Garth Brooks retired in 2001 at the age of 39 at the height of his popularity. He announced in 2009 that his retirement was ending.
Brooks was born on February 7, 1962 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He played baseball and football in high school. Oklahoma State University offered him a track scholarship and he threw the javelin for the track team.
Before listening to George Strait singing Unwound Brooks was more interested in rock music, then switched to country music. His first album was released in 1989, and it included his No.1 hit Tomorrow Never Comes. The Dance also on the album went to No.1 spot on the Billboard Country Music chart.
His No Fences album released in 1990 included four No.1 hits, including the song Friends in Low Places. Then Brooks did something I don’t agree with, by trying to prevent stores who sold used CD’s, from selling his latest album.
In 1993, Garth Brooks, who had criticized music stores which sold used CDs since it led to a loss in royalty payments, persuaded Capitol Records not to ship his August 1993 album In Pieces to stores which engaged in this practice. This led to several anti-trust lawsuits against the record label and ended with Capitol shipping the CDs to the stores after all.[29]
I can understand him wanting to make the most money possible, from his recordings, but trying to keep music fans like me from buying used CD’s was going to far in my book.
My CD album collection is mostly comprised of used CD’s bought in stores, at Amazon.com and at Ebay.com. Not everyone could afford to buy new CD’s including me, and Brooks who was already selling in the millions, should have not even brought the subject up. The situation ended up making him appear greedy.
Brooks continued to release new albums till 2001, when he released Scarecrow which would be his last album after having announced his retirement on Oct. 26, 2000. The album went to No.1 on both the pop and country charts.
Seven of his eight albums would reach No.1 on the Billboard Country chart. Those albums were released from 1989 to 2001.
Brooks is now in the middle of a five year contract with the Encore Las Vegas and is working his schedule so that he will be home for children during the week.
I went to the Ticketmaster.com website, and found out that a single ticket in the middle of the back section cost $253 before additional charges. The price had been $143 for the cheapest ticket before Steve Wynn the owner of the Encore raised the prices by $100 because of the demand for tickets.
To me this is preposterous considering we saw Elvis Presley at the prime of his career for less than $20 only about 20 rows back from the stage in Monroe, Louisiana in 1974.
I am not begrudging Garth Brooks for making a buck but sometimes rich people don’t think of the ones who made them what they are. Brooks may talk about how much he loves his fans, but he is hurting them, in the wallet by his exorbitant ticket prices.
His net worth is reportedly $325 million so it is not like he needs the money.
The following paragraph from the March 10 edition of the Las Vegas Sun tells me all I need to know about Garth Brooks:
It’s a mind-blowing contract valued by some at more than $100 million. His biggest thrill, though, this weekend also was the biggest tip he’s ever received: flying the private $15 million Challenger 604 jet for the first time that Steve gave him on top of the contract. It makes the Las Vegas treks possible so he doesn’t break the promise he made to his family.
For those interested in reading the entire article:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec/14/garth-brooks-conquers-critics-and-fans-opening-wee/
Garth Brooks may be a great entertainer, but his actions tell me he is more worried about adding to his millions, than he is about his fans.
Nostalgia and Now 
Wow I wish that I could fly in a private jet and make that much money…
I agree…He doesn’t have to worry about his house being foreclosed. He could buy the mortgage company.
I disagree. It seems to me he is a good businessman who knows what he is worth. (His performance is packed every night) It’s not your “right” to own his CD’s or see him live– it’s a privilege which apparently you cannot afford… so blame him? He built his name through talent and hard work people- you should try it & stop whining!
Kristina, Thanks for the comment. I like to let everyone voice their opinion, unless they use vulgar language, so was glad to post your comment.
In 1998, I was making $8.00 an hour. Garth came to town and the TD Water-house in Orlando Florida commonly sold concert tickets at the time for $40-$60 each. Garth told ticket master that they would not charge over $20 for tickets to see him or he wouldn’t do the show. His reason was that no one buys just one ticket, so people were going to buy two, and probably dinner, and maybe a tee shirt. He said, for someone to spend $100 for a night out to see me is enough. I also had to go down 2 days before tickets went on sale to get a bracelet, than on the day tickets went on sale, numbers were drawn to see who got to buy tickets first; it was like a lottery drawing.
Ticket master sold tickets for $18.88 plus tax, and I think a $2.00 ticket master charge. His one night concert that he was coming to town to do, ended up selling out 7 shows.
Greedy? I dont think so. As for his bonus jet, and 100 mil salary, who would turn it down.
Herbie, Appreciate your comments. I don’t claim to know it all, so am happy to let commenters post, when they write intelligent comments like the one you posted. Thank you for taking time to comment.
I disagree Mr. Godfrey,
It’s the simple laws of supply and demand. They could only charge what people will pay. From a business standpoint, if Steve Wynn raised ticket prices by 100 dollars and there was still not an empty seat in the house then he probably didn’t raise it enough. In reference to the Elvis comment…….do you think you’d be paying 20 bucks to see him today if he were alive? Have you seen what the Rolling Stones charge now? 200-600 dollars.
Scott, Thank you for your comment. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me and you made some very valid points.
One thing to think about is, if the tickets were only let’s say 40 or 50 or something small, how fast would they sell out? You’d then have another problem of not being able to purchase the ticket in time. It would be a race to the online ticket site to see who could buy first. If they were 20 like your elvis tickets (adjusted for inflation 20 would actually be LOWER today), then people might by 4 or 5 or 8 tickets and bring extra friends, which would also decrease the availability for any one individual to get a ticket in time. The high price simply reflects enormous demand and “low supply” (only one garth brooks who doesn’t perform all that often) therefore the price is high, but at least if it’s high it increases the chance you could actually obtain a ticket (IF you could afford it) because the high price would to some degree lessen the demand.
Thanks for posting the comment.