Garth Brooks fans in Ireland were crushed yesterday when Brooks’ five concerts at Croke Park in Dublin were all cancelled. Businesses and officials are also angered, considering the economic boost that the shows would have brought the community around the venue.
As previously reported, the Dublin City Council had approved three of the five concerts for later this month. However, two others were not approved, leading to Brooks’ decision to just cancel all five. That sudden move has left the Croke Park area stunned.
“I am very surprised by the decision. It does not make good business sense whatsoever,” Eamonn O’Brien, a member of a handball center committee, told The Herald. Susan Mangan, a resident, said she felt “gutted for the community,” since the shows would have brought in €500,000.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, the Oireachtas Transport Committee has called the Dublin City Council, Aiken Promotions and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to explain what went wrong. The GAA owns the venue that was supposed to host the events.
“Four hundred thousand people have been inconvenienced and thousands, who had booked flights or hotels, will be out of pocket, due to this decision,” Patrick O'Donovan, a member of the parliamentary watchdog committee, told the Telegraph. “Fingers have been pointing in every direction over the past few days, people are angry and they are bitterly disappointed.”
Brooks first spoke about the controversy last week, saying that he would rather play all five gigs than deprive the fans who bought tickets to the two unapproved shows of a concert.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com