Last week, Garth Brooks kicked off the first of his 11 shows in Chicago — and with the Windy City marking the launch of his new world tour, we asked Garth about what he’d been doing to get himself in “show shape” for Chicago and all the cities to come. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Garth has the hottest new record at country radio with his song, “People Loving People,” the first single from his upcoming album. Your pre-order of the album — or an incredible digital bundle of Garth music and videos — will immediately get you both “People Loving People” and the bonus track, “Send ’em on Down the Road.” You can pre-order on GarthBrooks.com, or go to GhostTunes.com.
• After the initial dates on September 4th, 5th, and 6th, the Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood continues its run in Chicago this week, with additional shows Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

  Garth Brooks talks about getting in “show shape.” (:31)
“You know, the crazy thing about doing the show is there’s nothing you can do for it. You can go run your miles, you can do whatever you want, but the show is the show. And the show is just gonna take a different kind of energy. It just is, and it only comes from the people. That’s the biggest misconception for touring for us is people go, ‘Wow, man, how you gonna do 11 shows in Chicago?’ And it’s…you pull ’em to one side, and you go, ‘You don’t understand. We come into town on empty. We fill up every night when those people come to the arena. That’s where you get your fuel from.'”