Garth Brooks performs first concert at Mercedes-Benz Stadium

It’s a big night for Mercedes-Benz Stadium as Garth Brooks performed the inaugural concert at the new Atlanta venue.

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It already has hosted football and soccer games, but Thursday’s event had five-time CMA Entertainer of the Year team up with his wife, Georgia-native Trisha Yearwood for the first concert at the new stadium.

"The people here should be very thankful, and anybody building a stadium from here forward should come look at this one first," said Brooks during a pre-concert press conference.

Brooks said he was excited and in awe of being able to set the standard for the new venue. It was a task for which the couple felt honored to meet.

“The coolest thing that people never think of, you're competing against the future, so when you're here, the opening one, ten down the line, you want them to say "That was a good show, but it was nothing like..." and that's what we come out to do,” said Brooks.

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This concert happened in the shadow of the events that took place at the Las Vegas open-air venue just two weeks ago. The shooting rampage took the lives of 58 people and injured hundred others during a country music festival. But Brooks said they cannot let that stop the music and their job Thursday night is to give a good show to the fans.

“I think our heart is with the resilience of, do you get to see the best of humanity in the worst of times,” said Yearwood.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium has already seen record crowds for the Atlanta United soccer team, but Thursday night’s concert will be its largest crowd since opening.

Promoters expected more than 80,000 fans to attend the sold out event. This will be the first time brooks will play in Atlanta since his performances at Philips Arena back in 2014. Brooks talked about the day he got that call to be the opening concert for this stadium.

"The coolest thing was... was the message got down, passed out 'If we're opening of the stadium, we want it with the guys that entertain.' That was sweet. Hard for me to say that. I like saying that, but it was, I don't ever want to sound egotistical, but that was a sweet call to get,” said Brooks.

"We love to have Garth Brooks open up that stadium for far as the concert goes and have 80,000 people, he's going to play in the round. We're going to incorporate the video halo into the show, so it's going to be a show unlike anybody has ever seen before," said Scott Jenkins, Mercedes-Benz Stadium General Manager.