Garth Brooks playing dive bars with vaccine mandates following cancellation of stadium tour

Garth Brooks will begin playing concerts at dive bars that require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations.

The decision comes on the heels of the country music superstar canceling his most recent stadium tour, which included a September 25 stop in Charlotte.

Brooks explained his decision while on Facebook Live by citing the vaccine requirement and the smaller capacity at dive bars.

"Because the dive bars are vaccinated; that's how you get to do it. So the great thing about this is--they're vaccinated or they have to show a three day negative in advance test," Brooks said.

He explained that he didn't think it was fair or logistically possible to follow that same vaccine mandate or testing procedure for huge concert venues where tickets had already been sold without that requirement.

That's why he canceled all stadium tours for the rest of 2021 and refunded the money of everyone who bought tickets.

He went on to say he and his team would be watching COVID-19 numbers and the success of the NFL and college football seasons to determine when and how to safely return to playing concerts in large stadiums.

In the meantime, Brooks said he and his team are working to schedule dive bar concerts in cities where stadium tour dates were canceled.

"What you want to do is what's best for the people. Man, I want to play music. I want to get out there and laugh, and I'm telling you the look in the people's eyes from stage of getting together and singing again, brought so much hope and so much joy it killed me to have to shut it down again," Brooks said.