Fact Check: Kid Rock's 'Fourth of July on Central Park' Concert Set New Record for Ticket Sales in 2024?

Claim:

Kid Rock's "4th of July on Central Park" concert set a new record for ticket sales in 2024.

Rating:

Labeled Satire ( About this rating? )

On June 23, 2024, the America's Last Line of Defense Facebook page posted Kid Rock was playing a concert in New York titled, "4th of July on Central Park." According to the post, the musician set a new record for ticket sales.

The meme read, "Kid Rock's '4th of July on Central Park' Sets New Record for Ticket Sales: 'MAGA is Alive and Well in New York City." The text caption of the Facebook post also read, "The previous record was held by Garth Brooks, who sold just over a million tickets in 1997. Kid blew past that, selling nearly 100,000 more."

As of this writing, the post displayed over 13,000 likes, 1,800 comments and 1,200 shares.

One user commented of the purported news, "Cause he's freakin awesome!!! Love his personality and everything about him!" A different commenter also remarked, "Congratulations to a true American Kid Rock."

However, this story was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The America's Last Line of Defense Facebook page belongs to a wider network of satire and parody websites that share the same name. According to the page's description, "Nothing on this page is real." The lower-right corner of the meme also displayed a "satire" rating label.

Another user commenting under the post correctly noted fans attended Garth Brooks' 1997 concert in Central Park for free . That user wrote, "'Garth: Live from Central Park' was a concert held by Oklahoma's Garth Brooks on Aug. 7, 1997, in New York City's Central Park. The event was known as 'Garthstock' in reference to Woodstock. The concert was FREE and was billed as the largest concert ever held in the park."

A different commenter also pointed out the crowd picture displayed in the meme was captured at a Dave Matthews Band concert from 2003. The person said, "That photo is from a Dave Matthews show in 2003." We consulted the Central Park Conservancy's Flickr page to confirm this fact.

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

Sources:

Central Park Conservancy. "Dave Matthews Band Concert, 2003." Flickr , 24 Sept. 2003, https://www.flickr.com/photos/centralparknyc/6148305436/ .

Nicholson, Jessica. "Garth Brooks to Celebrate 25th Anniversary of Famed Central Park Concert With TalkShopLive Stream." Billboard , 4 Aug. 2022, https://www.billboard.com/music/country/garth-brooks-central-park-talk-shop-live-1235122683/ .