(WYCD) In a wide-ranging talk before his massive Ford Field stadium show in Detroit, legendary country performer Garth Brooks weighed in on the show, song writing, and even parenting.
What drives him? Fear of sucking, Garth revealed, adding that a problem of modern parenting is that people have made life too soft and easy for their kids.
"(Losing) -- It's the only way you're going to see them learn," he said, adding, "When they hand you that child, you're scared of everything. With children, sometimes you just have to step back and say 'God take care of them.'"
He added: "One of the things we took away from our children is losing, but it's that taste in the mouth that drives you to be better."
Even following hit after hit, Brooks said after every show, he does an internal assessment of what went wrong -- and right -- and moves on from there.
Garth Brooks set a record by selling 70,000 tickets in just a few minutes for Ford Field in Detroit. Before the concert, which will be held Saturday, February 22nd, 2020, at 7 p.m. This will be Garth's first time ever playing at Ford Field and the only Michigan stop on The Stadium Tour!
"Fat Boy Slim here is going to have some ground to cover," Brooks joked about the massive show.
Why stadium tours? "We had to earn it," Brooks told the crowd of invited media at his pre-show press conference.
In his talk, Garth harkened to his first big show at WYCD's Hoedown, saying he'll be doing all right if he has as much fun now as he did then.
He added he wants for his legacy to be known as a songwriter. But he's also an entertainer ... and when you're trying to have a good time, ain't no crowd like a Detroit crowd.
"Come to Detroit, bring your helmet," he said of what it feels like to play locally, adding he treats a Detroit show like a sporting event.
"I'm hoping they came here to sing," he said. He hopes he's able to start a song and let metro Detroiters finish it. He hasn't actually sung "Friends in Low Places" in 25 years, he said, because the crowd takes over.
What exactly does he plan to sing? You'll have to be there to find out. Garth said he feeds off the energy of the crowd. "This isn't a town you want to suck in, they'll let you know."
"My job is to yank your ass left and right like a rollercoaster," he added.
Garth broke onto the scene more than 20 years ago and is still going strong. In fact, he just won CMA Entertainer of the Year for a seventh time, a first for any artist.
This is also the second time this year Garth has made a splash in metro Detroit. This summer, he showed up as a surprise guest at WYCD's Hoedown and did a medley of his favorite hits.
He told the Detroit crowd he was there because, "I was lucky enough to play this gig 30 years ago, so I just wanted to come out and say thank God and thank you guys for the ride of my life ... "So I just came her to say, in those 30 years, I can't thank you guys enough for what a wonderful ride. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy the Hoedown. God bless you guys, and I love Detroit!"Garth Brooks' current single, "Dive Bar," was recorded with Blake Shelton. The day of its debut on country radio, "Dive Bar," was the most added song with 135 total stations. It was recorded for his upcoming studio album, Fun. The single inspired a 7-date DIVE BAR tour to dive bars in country music capitals around the country. In March, Garth launched The Stadium Tour. In the first nine stadiums they announced, Garth set massive ticket sale records.Garth has also now gone vinyl with a new package titled, LEGACY. During the first pre-sale, Garth smashed records with 20,000 packages sold in under 18 hours, that's 420,000 vinyl records. Forbes noted, "To put this in context, The Beatles were the number-one vinyl artist in 2018 with 321,000 sales over 12 months." He is also the first artist in history to receive 7 Diamond awards for the now seven albums certified by the RIAA at over 10 million album sales each and remains the #1-selling solo artist in U.S. history certified by the RIAA with over 148 million album sales. He has received every accolade the recording industry can bestow on an artist. Garth has been inducted into the International Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame and most recently, the Musicians Hall of Fame.
