Fans hoping to watch GarthBrooks and Trisha Yearwood in concert on June 5 and 6 will have to wait a little bit longer as their Tampa shows have been canceled.
The popular country singer and his wife have been booked for three shows at the Amalie Arena since March.
Brooks, who’s in the midst of a comeback tour, was set to perform on June 5 at 7pm and on June 6 at 7pm and 10:30pm.
While it might be sad news for country music fans, there’s a legitimately good reason for the sudden cancellation.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have reached the finals of the Stanley Cup and will be playing their home game at the Amalie Arena on June 6. They will be going up against the Chicago Blackhawks.
While no artist wants to cancel shows at the last minute, Brooks and Yearwood understand that this is an important event for the city.
Garth Brooks’ Tampa shows canceled because of Stanley Cup finals: http://t.co/nswpR3tSOy pic.twitter.com/lj7MK8tsYd
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) June 1, 2015
The 53-year-old singer-songwriter, along with Yearwood, released a statement wherein they graciously congratulated the two teams for reaching the Stanley Cup Finals.
The couple also acknowledged that all the parties involved have looked into ways of resolving the situation, including moving Saturday’s shows to Sunday.
“The issue of getting the network crews and their gear out of the building and getting our crews and gear into the building late Saturday/early Sunday for two shows on Sunday raises serious safety concerns,” the statement reads.
“It is because of those safety concerns that the choice is being made to refund all shows and reschedule depending on finding a date that works for both the arena and the tour.”
The country superstars then thanked everyone who worked hard to come up with a solution before wishing the team good luck and promised that they will be watching the series.
Sorry, Garth Brooks fans. The Stanley Cup finals forced him to cancel his Tampa shows. http://t.co/oA5EWzo9JJ pic.twitter.com/VPWMaY8Xug
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 2, 2015
Additional information on how to refund the tickets for the event was also posted on Garth Brooks’ official website.