Garth Plays To 159,775 Fans In Nine Nights

Neil Haislop chose a great time to relaunch his informative website and makes the most of it tomorrow morning with this report, advanced to A&O today:

GARTH TRIUMPHANT IN KANSAS CITY

At one point during Garth Brooks' triumphant 9th and final show in Kansas City last night, he was presented a large plaque for drawing 159,775 fans during his 9-show series at the new Sprint Center (where Garth cut the ribbon to open the joint up). The Sprint Center General Manager, Brenda Tinnen, declared that an identical plaque would reside in a place of honor high above of the center until Garth comes back to play there again.

OUR UNOFFICIAL FIGURES...

Based on an educated guess, average ticket price of $25, Garth's total audience would translate to a gross of just under $4 million dollars for the 9-shows. Estimating too, that 300 theaters with average seating of around 400 per house and an average ticket price of $10, adds and estimated $1.2 dollars for last night bringing the total (before tonight's theatrical replay showings of the final show), brings the total gross to $5.2 million dollars, unofficial estimate.

ULTIMATELY THE GARTH EXPERIENCE FOR 9 NIGHTS RUNNING TURNS OUT TO BE PRICELESS

Everybody walked away from Sprint Center or their local movie house running the show, with an unforgettable experience that one of the greatest performers of the 20th and 21st centuries so far, has been gifting fans for nearly two decades. It was vintage Garth, full of love, power, timeless songs, unpredictable performances and patter from a master that has lost none, in the 8 years he's been retired, of that "thing" that comes out of him on stage placing thousands of fans in the palm of his hand, and him planted firmly in their hearts. It's amazing, but not unexpected that Garth remains, Garth.

There were fans of all ages crowding the stage. And, it was impressive to see young women, who were likely 10 to 12 years old when Garth released his greatest hits, all responding to the timeless tunes with as much passion and enthusiasm as their older sisters or parents. Not, only responding but singing word-for-word "the old stuff" (as Garth declared he was planning to perform each night).

Garth didn't swing on ropes or stage dive or fly overhead or run and jump like he sometimes did. And he didn't bother to color his graying hair to look as young as he did 8 years ago, he just presented Garth and all the energy, charisma and joyful performances that he has always offered his fans...and they loved it!

THE MOVIE HOUSE SHOW

While there's nothing that can beat being physically present for the palpable Brooks' live experience, we have to admit the big screen presentation we saw came real close to feeling like you are right there. Produced and directed by Jon Small, the genius director of Garth's videos and concert DVDs, the incredible attention to a surround sound system created the feeling that you were sitting in the middle of a section of a 1,000 people, with hoops and hollers, clapping and singing happening around you as it does in a big arena. The visuals are HD quality on a grand scale(imagine a HD screen in your home 60 x 40 ft), with close ups of Garth so intimate you could see the joy and fire in his eyes. The music mix of the theater show was simply phenomenal.

The experience was so real that the audience in the movie house was cheering, and singing along. At one point, Garth addresses the movie theater audience saying, "You don't have a hair on your a__ if you don't get up on your feet and shout." The movie crowd did just that with the illusion of being a live participant at the show, complete.

If you didn't make it to the live movie house show last night, it's worth going to the replay tonight.

Watch for future theatrical tie-ins like this to be tried by other artists on tour.

MEANWHILE, don't forget that Garth's Kansas City shows started out as a thank you concert for Wal-Mart employees, and as a way to promoted his Ultimate Hits package. And, Garth will continue to do that next week on GAC when they present “Ultimate Garth-The Ultimate Hits.” For a glimpse of just how much the music means to Garth Brooks, country music fans need look no further than Sunday’s one-hour television special on Great American Country, Ultimate Garth -The Ultimate Hits, which airs Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. ET. GAC takes viewers behind the scenes to see how the top-selling solo artist of all time hand-picked songs and videos included in Brooks’ latest CD/DVD greatest hits collection titled, Garth Brooks – The Ultimate Hits.