KANSAS CITY, Mo — Despite COVID-19 cases surging across the Kansas City metro, more than 70,000 people will fill GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday as Garth Brooks takes the stage.
But after performing in Lincoln, Nebraska, one week later, the country star will take three weeks off to reassess the The Garth Brooks Stadium Show – which he recently resumed after postponing the 2019 tour.
Brooks, whose wife and fellow country music star Trisha Yearwood contracted COVID-19 in February, has encouraged his fans to stay safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic and confirmed there will be a vaccination event at Saturday’s concert.
During a recent Facebook Live, he said, “Please feel free to wear the masks at the concert. Nobody is going to look at you strange, I promise.”
The Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday asked attendees to wear masks when indoors at the concert. Masks will be provided for those who do not have one.
When asked how he would respond to fans who might push back on such COVID-19 protocols, Brooks said he would understand.
“I’ve always been me, right? I’m not running for president or anything, so if you don't like what I'm saying, I totally get it,” he said. “Thank you for the chance to get to play music. If you're hesitant about coming to the show because of the mass gathering, don't come. Just get your refund or whatever. Catch up with us hopefully down the road, if, good Lord willing, this thing passes, and we all get to tour like the old days.”
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And it was in those old days that Brooks sold out more than a dozen shows in Kansas City. Now, he’s ready to do it again. After everything the world has been through during the pandemic, he said it makes the times he spends with his fans now that much sweeter.
“If we start getting that cycle going, the crowd fires up the band and the band fires up the crowd, it’s gonna be a night to remember,” Brooks said.
The show, he said, is “a guaranteed good time.”
“I wasn’t going to pass up a chance to play at the iconic Arrowhead Stadium, in a city that has treated me, for some reason, like I'm from here,” he said.
Most importantly, his message to his fans is to love one another.
“The most important thing we don’t talk about anymore, is they need to leave the stadium loving each other more than they came here. That’s what the music is for," Brooks said. "... Just respect somebody next to you that is wearing a mask and you are not, and do the same the other way around, and I think we’re gonna be fine."
Fellow country artist Kenny Chesney was expected to play a rescheduled show at the stadium in May – originally slated for July 11, 2020 – but again postponed because of the pandemic.
More information about GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium’s COVID-19 guidelines can be found on the Kansas City Chiefs website.
