Garth Brooks taking solo acoustic shows to Las Vegas casino
Garth Brooks (Associated Press photo)
Well, it was no shocker that Oklahoma country superstar Garth Brooks announced today that he is indeed casting off retirement to become the resident performer at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. Word of his Vegas deal had leaked far and wide over the Internet and in the music industry in the past few days.
But Brooks and Steve Wynn, chairman of the board and CEO of Wynn Resorts, did offer a surprise during this afternoon’s Vegas press conference officially announcing the Oklahoma native’s new gig.
Brooks, who in the 1990s changed the way country artists played live with his extravagant rock-inspired stadium shows, won’t be bringing Vegas-style glitz to his casino concerts.
Instead, he will be putting on solo acoustic shows, according to CMT.com. And he expects they will take him back to his college days of gigging in venues around his alma mater, Oklahoma State University.
“It’s a one-man show, so there’s going to be a lot of disappointment after that first weekend,” he joked. “Coming out and just playing – just me and a guitar – takes me back to the first days I got to play. I was lucky enough to do a place called Wild Willie’s Saloon in Stillwater, OK, before I moved to Nashville and started touring. That’s what this is going to be for me. It’s a chance to slowly get back into it to see what people like, what they don’t like. It’s going to be very intimate.”
He said the theater also presents his voice to its best advantage.
“I’m always in buildings that are built for sports,” he said. “I love sports, and I feel lucky to have arenas and stadiums. But I’ve never played in a place built for sound like this. When I hear myself, I go, ‘Who the hell is that?’ It’s a beautiful hall.”
Brooks will begin his stint at the Encore Theater Dec. 11. The shows are expected to last 90 minutes, according to CMT.
He will perform one show on Fridays, two on Saturdays and one on Sunday. Tickets are priced at $125 and will go on sale Oct. 24 for the first five weekends. The dates are Dec. 11-13, Jan. 1-3 and 22-24 and Feb. 12-14 and 26-28.
According to CMT, Brooks, who was born in Tulsa and raised in Yukon, inked a five-year deal that allows him to perform only during specific weeks each year to be announced on a quarterly basis.
Brooks said Wynn succeeded in drawing him out of retirement by catering to his desire to continue to spend time with his family. The star announced his retirement about nine years ago, stating then that he planned to delay any further recording and touring until his youngest daughter, Allie, then 4, graduated high school. Allie is now 13; her older sisters Taylor and August are 17 and 15, respectively.
“I am a fortunate guy that has got to live his life playing music for people, and the people have always taken care of me,” CMT quotes Brooks as saying. “In 2001, I announced my retirement to go home and raise our kids in Oklahoma. When Steve Wynn approached me about playing, he did something different than anybody else had. He didn’t throw money at me.”
Wynn is providing Brooks with a private jet so he can commute between Vegas and his Oklahoma home. Brooks, second wife Trisha Yearwood, his daughters and their mother, Sandy Mahl, all make their home in Owasso.
He apparently got a chance to try out that jet today, announcing the end of his retirement at a morning press conference in Nashville and then confirming his Vegas deal with an afternoon presser in Sin City.
According to CMT, the Brooks deal grew out of a series of conversations he had with Wynn. He eventually played an informal concert for some of Wynn’s friends and special guests, including Bette Midler. Brooks joins the ranks of star-level performers like Celine Dion and Prince who have gone the lucrative Vegas headlining route.
And judging from Brooks’ comments today, the deal will make the star significant coin. He said when Wynn first proposed it, he told the casino tycoon he couldn’t afford him.
Brooks then added, “I was wrong.”
-BAM
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