Garth Brooks will forever be remembered for his nine sold-out concerts in Edmonton after a banner in his honour was raised to the rafters at Rogers Place on Friday night.
“We raised banners for Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Stanley Cup. But tonight, we want to raise a banner for Garth,” said Bob Nicholson, CEO of the Oilers Entertainment Group.
“Garth, what you’ve done for this city, you’ve still got a few nights to go but they love you here, I tell ya. It’s unbelievable and we want Garth and his whole team to come back,” Nicholson said.
He also presented Brooks’ wife, Trisha Yearwood, with a large bouquet of flowers. Yearwood is on tour with Brooks.
After the banner was raised, country music fans in the stadium began chanting, “Let’s go Oilers.”
READ MORE: What you need to know before going to see Garth Brooks in Edmonton
The presentation was followed by a congratulatory video presentation from the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.
“That is sweet,” Brooks said.
“Oh my gosh, Edmonton. Thank you. That was all about you guys. Everything cool happened here,” Yearwood said.
READ MORE: Edmonton goes nuts for country star Garth Brooks
The night was particularly special because it marked the five millionth ticket sold on Brooks’ three-year tour. It only took 60 cities for him to sell five million tickets.
During the 1996-1998 Garth Brooks world tour, it took 100 cities to get to the five millionth ticket.
“Just want to say thank you,” Brooks said in a video posted on Twitter before Friday night’s show.
“I’m getting ready to go out that door and hug the neck of the five millionth ticket owner. I can’t believe this. I just want to say thank you… Thank you for getting us where we’re at. This is something we’d do for all five million if we could. So thank you for the celebration and thank you for getting us here. I never thought we’d be here again. And then the coolest thing is, every day after this we’re rewriting history. I love this. Thank you for my life. God bless you guys.”
A representative from Ticketmaster came out on stage during the concert to present the country music superstar with a large framed picture with the number 5,000,000 on it.
“It’s really sweet. Thank you very much. That is awesome. I don’t know how it gets better than that,” Brooks said as he held up two framed photos, one from this tour and a framed picture from the tour in the 90s.
Brooks will play a total of nine sold out concerts in Edmonton, bringing tens of thousands of people to the city. Last Friday, ahead of Brooks’ first show in Edmonton, Mayor Don Iveson declared it Garth Brooks Day in Edmonton.
Watch below: Sea of Garth Brooks fans fill downtown Edmonton between concerts on Sunday, Feb. 19
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