Austin PBS, KLRU-TV is thrilled to announce that Garth Brooks will bid farewell to legendary Studio 6A, longtime home to iconic music series Austin City Limits, with a pair of intimate performances on July 20 & July 21, 2021. This event, originally scheduled for May 24, 2020 and delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will now feature two nights with the country superstar. Garth Brooks returns to the original Austin City Limits stage where it all began for a memorable send-off to the historic Studio 6A on the University of Texas campus. Austin PBS’s Farewell to Studio 6A: An Evening with Garth Brooks will be a once-in-a-lifetime event celebrating the iconic institution and also a fundraiser for the public television station, Austin PBS, that produces the series.
“Thirty years ago, Garth made history when he stepped onto the Austin City Limits stage for the first time, and now he’s one of the biggest stars in music history,” said ACL executive producer Terry Lickona. “We are honored to have him return and make history once again, with the final performances on a stage that was the original home for the longest-running music series on television.”
After more than 50 years on the University of Texas Austin campus, Austin PBS is moving to a brand new home on the Austin Community College Highland Campus in 2022. The larger facility will be a modern, state-of-the-art broadcast studio as well as a community space that will allow Austin PBS to create new initiatives. The public television station will celebrate the move with this final musical salute in the historic Studio 6A. The intimate soundstage was the birthplace of the Peabody Award-winning series Austin City Limits, hosting the now-infamous 1974 debut taping with Willie Nelson, as well as the setting for history-making performances for its first 36 seasons, spotlighting hundreds of legendary artists and music innovators, including Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Leonard Cohen, Pearl Jam, B.B. King, Foo Fighters and more. Studio 6A was officially designated a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark in 2009 and was the featured location for the Austin installment of the Foo Fighters’ 2014 documentary series Sonic Highways. The final Austin City Limits episode in Studio 6A was taped in 2010, when the program moved to its current studio home for the last decade, ACL Live at The Moody Theater, in downtown Austin, where it will continue to be taped and is now in its 47th Season. Studio 6A has been used consistently throughout the years for community events, town hall discussions and many other Austin PBS programs including ATX Together, Central Texas Gardener and Overheard with Evan Smith. The studio also hosted tapings for the TNN/CMT programs Legends of Country Music and The Texas Connection, as well as CBS’s Willie Nelson: The Big Six-0 60th birthday special.
A limited number of event packages are available to attend this historic event. All proceeds from the event will benefit Austin PBS’s Moving Forward Campaign to support funding for the new facilities. To find out more go to austinpbs.org/farewell. Individual seat packages start at $2,500 on either night – July 20th or 21st – with the same performance each night. The concerts are a fundraising event and will not be filmed for Austin City Limits broadcast.
Garth Brooks has made two legendary Austin City Limits appearances in Studio 6A. He first appeared on the program in 1990, during Season 15. Just beginning his ascent to superstardom, Brooks performed his early hits “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)” and “The Dance.” The hitmaker returned a decade later to both open and close ACL’s milestone 25th anniversary season with two hourlong episodes, performing career highlights and fan favorites, including “The Thunder Rolls,” “Two of a Kind (Workin’ On a Full House),” and leading a massive crowd singalong to “Friends in Low Places.” Brooks’ relationship with Austin City Limits goes beyond that of a performer. He is also a longtime fan. “If we’re baseball players, this is the World Series,” he said during a post-show interview after his 2000 return appearance. “The thing I like about Austin City Limits is that it hasn’t changed, it’s still like getting around your family in your living room and playing music. I think that’s what I love most about it.”
Austin PBS
Austin PBS, KLRU-TV is dedicated to telling stories that entertain, inspire and change lives. This community-supported public television station highlights what makes Austin unique — whether music, arts or public issues — by creating and distributing award-winning original content. Austin PBS produces Austin City Limits, Arts In Context, Central Texas Gardener, Overheard with Evan Smith and more for PBS stations across the nation. We also create online-first projects like Decibel, a community journalism initiative that seeks to amplify diverse voices in Central Texas. As a nonprofit educational organization, Austin PBS also prepares children to succeed in school and creates lifelong learning opportunities for all. Find out more at austinpbs.org.
Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits (ACL) offers viewers unparalleled access to featured acts in an intimate setting that provides a platform for artists to deliver inspired, memorable, full-length performances. Now in its 47th Season, the program is taped live before a concert audience from The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Austin City Limits is the longest-running music series in television history and remains the only TV series to ever be awarded the National Medal of Arts. Since its inception, the groundbreaking music series has become an institution that’s helped secure Austin’s reputation as the Live Music Capital of the World. The historic Austin PBS Studio 6A, home to 36 years of ACL concerts, has been designated an official Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark. In 2011, ACL moved to the new venue ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. ACL received a rare institutional Peabody Award for excellence and outstanding achievement in 2012.
Austin City Limits is produced by Austin PBS, KLRU-TV and funding is provided in part by Dell Technologies, Workrise, the Austin Convention Center Department and Cirrus Logic. Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Austin City Limits. Learn more about Austin City Limits, programming and history at acltv.com.
Garth Brooks
In May, Garth Brooks was one of five artists to receive one of the most prestigious honors an artist can receive, The Kennedy Center Honor. Garth is the first-ever seven-time recipient of the CMA Entertainer of the Year honor. Brooks is the first and only artist in history to receive nine Diamond Awards for the now nine diamond-certified albums at over 10 million album sales each. He remains the #1-selling solo artist in U.S. history, certified by the RIAA with 157 million album sales. He has received every accolade the recording industry can bestow on an artist. In 2020, Garth was awarded the esteemed Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, becoming the youngest-ever recipient of the honor. The same year Brooks received Billboard’s Icon Award, joining only eight other artists to ever receive the honor. Brooks’ 2017 tour with Tricia Yearwood sold over 6.3 million tickets, making it the biggest North American tour in history and the biggest American tour in the world. In 2019, Brooks launched the Garth Brooks Stadium Tour, which has broken stadium attendance records and which Pollstar named the bestselling country music tour of the year.