Garth Brooks announces next tour stop but keeps Dallas and rest of world waiting

If country music superstar Garth Brooks truly is embarking on another world tour, he's taking his sweet time letting people know about it.

Brooks, who hasn't been on tour since 1998, has announced two cities of a would-be tour, with no hints on subsequent dates, tour duration or any other crumbs of information.

What we do know: On July 10, Brooks announced he would be hitting the road in 2014 with his wife, singer Trisha Yearwood, as opening act. A few days later, the first stop was revealed — in classic, quirky Garth Brooks fashion — when he allowed a fan named Andy Roberts to announce that the tour would commence in Chicago on September 4. Tickets went on sale July 25.

As that day unfolded, promoters hurriedly added nine more shows, for a grand total of 10 performances at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, from September 4-13. According to CMT, the promoter kept adding more dates every 30 minutes throughout the morning of July 25 in response to tickets sold. An estimated 180,000 tickets were sold in less than three hours, although tickets for eight of those shows are still for sale.

On July 30 — three weeks after the initial world tour announcement — the next city was revealed: Atlanta. Described as "the first Southern stop," the Atlanta show takes place on September 19 at Atlanta-Philips Arena, with tickets on sale August 8 at 10 am.

There's still no word on what other stops Brooks will make and, most important, whether those stops will include cities in Texas.

So why does Garth toy with us? According to spokeswoman Nancy Seltzer, this is just how he rolls.

"Garth has always sold his tours this way," she says. "He announces each city individually and sells each city about the same amount of time prior to his concerts."

The fact that Atlanta is described as the first Southern stop is an encouraging sign for Dallas. His pattern is to hit major hubs and linger for multiple nights. On his 1996-98 tour, he performed anywhere from two to six nights in a row at each location. That tour included a three-night run at Reunion Arena, followed by three nights at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth.

He also did four nights in Houston, five nights in San Antonio and three nights in College Station.

Venue
The size of the venues in both Chicago and Atlanta are about the same: 18,000 seats. That's about how many seats American Airlines Center has, but if that's the chosen venue for Dallas, a show probably won't happen anytime soon. As home to the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars, AAC won't have a clear block of dates open until April 2015, and that's not counting a scenario in which the Mavs or Stars make the playoffs.

AT&T Stadium has the occasional two-week stretch available during the fall and winter, but the 80,000-seat Jerry World doesn't fit Brooks' pattern.

The good news is the relatively affordable, fan-friendly ticket prices: $71.50, including tax and Ticketmaster charges — much cheaper than what artists of similar stature ask.

The tour supports Brooks' first album of all-new material since 2001's Scarecrow. Though the name has yet to be announced, it's a double album scheduled for release around Black Friday in November 2014, with singles coming out in the months leading up to that date.

Brooks has also announced that he will put his music catalog online for the first time ever through GarthBrooks.com. He has long held out on releasing his music digitally due to disputes with iTunes and other retailers.