“I’m so darn busy. This tour is so different,” is the opener when calling Ben Farrell, Varnell Enterprises, these days. He’s busy booking the current Garth Brooks World Tour, an outing that’s turning the model upside down in mid-America.
Brooks is playing mini-residencies in places that are not Las Vegas, New York or London. It’s Rosemont, Ill., and Minneapolis. It’s Little Rock, Ark., and Jacksonville, Fla. The opener was Sept. 4 in Rosemont; the closer is to-be-determined. Shows are being announced one city at a time — in multiples.
(Caricature by Greg Dohlen)
What makes this tour so different? “It’s the simple power of Garth Brooks,” Farrell said. Farrell is typically humble about his role, insisting Brooks is the brains, the heart, and the talent behind the endeavor. Nevertheless, Farrell is a major cog in the wheel, a fact that earned him the 2014 Venues Today Hall of Headlines Award for Bookings.
Some phenomena will never be fully explained. Garth Brooks hasn’t toured in 18 years. Other than charity events and a brief run in Las Vegas, he has stayed home to raise his kids. How many artists can leave the public eye that long, and then come back and smash record after record for a live event?
“As genuine as he is, [fans] come back and want to see him because he has such an outstanding show,” Farrell said.
Farrell has been working on this tour for two and a half years. “It’s all confidential. If you put a hold down, lock that hold up.”
Michael Marion, Verizon Arena, North Little Rock, Ark., took the call two years ago. He happily held dates for “Midget Wrestlers,” the name he gave the folder so word would not leak.
Marion has worked with Farrell for most of the 44 years Farrell has been booking, managing and working with talent for the late Lon Varnell. “Ben is thorough, detail oriented, honest, focused and remembers everything,” Marion said. When it came time to announce the Garth Brooks date, Farrell called Bob Robbins, the most important DJ in Little Rock, personally. “He knows every dollar and holler radio station in Arkansas.”
The Brooks tour has been released date by date. He doesn’t want to say where he’s playing 11 months out, though it’s long booked. How long? “Any amount of time, just a long time,” Farrell said.
He is also careful to point out Garth runs his own business. “We don’t book him, we just work for him,” Farrell said. He has been working for Garth for the length of Brooks’ career, beginning with the first song he sang.
Pat Nagle, Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Ill., can attest to Brooks’ loyalty, thus Ben’s. Nagle first met Brooks when he was opening act for the Judds. Garth told him opening acts didn’t get anything much and he’d sure appreciate some dinner for his crew. Nagle set them up like stars and charged nothing. Brooks remembered.
Brooks opened his tour in Rosemont, setting records with 11 shows and wowing the crowd. When dates were announced no one knew for sure what would happen. Nagle had gone into the onsale thinking 6-8 shows. Farrell said 8-12.
Brooks keeps ticket prices low and saturates the market with enough shows that all his fans can get a good seat for a fair price. And he doesn’t sell the first two rows. On show night, his manager goes up in the nosebleed seats and upgrades some lucky fans to those premo rows.
“He’s an outstanding businessman; he runs his own ship. And he has a good team of people,” said Farrell.
“And it’s always the right deal,” noted Andy Warg, AEG/Target Center, Minneapolis. His Garth Brooks dates set a record for the building, the tour and perhaps all arena tours, selling 200,000 tickets for 11 shows Nov. 3-16. Farrell “tops my list of people to work with. He has integrity and honesty and that goes a long way. We trust him.”
Warg added that Garth has a phenomenal work ethic. While playing 11 shows at Minneapolis, he was also launching a record in Nashville and appearing on Good Morning America in New York.
“I think Garth Brooks has been extremely good to the auditorium/arena world,” Farrell declared.
“He could play outdoors, of course, but for now he’s elected to play with the auditorium/arena brethren. They’ve been good to Garth Brooks, he’s been good to them.”