He's Got Friends in High Places - the Garth Brooks Crisis Over Dublin Concerts

Photo courtesy: CountryMusicIsLove.com

He's got friends in all places, but I've got friends in Dublin, and everyone has a different opinion of the situation. Politicians are weighing in, people are picketing, and the White House commented to say they wouldn't get involved. What exactly is going on in Dublin?

Brooks, who retired from music back in 2001 (not long after the "Chris Gaines" personality crisis), is staging an international tour. As one of the best selling musicians in the United States and an international  chart-topper, these concerts were announced to the delight of millions.

Ireland LOVES Garth Brooks. Probably more than many US states. I was living in Dublin when these concerts were announced, and it was the talk of the town. Posters publicizing the events were immediately plastered all over the city, and as far as I could tell, none of them had been vandalized.

Now that, my friends, is respect.

Brooks, working with Aiken Productions, originally scheduled two concerts to be held at Croke Park, which underwent a massive renovation in the 1990's. When the concerts started to sell out, they added three more concerts to the run to "cope with demand" *cough make lots of money cough.*

The concerts were scheduled, tickets sold, posters plastered - and then Dublin City Council only approved 3 concert dates, not 5. Oops.

In Ireland, major events (more than 5,000 people) need the approval of the local council. After the Croke Park renovations in the 90's, residents of the surrounding area made an agreement with the stadium that only 3 non-sporting events were to be allowed each calendar year, to prevent noise and disruption to local neighborhoods. In 2009, the deal was broken when 4 concerts took place in a year. That led to massive pushback from the community, and a promise that organizers for Croke Park wouldn't broach the agreement again.

Earlier this year, 3 One Direction concerts were held at Croke park. Most people would think the previous 3 concerts would negate any more large events this year, no?

I guess not. The city council approved 3 dates, much to the chagrin of local residents, but didn't allow for the additional 2 dates, much to the chagrin of Brooks' bank account.

In a grandiose show of loyalty to fans (and his check book), Brooks threatened to cancel all of the concerts, saying "To choose which shows to do and which shows not to do, would be like asking to choose one child over another," if the city council didn't allow him to have the other 2 dates. For those keeping track, if all of Brooks' concerts were allowed, that would mean Croke Park would host a total of 8 non-sporting events in 2014, almost tripling the allotted concerts in the agreement.

Some have said that the local residents should just suck it up and deal with it - but who's to say that Croke Park won't continue to take liberties, until there are weekly concerts on a massive scale? The Dublin city council is facing potential legal action from residents if they allow all 5 concerts to go ahead.

In Vancouver, I lived across the street from the Pacific National Exhibition, or the PNE. When there are concerts on, you don't get sleep. Consider the fact that literally thousands of people are walking past your house late at night, many of them inebriated, many of them rowdy and boisterous. I had strangers knocking on my door at 2am, drunk, looking for someone who lived 4 blocks away. Imagine that on a much bigger scale - Croke Park accommodates 82,000 people. Imagine 82,000 people walking past your house on more than a few nights a year.

Yikes.

Irish senator Averil Power said that "The cancellation of the concerts has been a massive disappointment for the Garth Brooks fans here, and it's also been a disaster for the city of Dublin." Reports have suggested that the concerts would bring in €50 million to the Irish economy, as a large percentage of ticket holders would be travelling in from out of town to see Brooks.

Irish politicians are at odds - the opposition to the 3 concert limit have called for emergency legislation (!) to ensure that Brooks can hold all 5 concerts. I bet those politicians live nowhere near Croke Park. They are calling for the Prime Minister to intervene! Everything is madness!

In a friendly show of compromise, the Dublin city council offered Brooks an alternative just hours after he announced he would do whatever it took to put these concerts on and appease his fans, suggesting that the additional 2 concerts be matinee performances. Brooks refused, saying he won't short change fans by "half-assing a show," right before reiterating that he will do "whatever it takes."

image credit: theoriginaljc.blogspot.com

It seems unlikely that the concerts will go ahead later this month, but Garth assures his fans that his "heart is breaking."

Maybe he could play a cover of Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achey Breaky Heart" at his next gig.