Brooks & Dunn News

(8/6/01, 5 p.m. ET) -- Brooks & Dunn, Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry, and Keith Urban wrapped up the successful Neon Circus And Wild West Show Sunday (August 5) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The camaraderie between the acts was no secret, but it initially came as a surprise to Kix Brooks.

"I don't know if it's this shocking really, but when you got Montgomery Gentry and us and especially Toby, you've got some pretty strong-willed, hard-headed guys out there, and I think there's really the potential for people to crawl off in their own holes and for some head-buttin' to go on, especially with egos on stage and everything," Brooks tells LAUNCH. "This is just like a dag-gum frat party every dang night."

The Neon Circus & Wild West Show ended with some pretty impressive numbers--$217,000 spent on 145,080 gallons of diesel fuel to take the show from city to city; 15,000 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners served to the musicians, crew, and local promoters; just under 15,000 rides by fans on the mechanical bull; Ronnie Dunn tossed 1851 drumsticks into the collective crowd; and Brooks sacrificed 39 black cowboy hats for the fans.

"This is big-time show business," laughs Dunn. "And it's also been big-time fun. If you'd told me we'd laugh this much, cover this much ground or do some of the crazy stuff we have, I probably wouldn't have believed you. But the numbers don't lie, nor do the fans, and this has been everything we'd hoped when we started figuring out something new to do."

Brooks & Dunn's current single, "Only In America," sits at Number 10 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

-- Margy Holland, Nashville

Got news tips, comments, or questions? Send them to newstips@launch.com.