He might have sold more than 400,000 tickets to his five shows in Dublin this summer, but that doesn’t mean every Irish person is thrilled that Garth Brooks is ending his retirement with the record-setting engagement.
The families that live in the vicinity of Croke Park, where Brooks is playing the July concerts, are apoplectic over the looming fan invasion, and they’re vowing to fight the issuance of required concert licenses for the shows.
It’s easy to see where they’re coming from. The area around Croke Park is dotted with homes, and each time a big act comes to town residents have to endure a laundry list of inconveniences – noise, pollution, traffic, etc.
In 2009 a written agreement was reached between locals and Croke Park owners the GAA to limit the number of concerts per year to three. But the Brooks bandwagon was too huge to stop, and Croke Park director Peter McKenna told locals that “times move on” during a heated meeting last week.
“The level of anger, frustration and disgust with Croke Park/GAA at the way they went about announcing the Garth Brooks concerts was palpable,” said independent councilor Nial Ring.
“There is a complete lack of trust in the GAA, and the lack of communication, consultation and respect has left the GAA in a position where the local residents will do all in their power to stop the concerts.”
Residents are threatening injunctions and court action, so it looks like Croke Park bosses will have to part with some of the Brooks bucks they’ll make to secure peace and harmony.
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