Garth Brooks to Perform in Las Vegas for 15 Weeks

Garth Brooks fans might want to take a few quick lessons in Blackjack. The singer announced yesterday that not only is he coming out of retirement, he will be doing a 15-week per year gig at Wynn's Encore Theatre in Las Vegas beginning December 11.

Brooks will perform solo at the Vegas shows, hinting during a press conference in Las Vegas Thursday that he might invite special guests and would surely have his wife, Trisha Yearwood, join him onstage from time to time.

Trisha tells The Boot that the entire family is excited about Garth's performance series. "We talked about it and at first it was like 'This is never going to happen.' Then it was like, 'This would be really cool but no.' Finally we were saying, 'You know, this might really work!' I have to say the reason it worked was because of Mr. Wynn (chairman of board and CEO of Wynn Properties). He and Garth share the same passion for music, and every time we had an objection he overcame it."

One of the ways Wynn found for Garth to be with his three girls every day to take them to school was to give him a jet. Garth will perform four shows a weekend – one on Friday, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Wynn compared the country icon's performance to the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.), saying "I watched a man create instant love in real time, right before my eyes."

Other than his newly announced Las Vegas gig, Garth says that not much will change within the next five years, until his youngest daughter Allie, turns 18. "People are gonna expect us to start going 110 miles an hour tomorrow, but the truth is if we ever make music again, if we ever tour again, it's gonna be five years."

While Garth is being a dad in the next five years, he will also be preparing to return to his music career ... eventually. "To start again it takes a long time to plan albums, plan tours. To record an album while I was living here took six months. I can't imagine what it would take not living here, going back and forth," he says. "Somehow George Strait does it and with ease, but it's something I can't do. And as far as a tour, if I can't eat it, sleep it, breathe it, then it ain't me, so I don't see that happening."

Garth says one thing that started him seriously thinking about getting back into the business on a more full time basis were his series of shows in Kansas City in 2007. "Kansas City turned my head around. I was stunned by ticket sales, and then we went in and saw how many young people were there and how many people came back for more than one show. So if I can wish upon any artist anything it would be a tour full of cities like KC was for us."

Tickets for Brooks' Encore Theatre shows go on sale Saturday, Oct. 24 at 8:00 AM ET. Tickets are $143. Confirmed concert dates are Dec. 11, 12, 13; Jan. 1, 2, 3, 22, 23, 24; Feb. 12, 13, 14, 26, 27, 28. Tickets may be booked by calling 702-770-7469 or online at www.wynnlasvegas.com/boxoffice.