Garth Brooks Explains Why He Doesn’t Sell Tickets for the First Two Rows at His Shows

Tickets to Garth Brooks‘ shows sell out almost instantly, but there are some seats that fans can’t buy on their own. During a recent episode of his Facebook Live series, Inside Studio G, Brooks explained why he doesn’t sell tickets for the first two rows of seats at his concerts, sharing that he wants the seats to go to people who would enjoy the show the most.

During an #AskGarth segment of his show, the Oklahoma native told fans that he “got tired of people scalping” the tickets. “Got tired of when you come out of the hole, people just sitting there, looking around to see who’s seeing them being at the show,” he said. After consulting with other acts who tour often like Bruce Springsteen, Metallica and U2, Brooks and his team came up with a new plan. Instead of selling the seats, the team gives them away to fans who had purchased tickets in the venue’s upper decks. “It makes it pretty cool, because when you come out of the hole, there are some pretty excited people in those front two rows,” Brooks explained, adding that the idea was the “best advice.”

“It’s made every show an awesome show since that day,” he said. The 59-year-old referred to the audience members in the stadium’s upper decks as the “halo.” “These are the angels,” he said. “Man, they sing. And you can hear them from down there.” Brooks recently played his first show since the pandemic began on July 10 in Las Vegas, resuming his Stadium Tour after a delay of over a year. Responding to another fan, he revealed that before he takes the stage, the thing that goes through his mind is “not wanting to disappoint” his audience. “I know you go out there thinking, ‘Kill it, kill it, kill it,’ but what you’re trying to do when you go out is just, ‘Hey, man. This is your one chance.’”

Ahead of the show, the country star told Billboard that the most important thing to him when his Stadium Tour resumes is his fans’ safety. “What I hope is the week after the shows, people go, ‘Hey look man, we mass-assembled and we sang and we had fun like it was 2019 — and we’re not worse off for it,’” he said. “Let’s say we get the best reviews we’ve ever gotten in our life; still, for me, the most important thing is what happens after that in that city. Did everyone come out of it OK? And if so, then, thank you, God. That’s what you’re hoping for more than anything.”

Brooks has upcoming shows scheduled in Cheyenne, Wyoming on July 23 for Cheyenne Frontier Days; Nashville on July 31; Kansas City, Missouri on Aug. 7; Lincoln, Nebraska on Aug. 14; Cincinnati, Ohio on Sept. 18; Baltimore, Maryland on Oct. 2; Foxborough, Massachusetts on Oct. 9; and Charlotte, North Carolina on Sept. 25.