Brooks & Dunn & Reba re- up in Vegas
Trio announces new dates, extends residency into 2017
“We still don’t have any plans to start working on a newalbum.” Kix Brooks
One day a few years ago, Ronnie Dunn was stretched out next to a pool, thinking about his partnership with Kix Brooks as country music’s all- time most successful duo. Or actually, hewas thinking about how it had ended in 2010, each airing his grievances against the other in an uncomfortably public fashion.
His friends Reba McEntire and Narvel Blackstock, her husband and manager at the time, were with him that quiet afternoon.
“I stared out at the ocean and said, ‘ You know, it’d be fine with me if I never sing again,’” Dunn, now 63, remembers. “‘ I’m good at doing this.’ Well, Narvel kind of chuckled and said: ‘ If I were you, I’d sit still for a while and see what happens. Sometimes things come out of nowhere.’”
Dunn smiles. “Sure enough, about a month later, he came back to me and said, ‘ What do you think about you, Kix and Reba doing a residency at Caesars Palace in Vegas?’ I said, ‘ What’s a residency?’ He says, ‘ Well, you go to Vegas, you perform in a great room at Caesars for an extended period of time, they treat you like royalty … and you get paid.’ ”
A fraction of a second later, Dunn confirmed, “I’min.”
By that time, so was Kix Brooks, now 61, with whom he had made music history as Brooks & Dunn, selling more than 30 million albums and winning more than 80 industry awards, including two Grammys.
As far as both were concerned, whatever disagreements they had had were forgotten. “It seemed like an ideal time to get together again and have some fun, to play some golf during the day and do a cool show in a great theater at night,” Brooks says.
That led to June 2015, when “Reba, Brooks& Dunn: Together inVegas” premiered in The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Since then, they’ve drawn more than 130,000 fans to enjoy anywhere from 90 minutes to more than two hours of entertainment, depending on how much the three superstars feel like sharing stories andmemories along with the roughly 30 songs they feature each night.
Their long run gets longer with the announcement that new dates have been confirmed through December 2017, making theirs the lengthiest country music residency in history. In addition to the previously announced schedule of shows in February ( 22, 24 and 25) and March ( 1, 3 and 4), tickets are on sale for June ( 21, 24, 25 and 28), July ( 1 and 2), November ( 29) and December ( 1,2, 5, 8 and 9), 2017. Reservations can be made by calling ( 866) 320- 9763 or visiting TheColosseum.com or AXS.com.
All three artists will continue to pursue individual projects during time away from Vegas.
Apparently, though, these do not include a Brooks & Dunn reunion tour or album … at least not yet.
“When we stopped touring in 2010, I don’t think either of us was sure if we’d ever perform together again,” Brooks says. “We still don’t have any plans to start working on a new album. But people do keep pitching festival dates to us. We even did a couple of shows in Chicago last year, and it was fun to go back out and bang on a Brooks & Dunn show. Hell, we just came back from a two- week vacation together in France without killing each other.”
He laughs and then sums it all up. “Whatever happens to our partnership, if this is to be the last thing we do together, it’s a great place for us to be right now.”