If one were to look at how Garth Brooks is rolling out his 2026 Blame It All On My Roots Tour dates, they’d see the unique, city-by-city announcement method is working out well for the country star. But if you factor convenience into the conversation, it does put country music fans in a tough place.
Brooks is currently out on the road for the first time in a long time. The “Friends In Low Places” singer has been announcing his concert dates one city at a time, with the next city on his list being Washington D.C., and the stop after that belong to Orlando, Florida later this month.
Then Salt Lake City, Utah in early October:
Fans have flocked to his shows thus far, and many are citing his tour date rollout as a successful way to beat “Blue Dot Fever.” With every stop along the tour, Garth and his team has had to add additional shows to meet demand. The country star’s goal of creating intimate concerts within arenas is working out swimmingly, and choosing to announce shows one at a time has helped tour announcement excitement span months rather than just a few days.
It can be likened to a modern TV show opting to do the once-a-week release method (like the old days) rather than dropping all of its episodes all at once.
Admittedly, it’s a cool concept, and one that hasn’t been utilized by many artists out there – if at all. It obviously only works for an artist as big as Garth Brooks. A smaller artist could never afford to keep their future tour dates a secret, and hope that fans can make it to their show with a much shorter than normal notice.
Speaking of, that “short notice” seems to be the Achilles heel of Garth’s rollout. As innovative as it might be, there are some downsides from a fan perspective. For starters, in this economy, some music fans like to save up for that “one big concert” for the year, and having a heads up (more than a couple of weeks) about when the country star will be where would help interested parties make an informed decision.
Instead, fans could splurge on tickets for a different show, only to find out the one and only Garth Brooks is coming to town.
And if travel is necessary, that opens up a whole other can of worms. Some fans need to request time off in advance, or would be better off booking a hotel or rental further in advance to save money. With these concert drops, it actually benefits the hotel owner (or short term rental owner), since they tend to charge more for a room if it’s booked closer to time.
Some might read this and categorize me as an “Old man yelling at clouds.” I’ll take that criticism, and I also want to make it very clear that I applaud Garth for trying to find a way circumnavigate the scalpers.
While the way the 2026 Blame It All On My Roots tour dates are announced aren’t ideal, from a schedule and preparation perspective, they are definitely a step in the right direction in putting tickets in the hands of the fans.
Guess that’s a drawback music fans have to be willing to weather.
