(CNN) -- Garth Brooks is still holding out hope he can do shows in Ireland despite the Dublin city council saying no to two of them. 

Brooks told the Irish promoter after the city's approval of just three shows he would wait "to the last second" before sending his crew and gear back the the United States. 

"I cannot begin to tell you how badly my heart is breaking right now," the singer wrote in a note to Aiken Promotions on Tuesday. Brooks' rep on Wednesday provided CNN a copy of the note. 

The Dublin shows had been planned for Croke Park Stadium, a football arena that can hold more than 90,000 fans, on five consecutive nights during the last week of July. The council approved Friday, Saturday and Sunday shows, but rejected licenses for Monday and Tuesday night concerts. 

The promoter, saying Brooks insisted on five shows or none at all, announced Tuesday that all concerts of "The Garth Brooks Comeback Special Event" were canceled and the 400,000 tickets sold would be refunded. 

A measure of the demand to see Brooks perform live is impressive, considering the 400,000 tickets sold represent nearly one of every 10 people in the Republic of Ireland's 4.5 million population. 

"I hope you understand that to play for 400,000 people would be a dream, but to tell 160,000 of those people that they are not welcome would be a nightmare," Brooks wrote. "To do what the city manager suggests (play three shows and not all five) means I agree that is how people should be treated and I just can't agree with that." 
where did the send the crew back to ?
United States