'Dive bars are vaccinated:' Garth Brooks says he will do smaller concerts for 2021

One month after pulling the plug on five stadium tour dates — including a Sept. 18 show at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati — Garth Brooks is putting his trust in dive bars.

Brooks mentioned on his "Inside Studio G" Facebook Live series this week that he is planning a Dive Bar Tour for those with a COVID-19 vaccination card or a negative COVID-19 test.

"The dive bars are vaccinated, that’s how you get to do it,” Brooks said. “So, the great thing about this is, (the fans are) vaccinated or they have to show a three-day negative in-advance test."

So far, Brooks has announced one tour stop in Oklahoma, where he said more than 500,000 people have entered to win tickets for the concert, which will be held in a venue for 700 people. But he said more "dive-bar" concerts are being planned. 

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Cincinnati tour date has been postponed four times for COVID-19

The Cincinnati date is the fourth postponement for Cincinnati fans since the initially planned concert date of May 2020 was canceled.

Brooks said in the Facebook Live that he's looking for replacement dates "for some of the cities" where the stadium tours were canceled. 

The canceled shows included: Cincinnati; Charlotte, North Carolina; Baltimore; Foxborough, Massachusetts; and Nashville, Tennessee. The Country Hall of Famer also cut a previously announced Seattle show, though tickets for the date never went on sale.

"In July, I sincerely thought the pandemic was falling behind us. Now, watching this new wave, I realize we are still in the fight and I must do my part," Brooks said in a statement. 

Garth Brooks did a dive-bar concert in Rootstown, Ohio, in 2019

Brooks has done dive-bar concerts before, including one in rural Ohio at the Dusty Armadillo, a country dancehall on Route 44 in Portage County.

Brooks, an Oklahoma native who started his career playing venues like the Dusty, said in a tour announcement that saving dive bars is important, “because sometimes that’s your church.”

USA TODAY, Cincinnati Enquirer, Canton Repository and Kent Record-Courier contributed to this report.