Garth Brooks is Coming Out of Retirement

Great news for Garth Brooks fans: the country singer has announced that he’s coming out of retirement. And at 8am this Saturday, October 24, tickets will go on sale for his show at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas. Starting this December and going through the end of February, he’ll be performing three nights per week at the resort’s Encore Theater. He made the announcement last week with Steve Wynn, both of them dressed in cowboy boots.

Now forty-seven years old, Garth Brooks retired in 2001, giving the explanation that he wanted to spend more time with his family. What apparently helped him decide to come out of retirement and perform at the Wynn was their agreement to buy him a private jet so that he can easily and quickly travel to and from home. Since the shows are going to be Friday through Sunday, he’ll still be able to be back home to Owasso, Oklahoma in time to take his three daughters to school on weekday mornings and taking them to activities like soccer practice.

Fans are no doubt excited about seeing Garth Brooks onstage in his cowboy boots and cowboy hat, hopefully performing favorites like “Friends in Low Places.” A story in the Las Vegas Sun talks about how Steve Wynn and Brooks made the announcement last week, both of them dressed in Western wear. Wynn was the one who asked Brooks to perform, and he said in the Sun that since seeing The Rat Pak in 1965, he hadn’t seen “an artist create such a love for an audience” — until he saw Garth Brooks at a private performance earlier this year.

Though it took several months of negotiating, Garth Brooks is now signed on to do the show. Plans are to have him perform with just a guitarist and no band, and there may be special guest acts.

No word yet on whether Brooks’ alter-ego Chris Gaines will be coming out of retirement as well. To get tickets to his Las Vegas show, call 702-770-7469 (again, they go on sale at 8am this Saturday).