Garth Brooks has U2’s touring record in his sights

Country superstar Garth Brooks is keen to shatter U2’s North American concert tour attendance record.
The singer ended his self-imposed retirement in 2014 and launched a world tour with his wife Trisha Yearwood, and fans have been flocking to see him live.
Since the first date in September, 2014, he has played in almost 50 North American cities and sold an estimated 4.5 million tickets – three million shy of U2’s all-time attendance record of 7.3 million, which the Irish rockers landed on their 360 Tour.
And now Brooks is convinced he can break that feat.
“I would like it for country music’s sake,” he tells Billboard. “We’re 20 months into this tour and we’re at 4.5 million, so I feel really lucky to be where we’re at right now. If the people keep showing up, so be it. If the people stop showing up I don’t have anything to b**ch about – it’s been a great run…
“I can’t explain why these people are showing up in the way they’re showing up, I’m just happy.”
It took Brooks months to get back into the swing of performing after 14 years away from the spotlight, and as he prepared to take the stage again, Garth tells the publication he greatly underestimated just how long it would take him to get back in the habit of performing in front of thousands of fans.
He recalled. “I was sure it would take me two weeks, but I wanted to protect myself. Four to six months in, I was nowhere close. I was stunned how long it took me to get back to playing.
“It probably took me 14-to-15 months to start to really kind of feel like, ‘OK, my legs are underneath me again now’… But, man, it took forever until I could feel like I was in control of the steering wheel for a little bit.”