NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Sept. 29, 1997--In keeping with his tradition of marking the million ticket milestones on his current world tour, CMA Entertainer of the Year Garth Brooks surprised his 3 millionth fan at this concert at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb., Friday night.
Chad and Amy McClintock of Essex, Iowa, were selected as the buyers of the 3 millionth ticket and were escorted backstage prior to the concert. Brooks' band and crew greeted them with applause and showered them with gifts, including ten dozen roses, a Sony video camera, an Olympus 35 mm camera and Garth Brooks merchandise.
Garth and his wife Sandy were waiting at the end of the line of well-wishers and explained, "You are holding the 3 millionth and 3 million and first ticket on our tour, so we have three prizes for you."
The first prize was a shopping spree at Lincoln's Gateway Mall. The McClintocks were given $3,000 to spend in each of three stores of their choice, for a total of $9,000.
Brooks then parted a curtain, revealing two new vehicles -- a Chevrolet 4x4 dooley pickup truck and a BMW Z3 convertible roadster. He explained that the McClintocks' second prize was one of the vehicles. While Amy chose the BMW, Chad was more interested in the pickup. As their third prize, Brooks told them they wouldn't have to choose -- actually both cars were theirs!
Because the McClintocks had traveled two hours to the concert, Brooks provided them with overnight accommodations at the Cornhusker Hotel so they could rise and shine early for the shopping spree which began at 7:15 a.m. Saturday. The three stores they selected, which opened early for the occasion, were Younkers (a department store), Circuit City and Foot Locker. Because the McClintocks are expecting their first child in November, their purchases included plenty of baby clothes, along with a home computer and home stereo system.
"This is something we wish we could do for everyone who ever purchased a Garth Brooks ticket," Brooks said. "It's our way of saying thank you for coming out, for Entertainer of the Year, for feeding our family."
Chad McClintock said his
view of Garth hadn't changed. "I knew he was a good guy.
I've seen him in concert before and it was really special."
By selling over 3 million tickets in 18 months, Brooks' tour has outsold the Eagles tour of 1994-95 (2.3 million tickets in 18 months). It also outsold five tours by the Grateful Dead which sold 2.5 million tickets in 18 months (information supplied courtesy of Pollstar). Brooks' tour was the biggest selling tour of 1996 with over 1.8 million tickets sold. So far in 1997 Brooks is ranked third in overall tour ticket sales behind Metallica and U2 (information supplied courtesy of Performance Magazine). This does not include the estimated 250,000 in attendance at his Central Park concert on Aug. 7.
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