 53,509 $945,018
August 30, 1997
August 31, 1997
September 4, 1997 Reno Lawlor Events Center
September 5, 1997
September 24, 1997 Lincoln Bob Devaney Sports Center
September 25, 1997
September 26, 1997
September 27, 1997
September 28, 1997
October 3, 1997 Rapid City Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
October 4, 1997
October 13, 1997 Pittsburgh Civic Arena 100,715 / 100,715 $1,925,462
October 14, 1997
October 15, 1997
October 16, 1997
October 17, 1997
October 18, 1997
October 21, 1997 Rosemont Rosemont Horizon 107,525 / 107,525 $1,913,400
October 22, 1997
October 23, 1997
October 24, 1997
October 25, 1997
October 26, 1997
October 29, 1997 Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Arena
October 30, 1997
October 31, 1997
November 1, 1997
November 2, 1997
November 6, 1997 Bismarck Bismarck Civic Center
November 7, 1997
November 8, 1997
November 9, 1997
November 12, 1997 Valley Center Kansas Coliseum
November 13, 1997
November 14, 1997
November 15, 1997
November 16, 1997
December 18, 1997 Rosemont Rosemont Horizon 35,480 / 35,480 $638,640
December 19, 1997
Leg 4
February 13, 1998 Dallas United States Reunion Arena 50,213 / 52,000 $1,059,494
February 14, 1998
February 15, 1998
February 20, 1998 Fort Worth Fort Worth Convention Center 37,015 / 37,015 $781,015
February 21, 1998
February 22, 1998
March 5, 1998 Memphis The Pyramid Arena 60,885 / 60,885 $1,290,129
March 6, 1998
March 7, 1998
March 20, 1998 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum 48,691 / 48,691 $960,180
March 21, 1998
March 25, 1998 Winston-Salem LJVM Coliseum 57,512 / 57,512 $1,127,040
March 26, 1998
March 27, 1998
March 28, 1998
April 3, 1998 Chapel Hill Dean Smith Center 40,800 / 40,800 $802,040
April 4, 1998
April 7, 1998 Houston Compaq Center 81,039 / 81,039 $1,673,455
April 8, 1998
April 9, 1998
April 10, 1998
April 11, 1998
April 14, 1998 San Antonio Alamodome 120,653 / 120,653 $2,594,040
April 15, 1998
April 16, 1998
April 17, 1998
April 18, 1998
2 shows
April 23, 1998 Baton Rouge LSU Assembly Center
April 24, 1998
April 25, 1998
April 30, 1998 Evansville Roberts Municipal Stadium 46,502 / 46,502 $894,875
May 1, 1998
May 2, 1998
May 3, 1998
May 8, 1998 Nashville Nashville Arena
May 9, 1998
May 10, 1998
May 15, 1998 Lexington Rupp Arena 68,010 / 68,010 $1,380,368
May 16, 1998
May 17, 1998
May 20, 1998 Louisville Freedom Hall
May 21, 1998
May 22, 1998
May 23, 1998
Leg 5
July 2, 1998 Billings United States MetraPark Arena
July 3, 1998
July 4, 1998
July 5, 1998
July 9, 1998 Salt Lake City Delta Center
July 10, 1998
July 11, 1998
July 12, 1998
July 15, 1998 Seattle KeyArena
July 16, 1998
July 17, 1998
July 18, 1998
July 19, 1998
July 20, 1998
July 23, 1998 Spokane Spokane Arena
July 24, 1998
July 25, 1998
July 26, 1998
July 27, 1998
August 7, 1998 Casper Casper Events Center
August 8, 1998
August 9, 1998
August 13, 1998 Las Vegas Thomas & Mack Center
August 14, 1998
August 15, 1998
August 16, 1998
September 8, 1998 Philadelphia First Union Center 115,212 / 115,212 $2,509,672
September 9, 1998
September 10, 1998
September 11, 1998
September 12, 1998
September 13, 1998
September 18, 1998 Fargo Fargodome
September 19, 1998
September 20, 1998
September 23, 1998 Buffalo Marine Midland Arena 111,480 / 111,480 $2,156,544
September 24, 1998
September 25, 1998
September 26, 1998
September 27, 1998
September 28, 1998
October 1, 1998 Quebec City Canada Colisée de Québec
October 2, 1998 Montreal Centre Molson 34,110 / 34,110 $731,660
October 3, 1998
October 6, 1998 Minneapolis United States Target Center 163,791 / 163,791 $3,500,609
October 7, 1998
October 8, 1998
October 9, 1998
October 10, 1998
October 11, 1998
October 12, 1998
October 13, 1998
October 14, 1998
October 21, 1998 Orlando Orlando Arena 85,390 / 85,390 $1,698,300
October 22, 1998
October 23, 1998
October 24, 1998
October 25, 1998
October 28, 1998 Tampa Ice Palace 77,636 / 77,636 $1,615,488
October 29, 1998
October 30, 1998
October 31, 1998
November 11, 1998 Belfast Northern Ireland King's Hall
November 12, 1998
November 13, 1998
November 14, 1998
November 15, 1998
November 19, 1998 College Station United States Reed Arena 37,831 / 37,831 $757,087
November 21, 1998
November 22, 1998

Special concerts[edit]

List of concerts, showing date, city, country, and venue
Date
Number of shows
City Country Venue
July 22, 1996 Cheyenne United States Cheyenne Frontier Days
August 7, 1997[b] New York City Central Park
August 22, 1998 Barretos Brazil Festa do Peão de Boiadeiro

Personnel[edit]

  • Garth Brooks – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar on "Callin' Baton Rouge"
  • Stephanie Davis – acoustic guitar, backing vocals
  • David Gant – piano, synthesizers
  • James Garver – electric guitar, electric banjo on "Callin' Baton Rouge", backing vocals
  • Mark Greenwood – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Jimmy Mattingly – fiddle, acoustic guitar
  • Steve McClure – pedal steel guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar on "Callin' Baton Rouge"
  • Debbie Nims – acoustic guitar, mandolin, percussion, backing vocals
  • Mike Palmer – drums, percussion

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ This concert was taped and later broadcast on NBC, receiving 15.7 million live viewers. It was included in Brooks' 2006 DVD compilation, The Entertainer.
  2. ^ This concert was free of charge, and it remains the largest concert ever held at the park. It was taped, broadcast on HBO, and included in Brooks' 2006 DVD compilation, The Entertainer.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Ruggieri, Melissa (April 19, 1996). "Brooks Wows 16,000 Fans At Miami Arena". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Waddell, Ray (October 8, 2007). "Brooks Set For Nine-Show Kansas City Run". Billboard. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  3. ^ "RIAA List of Best Selling Albums". Riaa.com. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Sickels, Robert C. (2013). 100 entertainers who changed America : an encyclopedia of pop culture luminaries. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. p. 83. ISBN 978-1598848304. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  5. ^ "Paradise Announces Billy Joel/Elton John Concert For HBO Garth Brooks Television Special Wins #1 Ratings". PRNewswire. April 8, 1998. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  6. ^ "Garth Brooks Setlist". setlist.fm. Retrieved March 8, 2016.