Garth Brooks Headlines BST Hyde Park's Biggest-Ever
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- Garth Brooks headlined BST Hyde Park in the festival's largest-ever show — a total sell-out with extra tickets added — his first London date since 1994 at Wembley Arena.
- Brooks remains absent from streaming services, with his last album released via an exclusive deal with US fishing-chain Bass Pro Shops, yet the older-skewing, deliberate crowd still packed Hyde Park.
- During a solo performance of "Unanswered Prayers," the audience sang the song back to Brooks, who visibly broke down in tears on stage.
- The opening hour mixed country staples — the Tex-Mex lilt of Two Piña Coladas, the pedal-steel of The Beaches of Cheyenne, the Springsteen-adjacent That Summer — with a well-received cover of Bob Seger's "Night Moves" for a front-row fan holding a sign.
- The set sagged toward the end with excessive band introductions and cameos, including a rendition of "Shout" by Brooks' longtime backing vocalist that the reviewer flagged as unnecessary.
- Reviewer framed Brooks' appeal in terms of vulnerability and charm, noting his "gentle, almost effeminate" manner sat oddly against the storm-crossed, macho performance of opener Rodeo.
Why it matters: For BST's bookers, the sell-out proves a legacy, pre-streaming country act can fill Hyde Park at scale — but the reviewer notes the crowd was a generation older than typical UK country audiences, suggesting Brooks' draw runs through a dedicated, long-standing fanbase rather than country's recent UK wave. The show also marked the largest in BST's history by its own billing.
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