10pmStalker, Richen Famous / YouTube
Garth Brooks is putting the pandemic in his rearview — and he wants other musicians to follow his lead — after he packed the stadium home of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Garth played to a sold-out crowd of 68,000 Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium … making it the first major stadium concert since COVID-19 shutdowns began more than a year ago. If the country superstar had any rust, the audience couldn’t tell as they cheered through more than 2 hours worth of live music.
The only person more excited than fans was Garth, who said, “To every musician out there, all I can say is get back in the game because it’s the greatest feeling in the world.” It’s been more than 500 days since his last live gig, and he told the crowd, “I’ve never been made to feel at home as quickly as you guys have made me feel.”
There was one reminder of the COVID-19 pandemic … a disclaimer on Garth’s website for all ticket-holders that read, “Purchaser assumes Covid risk. All Covid rules apply.”
Las Vegas has been wide open since June 1, so there were no COVID rules to apply for this show. Next up for Garth is another stadium concert, next week in Salt Lake City.
It’s interesting … Vegas had packed houses all weekend — besides Garth’s show, UFC 264 was going on at the T-Mobile arena … plus Dave Chappelle and Justin Bieber had sold-out shows too.
Talk about battle-testing the COVID-19 vaccines.