Garth Brooks tips his hat to Minnesota in news conference

Eighteen hours after making an unannounced appearance at the CMA Awards in Nashville, Garth Brooks took to a podium in Minneapolis to talk about the 22-plus hours he will spend on stage at Target Center over the next 10 days.

"I'm gonna need some help," country music's long-reigning sales king said a few minutes into a news conference Thursday afternoon in the arena's skyway lobby.

Help from Minnesota fans, he meant, who he claimed are a different breed.

"It's one of the top five places to play," he declared to the cameras.

As he has done in each of the four cities so far on his 2014 tour — his first in 16 years — Brooks took about an hour to talk with local reporters about his unique performance schedule and newly ended retirement a few hours before his first concert.

Only in Minneapolis, however, could he talk about breaking his own sales record for the most tickets sold in one city on one tour — around 200,000, which is also a Twin Cities concert sales record. His unprecedented 11-show run began Thursday and continues with two concerts per night Friday and Saturday, plus one on Sunday. Then he returns to do five more shows next Thursday through Saturday.

Brooks, 52, told reporters the record-breaking schedule was the brainchild of Andy Warg, Target Center's director of booking. Warg met with the singer during his September run in Chicago — where he sold a measly 180,000 tickets.

Accompanied by his wife and fellow performer for these shows, Grammy-winning singer Trisha Yearwood, Brooks wore a Dr Pepper sweatshirt, jeans and one of his own Garth-insignia ball caps to the media gathering, scheduled before his first sound check.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges introduced the couple after reading a proclamation from the city honoring both singers. She called the economic benefits of 11 concerts "a great, great boon" for downtown and mentioned how much the city enjoyed Brooks' last string of concerts at Target Center in 1998, when he played nine concerts on consecutive nights.

"I know that, because I went to two of the shows and had a great time," Hodges said.

Brooks, too, remembered the '98 Minneapolis concerts well.

"These crowds have some living up to do," he said, going on to recount a personal story about his late mother coming to the first of those shows after she underwent surgery for cancer.

Yearwood's presence led to a few laugh-filled moments, like when Brooks was asked if he can still put on the kind of high-energy show he did 16 years ago.

"I'm 50 pounds heavier, because …" he said, his voice trailing off as he gazed at his wife, who's apparently a good cook.

That's when he asked for help, urging fans to sing along loudly. "Vocally, it's not going to happen," he admitted of enduring the Minneapolis run.

In a more serious moment with Yearwood, he talked about how nice it is to be able to come back on tour and have his wife along for the ride.

"This tour, the other 22 hours [I'm offstage], I get to spend them with my best friend," he said.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658