CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It’s going to be a busy weekend for the staff of the Charleston Civic Center. Road crews with the Garth Brooks Show arrived Thursday and started setting up for the three-day, four show event in the Capital City.
“In 1997 Garth Brooks did four, that’s the record and repeated that this year,” said Civic Center General Manager John Robertson. “Prior to that back in the 80’s Kenny Rogers did two shows in one day and back in the early 70’s Elvis played two or three shows consecutively.”
The historic event will end a 19-year wait for Garth Brooks fans in Charleston. To draw a performer of Garth Brooks’ caliber to Charleston speaks well of the area’s country music fans, according to Robertson.
“He’s tried to play a lot of the same buildings he played 19 years ago,” said Robertson. “When you can come in and do four shows in a market our size with an iconic attraction like Garth Brooks it certainly tells a story.”
The shows will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Two of them will be on Saturday night and that promises to be the biggest challenge for the Civic Center staff.
“We’re figuring we’re going to have about an hour to get the transition made,” Robertson explained. “We’re confident we have the strategy to get things moving along.”
The challenge will be to get the first show crowd out of the building, cleanup and get the second show crowd into their seats as quickly as possible. Robertson anticipated there could be some delays, but assured the entire show would play out for the nightcap Saturday night. Fans of the second show are encouraged to park in the Charleston Town Center Mall parking lot since the Civic Center lots are anticipated to be full with fans from the night’s first show.
Tickets to all four shows remain.