Garth Brooks will wrap up a long-awaited string of shows at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, over the weekend, and in an interview prior to the concerts, he revealed that he had lost a whopping 50 pounds in order to prepare.

Brooks is ending his multi-year Stadium Tour with five nights at Croke Park, where he first played in 1997 at the age of 35. In a press conference to launch the dates, Brooks, who's now 60, proudly told reporters that he's back down to the same weight as he was at that time.

“What happened was, weirdly, at the 25th anniversary of Croke Park and Central Park, and I was sitting there looking at it thinking, 'Everyone looks the same… what is wrong with your fat ass? Here we go,'" Brooks says (quote via the Irish Mirror).

The country mega-star admits he gained a lot of weight during a 16-year break in his career while he raised his daughters, referring to himself as a "soccer dad" during those years.

“And it takes awhile to get back to the artist feel," he states, adding, "It has taken me eight years to get back to it."

Brooks is filming the string of Croke Park shows for an upcoming concert film.

"I lost 50 pounds, and the film is going to add that right back," he says with a laugh.

Brooks' original plan when he came out of retirement in 2014 was to launch his comeback tour with a string of shows at Croke Park, but the negotiations with the city fell through. Instead, he's making a triumphant return to the venue at the end of a massively successful Stadium Tour that's seen dates moved again and again due to the pandemic.

Brooks kicked off his Croke Park gigs on Friday, Sept. 9, and followed with another show on Saturday, Sept. 10. He performed again on Friday (Sept. 16), and his last two nights of the run are Saturday (Sept. 17) and Sunday (Sept. 18).

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