Eight years after he canceled five sold-out concerts in Dublin, Garth Brooks will return to Ireland next year, performing two shows in Dublin’s Croke Park on Sept. 9-10, Billboard has confirmed.
The news was first reported by Irish Mirror. Brooks will be in Dublin on Monday for a press event about the concerts.
The two concerts will mark a long-awaited return for Irish Brooks fans, after the singer-songwriter canceled five concerts at Croke Park back in 2014, after tensions with Dublin City Council. Those 2014 shows had been set for July 25-29 and were expected to bring in 400,000 people. However, the city council only agreed to allow three Brooks shows — instead of his preferred five concerts — due to noise and traffic complaints from residents. After the two parties could not come to an agreement, all of the shows were canceled.
At the time, Brooks released a statement to fans about the canceled shows, stating, “To say I am crushed is an understatement. All I see is my mother’s face and I hear her voice. She always said things happen for a reason and for the right reason. As hard as I try, I cannot see the light on this one. So it is with a broken heart, I announce the ticket refunds for the event will go as posted by Ticketmaster.” Brooks last played Croke Park in 1997 on his world tour with a resulting NBC special and DVD release.
Tickets for the September 2022 concerts will go on sale at Ticketmaster.ie on Nov. 25 at 8 a.m. local time. A representative for Brooks did not comment on whether more shows might be added.
Meanwhile, Brooks performed the first of three intimate Nashville shows as he brought his music to the Grand Ole Opry House crowd on Thursday and is set to perform Friday (Nov. 19) and Saturday night at the Ryman Auditorium.
