Before the Arenas: Garth Brooks’ Kansas City Story

Before Garth Brooks’ record-breaking ticket sales, packed arenas, the UFO flying drum pod, and his stage surrounded by a halo of LED screens, there was the old stuff.

And Kansas City has a whole lot of the Oklahoma cowboy’s old stuff.

Brooks opens every night of his “Blame It All on My Roots” Arena Tour with “The Old Stuff,” his Fresh Horses tribute to the clubs, songs, and early days when nobody knew what was coming next. When the tour rolls into Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center on Friday, Nov. 6, and Saturday, Nov. 7, Brooks will return to the city that embraced him before arenas became his second home.

Tickets for both shows go on sale at noon CT Friday, Oct. 16, HERE.

How far back does Brooks go in Kansas City? All the way back.

His mom was born in Kansas City, and he got his first gig as a recording artist at the Kansas City Opry. Later that year, he played Guitars and Cadillacs when the club was in Kansas City.

“There are a handful of cities that lead the charge in careers in Country Music,” Brooks said. “If it's happening there, it's gonna happen everywhere ... that's Kansas City.”

Brooks’ career was already moving at a blistering pace when he returned on Nov. 7, 1990, to play the American Royal Rodeo at Kemper Arena. His self-titled debut had introduced him to country fans the year before, and No Fences was making songs including “Friends in Low Places” and “The Thunder Rolls” into the soundtrack of the new decade.

In 1991, Brooks played the Missouri State Fair Grandstand in Sedalia as his career leaped from promising newcomer to superstar.

By the time he returned to Kansas City during his 1996-98 world tour, club tickets were a distant memory. In 1996, he broke a 14-year-old Neil Diamond ticket sales record in the city.

Now, nearly four decades after those first Kansas City-area gigs, Brooks is coming back — and starting every show by singing about the days before anybody knew his name.

“I think there is a hunger to connect with the people who believed in you early,” Brooks said. “Just that second to look each one of them in the eye and say, 'thank you.’  The Kansas City area has always been a place that doesn't just treat me like I’m from there. They treat me like I belong there. That's a sweet gift.”

General on sale for the Nov. 6 and Nov. 7 shows at T-Mobile Center will begin at noon CT Friday, Oct. 16, HERE.  All tickets are $155 ($140 ticket price, plus a $5 facility fee and $10 service charge), plus applicable taxes. With both end-stage and in-the-round seating, every seat in the house is one price.

Since the Kansas City Chiefs play at home on Sunday, Brooks will not put a Sunday concert on sale.