No new date has been set
The Garth Brooks Stadium Tour stop at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium has been postponed from Saturday night (July 31st) due to inclement weather. Nissan Stadium officials decided to call the event around 9:15 pm local time after a severe thunderstorm with 60 MPH winds and dangerous cloud to ground lightning forced concertgoers to be evacuated with a “shelter in place” order issued.
“If you are in the parking lot, stay in your cars. If you are approaching the gates, enter through gates one or six and shelter in place,” the stadium’s Twitter account shared around 8 pm local time.
The event started around 7:30 pm when Chris Young, Emmylou Harris and Trisha Yearwood took the stage as part of the Grand Ole Opry opening act. Around three songs into Harris’ set, the audience was evacuated to the concourse areas. More than an hour later, officials postponed the event.
“The Garth Brooks concert at Nissan Stadium has been postponed due to existing and forecasted weather. We are working with local officials in an attempt to reschedule for tomorrow night,” they tweeted.
Around 1:30 am local time, the account shared the unfortunate news that the show would not go on Sunday (Aug 1st) as they had hoped.
“After collaborating with our vendors and local officials, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the Garth Brooks Stadium Tour at Nissan Stadium,” the stadium’s account shared in a series of tweets. “Unfortunately we were unable to secure adequate safety personnel and provide our standard of fan experience in order to move forward with the concert on Sunday evening. We look forward to sharing the rescheduled date in the near future. Tickets and parking will be honored for the rescheduled date. More information on ticket options will be provided in the very near future.”
More than 70k tickets were sold for the event, which broke the entertainment record for Nissan Stadium. Many fans were undeniably upset by the postponement, but many were hoping it wouldn’t be moved to Sunday night as unexpected last minute travel arrangements would’ve had to be made. Fans from around the country flew or drove for hours to attend.
Several people scolded concertgoers for complaining about the postponement. “y’all are acting so surprised and throwing a fit that’s it’s storming but it’s been in the forecast all week and y’all knew that before driving/flying 8+ hours…” one user shared.
Some fans tweeted that they didn’t even make it to the stadium as the storm rolled through and traffic was hours long entering the city. Others criticized the event as a “COVID superspreader” as cases of the delta variant continue to rise across the nation with very few masks being worn.
While many were disappointed, there were those who decided to make puns quoting Brooks’ “The Thunder Rolls” (which I clearly avoided in this article). Others made some about Brooks’ alter ego Chris Gaines instead.
“Sitting in the parking lot waiting for the @garthbrooks concert. If he cancels, my hope is that Chris Gaines will play a makeup set at the local Applebee’s. #GARTHinNASHVILLE #GarthBrooks #Nashville,” one Twitter user wrote with a clip of the “Lost In You” video.
Brooks will likely address the postponement on his Facebook Live series, Inside Studio G, on Monday (Aug 2nd).