70,000 tickets for Garth Brooks concerts bought overseas

Some 70,000 of the 400, 000 tickets sold for the Garth Brooks concerts in Dublin this summer have been bought by people outside of Ireland, promoter Peter Aiken revealed as he confirmed that Bob Dylan has been added to the line up for this year's Live in the Marquee series in Cork.

“We sold nearly 70,000 tickets outside of the country, we have never done anything like that. That’s the phenomena we have.To sell 70,000 outside of Ireland when you think about it, for them to get to Ireland, whether it’s by plane or by boat, it’s a hell of a shift of people,” he said.

Of the 400,000 tickets sold for the five Garth Brooks gigs in Dublin, 15 per cent were bought in the north of Ireland and 12 per cent in England, Scotland and Wales while 3 per cent were sold in North America as well as some sales "right across Europe", he said.

"We sold eight tickets in Afghanistan. That might be soldiers or whatever but we've got the breakdown of all the ticket sales and its incredible. The likes of Costa Rica, countries I've never heard of before and didn't know they existed," he said.

Mr Aiken expressed confidence that issues surrounding the addition of fourth and fifth Garth Brooks concerts in Croke Park will be resolved with local residents as he looked forward to hosting the 10th Live in the Marquee series on Leeside.

“Bob Dylan will be playing the Live in Marquee for the third time - the Marquee is different to your usual venue - - it’s a bit looser and funkier - it’a a great atmosphere, much more than an arena and I think that’s why so many artists like playing the Marquee, “ he said.

Bob Dylan was one of three acts along with Lana Del Rey and Imelda May announced yesterday by Aiken Promotions for this summer's 10th anniversary line up of Live in the Marquee which has attracted over 600,000 concert goes since it began in 2005.

Mr Aiken said he expects to announce a couple of other major acts for this year's event which features concerts by Cliff Richards, Dolly Parton, Tom Jones, Elbow, Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters, Bryan Adams, Neil Young, Pixies and The National among others.