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Steve Marcus
Entertainer Garth Brooks, left, and Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn announce a deal during a news conference in the Encore Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel-casino Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009. The arrangement will bring Brooks out of retirement for a series of special performances in the theater.
Published Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009 | 2:23 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009 | 5:02 p.m.
Simplicity is the order of the day as Garth Brook and Steve Wynn have announced Brooks' new series of special performances at Wynn's Encore Theater. Speaking while seated side-by-side on stools on the theater stage with the 1,500-seat showroom nearly filled with media and fans, Wynn announced that Brooks would perform four weekend shows per week -- one show on Fridays, two on Saturdays and one on Sundays. Show times are 8 p.m.; the second show Saturdays will be 10:30 p.m. Prices for all seats will be $125, each assigned, but no "tiered" ticket pricing will be in place. Tickets go on sale at the Wynn Las Vegas box office at 8 a.m. Oct. 24 (call 702.770.7469). The first batch of shows will cover five weekends through the end of February. Specific dates are Dec. 11-13, Jan. 1-3, Jan. 22-24, Feb. 12-14 and Feb. 26-28.
For today's long-expected announcement, both of the key players were in cowboy mode. Brooks wore a beige, pearl-snap Western-style shirt, faded blue Wranglers, black cowboy books and a black hat. Wynn wore an open-necked, blue-striped dress shirt, blue blazer, jeans and cowboy boots a good measure shinier than Brooks'.
"In 2001, I retired to take care of kids at home," Brooks said from the stage. (Wynn) came to me, and he didn’t throw money at me, but talked me and my 17-,15- and 13-year-old kids, how I'd be able to go to soccer games, to practice, all this stuff. Taking care of my children and family is so important to me, and that will be the same for the next five years, except I'll play music."
"On Dec. 1, 1965, I saw The Rat Pack at Sands, and never since then have I seen an artist create such love for an audience until I saw Garth Brooks," said Wynn, who had fallen for Brooks' act during private performances at the Encore Theater earlier this year. "I was sitting next to Bette Midler and she was just screaming, 'Have you booked him?!' " After several months of negotiations during which the most contentious issue was ticket pricing (Brooks has favored a $25 ticket price, a price Wynn resisted because scalpers would make a significant profit off the cheaper price), Wynn finally signed Brooks.
Those used to Brooks' eye-popping stage production will see a more organic sort of performance. Brooks will perform solo, with just guitar accompaniment. He did not rule out bringing guest acts, particularly his wife Trisha Yearwood, but the plan initially is for him to perform without a band. Part of the deal to lure the family-driven Brooks out of an eight-year retirement was for Wynn to give him a jet to fly to and from his primary residence in Owasso, Okla. Brooks has three children, all teen girls -- Taylor, August and Allie Colleen -- and he puts a high premium on taking them to school and performing such fatherly duties as toting the kids to school and attending soccer games.
No financial figures were disclosed -- not even a price of Brooks' jet, which he said was "cool" -- but at one point, Brooks said, "I didn't think (Wynn) could afford me. I was wrong."
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
Signing Garth at Encore is an act of DESPERATION to attract middle America to Wynn's high end resorts....The motif at Encore is Oriental-themed to attrach high-end Chinese customers (heavy on the red and gold and chinese decor abound)...I didn't know that Chinese liked Country-Western, lol.....Steve Wynn will sink a slow death at his properties like what happened to him at Bellagio/TI/Mirage. His debt is more than the value of the Wynn Las Vegas properties and now that he dumped his wife of 40 years, he will have nothing. The slow recovering economy will destory the high-end hotels in Las Vegas in 2010,2011 and 2012.
Even at $125 you'll still have scalpers moving to get the best seats in the house to resell for $500 or more on StubHub. I've seen shows for less popular bands (DMB when they were here earlier this year) where the good seats go for over $2,000 per night, and mediocre seats for $500. The only seats anywhere near face value were the last rows at the back of the room. The only way to get the $125 seats will be to sit in the nose-bleeds.
The best solution would be to start printing people's names on the tickets and check ID at the door. But that will never happen.
Pay no attention to that recession!!!
I just hope this works out. It'd be great to give a whole lot of people a great new reason to come to Vegas. We're counting on you, Steve & Garth, to make the magic happen! ;-)
It's about time Vegas brings somebody with good family values and one cares family. Maybe this trend will continue and the rest of the casinos will follow and get rid of the entertainers that don't have decent morals and values. For the price, they're worth more to see good entertainment verses the garbage the strip shows that has hurt our economy.
On the surface it looks bad because of the $125.00 price, but its only 6,000 seats they have to fill per weekend. Wynn doesnt really care if his audience stays at the casino. They can stay at any strip casino but as long as they come in and go to the show, gamble, drink and eat, that 125 become 300 per person. I think he is smart tapping into this market.
"...get rid of the entertainers that don't have decent morals and values."
its2hot -- how is that in any way relevant to entertainment?
I missed Motorhead when they were here recently -- now that would have been the show to see, despite Lemmy's personal morals and values.
One Hundred and twenty five dollars is waaay too much for anything right now. We are in the middle of the worst recession seen since the thirties, no one is going to have that type of disposable income. If Wynn was really cunning, he would offer the show for free and pipe it out to the sidewalk to lure people in. Now that's Vegas baby!!
@dipstick. $125 for a ticket will not faze fans of Garth for a minute. He will pack the place.
As for the venue, it is an unusual selection for entertainment. Wynn is going to get a ton of low end, pick-up driving, hat wearing, red necks in his place. I think dgump was right, desperation or something.
vegas has officially jumped the shark.
$125 to see this cheesy fake cowboy?
hang your head in shame, mr. wynn.
i think its2hot took a wrong turn in kansas city and wound up in vegas instead of branson.
dgump you may be right about desperation and it trying to attract middle class people but the part of his resorts being worth less then his debt is completly absurd. If you would ever bother to look and analyse the balance sheets and all the other financial stuff for the company you would then notice that Wynn Resorts is one if not the best gaming company out there. He has 1.5 billion dollars of more assets than he has liabilities and for a company that has only 3 hotels I would say that is pretty good. Also he is paying most of Encore Macau off of income which means little debt a lot of equity and ownership.
I have to agree with westvegas that all these red necks and other low class people would not give the wynn or encore the image it deserves but isnt the low to middle class the biggest class in america and shouldnt they get a flashy show in vegas devoted to them. If thats what it takes for wynn to make money thats what hes gonna do. and for the 125$ if he didnt want to tell how much he is paying the guy im assuming its too much especially after he bought the guy a private jet. He has to get his money somehow. He can't just wait and hope people that come to the show are gonna eat and gamble at his hotel. Gamble maybe but I doubt a guy that gets payed 30k a year wants to spend 200$ for two at Stratta or SW where a steak is 75$.
To siromega how are scalpers going to resell the tickets when the hotel asks for a id for you to get into the show. How are the scalpers gonna buy the tickets with their id then sell the tickets to another person who looks completly different and has a completly different id. Most people who are going to the show know that they need an id to get in so they wont waste their money on a 500 or 2000 dollar ticket from a scalper.
LV2009 -- quite a leap from Motorhead to Slipknot. My alley's more like the Tragically Hip on the 30th. Anything but more rock geezers that weren't that great back in the day.
i THINK HE WILL DO OK. I THINK THE IDEA OF HIM AND HIS ACCOSTIC GUITAR ON STAGE ALONE WILL NOT DO AS WELL AS HIM AND HIS BAND BRINGING THE HOUSE DOWN. I BELIEVE TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE THE DAYS OF THE SHOW.
KillerB & stevem-
Ignore "2hot". He's just "2hot" to handle, and not in a good way. Wasn't he the same guy who attacked LGBT families when SB 283 became law on the 1st? Yeah, talk about "family values"...
And btw, guess who got a GLAAD Media Award in 1993?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Brook...
wynnchairman-
Thanks for clarifying that. Yes, you're right that Wynn's probably the most financially sound of "The Big 4" casino operators in Vegas (Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Wynn Resorts, and Las Vegas Sands). I know that isn't saying much these days, but nonetheless the company has $1.5 billion more in assets than liabilities so that isn't all that bad.
And btw, wasn't Danny Gans also an "odd fit" for Wynn? He was a great performer and amazingly talented, but at least on paper he didn't seem like "the kind of guy who'd take the stage at Encore"... Yet he seemed to pack the house in his short days performing there and Steve Wynn reaped the rewards (even if he now rudely calls it a "modest success"). Now that I remember staying at Encore a couple months before Danny Gans' untimely death, I don't see how Garth Brooks is an odder fit.
Well lets start and correct a few errors in the comments. One, tickets are $125 plus fees. And Siromega, no one will be scalping these tickets-they are all will call (that means collect at the box office with credit card used for booking). Also a sixty plus date run per year, is not a scarce ticket like Dave Matthews Band-who are a hugely successful band-probably more widely known worldwide than Garth Brooks.
Also the Encore theater only holds 1,500 people. But even so, that some 90,000 tickets per year. Most Las Vegas headliners like Midler, Celine Dion, Elton John are not scalped-the casino comps the best seats and the dates are too plentiful.
Like other posters, I feel Garth Brooks and the Wynn isn't a great combination. It will sell well, but it is geared to Brooks' high end fans and I doubt many dates will sell-out. The first few shows will be hot tickets since it coincides with Rodeo week, but country and Vegas aren't good bed fellows. Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney all failed to sell-out this year in Vegas...hell even the hottest star Taylor Swift barely sold-out here.
I don't know... I think Wynn might have hit another homer. Garth Brooks is schlock, and people that come to Vegas like schlock. On the other hand, Avenue Q and Spamalot didn't exactly set the town on fire.
I cannot understand from the story how many weekends Mr. Brooks will do a year.
I see the first series, but how many weekend series will he do each year over the proposed five year run?
I guess it's sixteen weekends a year?
Not a bad gig for big dough.
Does Mr. Brooks get to keep the jet after the run?
i think vegas resorts should do 3 or 4 week runs of an act and then move onto another one.
like have no doubt do a few shows a week for a month and then have nine inch nails for a few weeks and then have faith hill, beyonce', coldplay, etc.
it would keep the town constantly fresh. vegas is stale. VERY stale.
i freaking can't stand brook's "kuntry" nonsense and i'm sure there are many people in wynn's target market that feel the same way. so, why not just rotate the acts? eventually you'll get an act that makes someone in los angeles go "ya! gotta go to vegas to see xyz band."
I guess if Mr. Brooks is only doing sixteen weekends a year that leaves plenty of space for other performers to step up and play the big room.
wynnchairman; the property "values" are inflated to increase stock value. The true value of each property is resale value which is a multiplier of net operating income....Wynn Las vegas and Encore are both worth less than Bellagio, and Bellagio couldn't find a buyer for $1.5B, so being generous, the value (liquidation) of Wynn/Encore Las Vegas is $2B+/.
The more I think about it, I really think this is going to tank. Wynn should have made the deal with The Jonas Brothers or Blink 182. That would have been really Vegas baby!!
This is SIN CITY....in case its2hot forgot.Even the wedding chapels are a bit off center...and I love it !!
I am a middle class income woman who LOVES Garth Brooks-who I believe is a crossover star who draws many diverse income groups to his shows-I think $125 for a show in Vegas is very reasonable-especially for an artist who is loved worldwide. As a working mother, I appreciate Garth's devotion to his family-but I am glad he has worked out a deal to bring him back to his fans. As for Wynn-he IS a business man who has had much success in his ventures-maybe people are a bit jealous of his successes so they have to slam him for any new venture he tries. List price for tickets to the UFC sell for $1000, $750, $500 and $300--(& that is before scalpers get involved)--they are sold out every event.
My husband & I go to Vegas at least 6 times a year-we enjoy playing at the Encore although we have never stayed there. We make sure to go to Switch every visit-have dined at SW-why do people assume middle class income people are not the desired patron. I can assure you that if you met us--you would not know our income level. Furthermore, I have met people of better financial means than the majority of most that have less class than those of lower means. I wish both Garth & Wynn much success...I will certainly be there!
dgump I would like to ask you for the formula to calculate the value of the property because I am very skeptical about your calculations. i don't believe that both Encore and Wynn are worth less than Bellagio. You also contradicted yourself by saying bellagio is worth more when you said it couldnt be sold for 1.5 Billion. So then shouldnt Wyn and Encore be worth less than 1.5 billion.
who cares about country music. this city used to be kuntry. when country show do not sell out in las vegas. something wrong
YAWN....
Better hope that you dont make any tips Mr. Brooks.. Old Stealin Steve will be watching!
He must feel threatened by Kevin Skinner and feels he needs to compete.. Especially since Kevin sang that song with much more heart and feeling than Garth could ever do.
He is a has-been that should stay in OKIE LAND.
Its about time we get some good Country shows in for the country lovers and I think Wynn made a smart move and should have some great sell outs and the prices are fair. Let's go Garth
I don't care if it is a one man show. With Garth thats all you need. The man is GREAT!!!!
So the production will consist of Garth Brooks, a guitar, a barstool, and a spotlight. No band, no dancers? Doesn't sound like a $125 show.
And dgump, they will never be able to repossess Steve's face, so he won't be left with nothing.
Just Garth and his guitar? I suppose I'll go once. Without the band, it will just not be as good as it could be. Very disappinting!
wynnchair: most high-end casinos are valued at 10% cap rates, which is 10X net operating income....some sell for 12-13% cap rates (like TI/and Ceasars) which is about 7X net operating income...making assumptions about values based upon stock price has no basis in liquidation values or resale values - the true measure of equity (thats how Staions Casinos had 3 billion of "equity" one month and no equity the next month -- the calculations are derivatives of operating income.)
The circumstances in LV for high-end resorts is dire, and the opening of City Center will further slaughter the net operating income of Wynn...there just aren't that many high end customers to fill 100,000 rooms; especially during this severe recession...the commercial lenders are merciless and will not bend much, so expect serious problems in late 2010/2011 and 2012 for all "over the top" high end resorts that can't meet debt expenses. This move by Wynn for Garth Brooks tells me alot about how bad it really is, because Steve Wynn has good foresight and sees this disaster and is trying to "plug the holes in the boat" with making his LV casinos more middleclass and investing heavily in Maccau to try to avoid the embarassment that happened to him at Bellagio.
just got back from a nascar event =- tickets were 150 each - it was so cold in NC you could hardly sit and enjoy the race - at least you are inside at wynnn - garth is a great performer - they should do good - especially if his wife joins in for a few songs.. go garth!!!