Meghan Danahey: June 2009 Archives

I'm a meteorologist. I am not an architect or a concert critic. That said, I AM a native North Texan, and I've been to my fair share of Cowboys games and concert events at the recently retired Texas Stadium in Irving. And there is big buzz all around about the history-making inaugural event at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington this past Saturday night. I was lucky to be in the audience and just had to share. If any of you found yourselves there, too, please weigh in!

THE EVENT: 5:30pm, Saturday, June 6th. A star-studded country concert headlined by the "King of Country" George Strait.

Fellow artists Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton and Julianne Hough were also on the bill. Lee Ann Womack stepped in at the last minute for Julianne Hough, who was suffering from a yucky bout of strep throat.

THE ATTENDEES: My group numbered about 12 and included folks from Austin and Georgetown to Graham and Dallas/Fort Worth. People in the audience drove from Fort Stockton, Lawton, Louisiana and Kansas (and that's just the people that I talked to!). Some of them flew all the way from England!

Cowboys owner and general manager, Jerry Jones, was joined by ex-Cowboys coach, Jimmy Johnson. Governor Rick Perry and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison were in attendance, while Troy Aikman and other ex-Cowboy sightings happened here and there all night long. 60,188 was the offical tally. And even with all those people milling about, it never really felt terribly crowded!

THE GOOD: Wow. That stadium is simply state-of-the-art. It is a mammoth structure as you make your way to its front doors. It has a beautiful glass skin that reflected the rich blue Texas sky and those giant steel arches seemed so strong and endless when standing underneath them.

Through the front doors you'll see the whole place just laid out in front of you in the very open mezzanine breezeway. There seemed to be digital t.v. screens everywhere. Even the vendors were using them for menus and pricing. It's all concrete and steel, with a silver and blue color scheme... of course!

There doesn't seem to be a bad seat in the house, thanks to the two much talked about enormous HD screens above midfield. Measuring 159 feet long and 71 feet tall, you can't miss anything from the north and south sideline seats and you could see every pore on Lee Ann Womack's face!

The "hole-in-the-roof" was closed to keep out the hot afternoon sun, but it did allow nice natural light into the stadium. The sun shined brightly into the stadium from all around the mezzanine. The "hole-in-the-roof" was opened about three songs in to George Strait's set. It only took 12 minutes for the roof panels to fully open to the starry night sky.

The luxury boxes and suites appeared to be quite cozy with every amenity right down to the Kobe beef and leather seating. Even the bathrooms were nice, with not-so-cheap toilet paper and rows and rows of brand new stalls. Everyone knows how important it is to keep THAT line moving!

THE BAD: Let's go back to that "walk" up to the front doors. We stayed in nearby hotels, so we got as close as we could by taxi (about 1/2 mile). By personal car, the cheapest parking was $30-40 followed by a mile-long hike. At 4:30 in the blazing June Texas sun... ouch.

Traffic was a bit of a mess, but city officials said that early patron arrival and good planning kept it from being the nightmare everyone thought it would be. While he praised Jerry Jones for "thinking of everything," singer Blake Shelton had some pretty cruel remarks when it came to the traffic issue and said he almost missed his set.

When we walked in the west entry, Lee Ann Womack was already on stage about two songs into her set. The sound from the breezeway was terrible. Lucky for us, we had amazing floor seats in front of the stage set up on the east endzone. There the sound was good. But, just a short walk back toward the rear floor sections and that sound became muddled and reverberating. I felt sorry for anyone who had paid a steep price for west end tickets. Perhaps all the concrete and steel? All I know is that I want to go to the U2 concert there in October and I hope the sound quality is much-improved!

It was the first event and finishing touches still have to happen before the Cowboys 2009 home opener. That was to be expected. Hour-long waiting times to get consessions were met with serious grumbles as patrons were told "we have hamburgers, but we're out of buns," or "I'm sorry, the only beer we have is hot and it's still $8.00."

And those beautiful bathrooms... got a whole lot "less-than-beautiful" when all the toilet paper and paper towels ran out halfway through the 6-hour event.

They need more trashcans around that place, both outside and inside, too. It seemed like trash was everywhere on the walk out.

OVERALL: It was one amazing night!! The music was incredible and the songs legendary. The new stadium is a sight for sore Cowboy-eyed fans. It blows the old Texas Stadium out of the water. Even after 6 hours of being in there, most people left with jaws still gaping wide open.

You can check out all of my pictures in the slideshow on KVUE.com.

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