Brenton Blanchet is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE. He has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Brenton's work has previously appeared in Billboard, Pigeons & Planes and Complex.
The King of Country might just be the king of live shows, too.
As of this weekend, George Strait has broken the record for the largest single ticketed concert in U.S. history -- as his Saturday, June 15 gig at Texas A&M's Kyle Field in College Station saw a whopping 110,905 fans in attendance, per a release.
The attendance numbers helped straight break a record long held by the Grateful Dead -- when the band jammed for 107,019 attendees during a 1977 concert at Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., per NPR.
According to the release, Strait's George Strait: The King at Kyle Field show featured special guests in Parker McCollum and Catie Offerman. Promoting his forthcoming September LP Cowboys and Dreamers, the 72-year-old country star's setlist included hits such as "Here For A Good Time," "Check Yes or No," "Amarillo By Morning," and "Take Me To Texas" -- as well as some material off the new project.
Strait has four more shows scheduled for the calendar year, including Saturday, June 29 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City; Saturday, July 13 at Ford Field in Detroit; Saturday, July 20 at Soldier Field in Chicago; and Monday, Dec. 9 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
"We got a lot of songs to play for y'all today/tonight. What a beautiful night, too, right? We got some new stuff that we're gonna do also, we got a new album ... out in September called Cowboys And Dreamers, so we got some stuff from that we're gonna play from that for you also and we got a really special thing we're gonna do for you, so alright, what are we here for?!," Strait said during the gig, before performing 2011 hit "Here For A Good Time."
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Per a release, fans filled in every hotel, Airbnb and bed and breakfast within a "40-mile radius." Halfway through the set, Strait honored Sgt. Tiffany Baker, via the Military Warriors Support Foundation's Homes 4 Wounded Heroes Program.
While Strait's latest show marked the largest ticketed musical performance, multiple free concerts and festival events have came out with larger crowds -- including an 800,000-person-attended 1986 performance by the New York Philharmonic in Central Park, per NPR.
Strait's release notes that his latest show was also the biggest crowd at Kyle, surpassing a 2014 Texas A&M game that brought out 110,633 people.
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