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THE FINAL DECISION on whether Garth Brooks will play any show at Croke Park will be made by Tuesday.
That’s according to Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions, promoter of the five gigs that Brooks was meant to perform at the GAA stadium.
The background
After Garth Brooks fever hit Ireland and tickets sold out for the events, the series of gigs looked like a dead cert for success, and a fantastic way for Brooks to kick off his return to live music.
But on Thursday, permission was granted by Dublin City Council for just three of the five concerts.
Croke Park residents’ associations had been very vocal about their opposition to the events, and DCC had – as normal – had to grant permission for the licence. But the decision appeared to have blindsided the promoters and musician.
Brooks issued a statement saying it would be five shows – or none at all.
This morning, in an interview with The Business on RTÉ Radio One, Peter Aiken gave an insight into the difficulties he and Brooks face, and said that the final decision on the concerts will be made by Monday or Tuesday.
Here are the 14 things we now know about the situation
Garth Brooks is the kind of fella that if he came in and did three shows, he would feel, it would be such an anti-climax for him for the 160,000 people who didn’t get to see him.
The idea of moving to a different venue just wouldn’t work, because the stuff is custom made for Croke Park. Twelve container loads have already left America to get here.
We never forgot about the licence because we started immediately putting the process together and we met with Dublin City Council shortly after the tickets went on sale.
He added that DCC brought up the issue of residents straight away and said “this is a big, big ask” and “this is a big, big job”.
If I had had any inkling that this [licence] was going to be a problem, I would have flagged it.
I was in Croke Park when it came out. Everybody, including Croke Park, we were devastated. It was the biggest shock I’ve ever got.
If no gigs go ahead – we are not insured. We can’t get insured for it. We can only get insured if we get a licence. And we only have a licence for three events.
[Brooks will] be out millions himself
Of course I do, it is something that has never happened before, five nights, and it will never happen again.
He added that he would be happy to meet residents, but noted that there is a large number of residents’ groups.
We are doing whatever we can to get some light at the end of this.
I wouldn’t say it’s fractured, but I’d say he’s very disappointed.
Of course. We’ve been going for 53 years… there’s never been any conflict with Aiken Promotions about anything. We’ve paid every bill.
“It will do a lot of damage to me, both personally and financially,” said Aiken.
What do we do with 160,000 who turn up with tickets for those nights, who turn up when the shows are on, demanding to get in? What happens to them? What happens if they turn up and say we want to be there anyway to see the show? You could have a huge public order incident.
I’ve mentioned it to him and he says ‘you know how I feel’. No, I don’t think he’ll back down.
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