Garth Brooks has said he ‘cannot wait’ to see his Irish fans as more than 300,000 tickets have been sold ahead of his tour.

The country music superstar will now perform 11 dates after adding another show at Boucher Road Playing Fields on Sunday 23 May 2027. He is also scheduled to perform two concerts each in Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Cork during May and June next year.

The singer said his Irish fans ‘never cease to amaze me’ when he heard news of his soaring ticket sales on Thursday morning.

He told fans on social media: ‘IRELAND!!! 300,000 tickets already AND an extra night in Belfast!?! What an INCREDIBLE thing to wake up to!!! (sic)

‘You never cease to amaze me! The love you’ve shown us is beyond ANYTHING I could have imagined. Ireland, this is going to be CRAZY!!! I can’t wait to see you. Love, G.’

His original Belfast concerts on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 May are now sold out. He will play Pearse Stadium in Galway on 29 and 30 May, UPMC Nowlan Park in Kilkenny on 4 and 5 June, TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on 11 and 12 June, and SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork on 18 and 19 June.

But on Thursday, promoter Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions defended the steep ticket prices to see the country crooner compared to their cost in 2022.

For his five Croke Park concerts in September 2022, general standing tickets cost €65.56 and seated tickets were €81, excluding service charges.

However, for next year’s shows, pit and general standing tickets will cost €136.25, while seated tickets are priced at €156.25, with Ticketmaster service charges applying on top of those prices.

Speaking on Thursday, Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions defended the price hike by pointing out that prices for the 2022 concerts were in fact 2014 prices – in other words, to reflect the fact that Brooks cancelled his earlier Croke Park shows in 2014.

‘He kept exactly the ticket prices that we had in 2014 when unfortunately the concerts didn’t go ahead,’ he told RTÉ Radio 1′s News at One programme. Nobody spotted that.’

Peter said that Garth’s concerts are still ‘one of the cheapest tickets that are out there’, likening the experience to that of the cinema.

‘You go see a big movie at the moment, there are 500 screens showing that exact movie,’ he said, adding that, ‘When you go see these incredible artists, that’s the only place you can see them at that time.’

Peter added that Garth is an ‘incredible’ performer, and also because of his ‘personality’ and ‘stage presence’ at his shows.