Garth Brook's continuing tour seems to be an unstoppable force, adding, adding multiple dates at every city it stops, but it finally hit an immovable object: The NHL Stanley Cup finals in Tampa. The performer has been forced to cancel three shows due to a game schedule for this Saturday at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, were scheduled to play one show on Friday evening and then two dates on Saturday. According to the performer, they tried to reschedule the latter shows for Sunday instead, however that would require NBC to move its equipment out of the arena while the Brooks crew simultaneously moved its gear back in, resulting in a potentially unsafe situation for both sides.
Brooks promised that full refunds will be made, and the shows will be rescheduled for as soon as the performer and arena have available dates. Although the NHL season will obviously be over soon, Amalie Arena still hosts the AFL's Tampa Bay Storm in the meantime.
"This was a hard decision for everyone," he said. "We are convinced everything that could have been done was done to try to remedy the situation."
At the moment, it looks like Brooks is moving his tour West during July. The next stop for the gig will be Birmingham in 12 days, and then Houston two weeks later, and then New Orleans two weeks after that. If Brooks is willing to break his two-week vacation streak, the show might be able to come back to Tampa. Don't get your hopes up however.
The Lightning making the Stanley Cup didn't immediately doom the Brooks shows. It became a problem when the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference championship. If the Ducks had won, the Lightning wouldn't have held home ice advantage. As the team is seeded higher than the Blackhawks however, the first two games will take place in Tampa.
