Blue Dot Fever Hits Nosebleeds of Some Garth Brooks Arena Stops
It’s not like we didn’t see this coming.
On July 7th, Garth Brooks announced that he would be going on a nostalgic “Blame It All On My Roots” tour that would take fans back to 1996 and the peak of Garthmania. The first two shows were announced for Indianapolis at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse on August 21st and 22nd, with shows then added on August 20th and 23rd after the first two shows sold out. Garth has since announced four shows in Denver, CO, four shows in Rosemont, IL (Chicago area), and two so far in Washington D.C. at the Capital One Arena, all in September.
Instead of announcing all the dates on the tour at once, Garth likes to announce stops one at a time. When he announced the tour itself, it was characterized as both “affordable” and “unheard of” after Garth revealed that every single ticket from the front row to the nosebleeds will be $154 dollars, full stop. This accounts for a $140 ticket, and a set $14 for facility fees and service charges at each stop. Sure, that’s super affordable for front row tickets. But for the upper deck at arenas? It might be unimpressive, it not overly pricey, especially when you’re playing four shows in the same market.
Apparently, that’s how some concert goers are feeling. Ahead of the shows at the Ball Arena on September 4th, 5th, and two on the 6th in Denver, the shows appear to be all sold out, with no tickets available, at least through Ticketmaster. But when it comes to the shows at the Allstate Arena outside of Chicago, and in portions of the upper deck in Washington, D.C., blue dot fever is hitting concerts that were expected to sell out almost immediately.
For the Thursday show on September 10th in Rosemont, a good 90% of all upper deck seats are still available. For the Sunday matinee show, it’s about 70% of the upper deck that remains unsold. For Friday night, it’s about 50%, while for the Saturday show, about 25% of upper deck seats remain. Note that almost the entirety of the unsold inventory is in the upper deck.
The resale market also speaks to the softening of demand for Garth Brooks seats in the upper deck. As Country Chord pointed out, for the opening show of the tour on Thursday, August 20th, upper deck seats were going for as low as $28, to $34, and $37, with some mid-tier seats selling at $72, and $130—well below Garth’s fixed price of $154.
Granted, many ticket for the four initial Indianapolis shows sold for the list price, and some of the closest seats were still fetching upwards of four figures in some instances. But perhaps Garth bit off more than he could chew in Indianapolis by adding two additional shows. Nonetheless, the shows ended up full and were touted as sellouts.
In some respects, this is the Garth Brooks system working. By swelling supply in a given market, this lowers demand, and undercuts the market for scalpers. Instead of demanding major markups, especially on upper deck seats, in some cases, scalpers are losing money on their investments, having to sell last minute at rock bottom prices. This also opens up more affordable seats to fans.
Garth can announce the first two stops in a market like he did for Indianapolis, and then if those shows sell out, add a Thursday show, or a Sunday matinee. But if demand is soft like perhaps it is in Washington D.C., they can stick with the two initial shows. It also probably benefits Garth that he presents only a finite amount of tour dates at a time. Fervent Garth fans not knowing if he’ll come close to them might choose to travel to attend a concert, only to find out later he’s playing in their home market or closer by.
It’s certainly worth noting that Garth Brooks is still selling a lot of tickets to big arenas, and when it comes to the lower bowls, and a very reasonable price. But in Chicago and Washington, shows are not selling out, and when it comes to some of them, blue dot fever is real, especially in the upper deck, showing the flaw of his “one price” concept.
In a tenuous economic environment, it’s really about finding the right balance. Garth has been one of the better performers at swelling and scaling back inventory to make sure everyone that wants a ticket can get one while keeping venues full, and also helping to keep prices affordable. But even Garth at times is going to have difficulty finding that balance.
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August 25, 2026 @ 8:15 am
Garth Book needs to go on hook.
August 25, 2026 @ 8:17 am
Just from a human psychological standpoint people arent going to want to spend the same for the nosebleeds as someone did for the closer seats. I think you’d have a better chance selling nosebleeds for $154 if the floor tickets were $210. Also, $154 is reasonable for floor level tickets to a Garth Brooks show, $154 for nosebleeds seems steep.
Also, his streaming decisions are coming in to play. I applaud him for sticking it to the streamers, but it isn’t doing him any favors selling out stadiums 20 years later.
August 25, 2026 @ 8:41 am
I definitely think there is a psychological component here. On Garth unretirement tour when tickets were at a fixed price of $65.50, that felt cheap no matter where you were in the arena. Even during his stadium tour in 2022, $94.95 was under that psychological benchmark of $100. I just doesn’t feel like spending $154 for an upper deck ticket to see anyone is a “deal.”
August 25, 2026 @ 8:30 am
Garth has always oversaturated the market. I remember, in 2014, he had a series of shows in Lexington, he was doing two shows a night. I got tickets for Halloween night, the morning of the show for like $20.
August 25, 2026 @ 8:42 am
You said exactly this but maybe it is true that normally out the upper deck is a good trade for undercutting the scalpers? Is it really that bad to not sell every seat?
August 25, 2026 @ 8:51 am
As I said in the article:
“In some respects, this is the Garth Brooks system working. By swelling supply in a given market, this lowers demand, and undercuts the market for scalpers. Instead of demanding major markups, especially on upper deck seats, in some cases, scalpers are losing money on their investments, having to sell last minute at rock bottom prices. This also opens up more affordable seats to fans.”
I’ve been saying for years that more artists should do exactly what Garth is doing, which is play more shows in the same venue to curb exorbitant ticket prices and egregious scalping practices. After all, the stage is already set, the crew is there, you’ve already spent all that money. Play a matinee and let more folks into the experience. That said, I still think sell a $154 ticket in the nosebleeds as “affordable” is a joke. It’s not, and the blue dots are reflecting that.
August 25, 2026 @ 8:50 am
Multiple arena dates in multiple cities…Garth is doing fine.