The reviews are great for George and Reba...and a lot of wow's about the physical awe of the new Cowboy stadium.....and the locals make a point of saying it is in ARLINGTON not Dallas and they have the tax expenditures to prove it..... Here's what the locals said about the big night:
ARLINGTON — The performers at Cowboys Stadium paid homage to headliner "King" George Strait, but the $1.15 billion palace was as much royalty as Saturday's stars.
One of the nation's largest, and arguably most luxurious, stadiums drew 60,188 fans from throughout Texas and beyond. Many showed up hours before the first guitar chord was strummed for a chance to be one of the earliest inside the glass and steel giant.
"You've got the best in Texas for the best place in Texas," he said about the combination of Strait and the stadium. Strait paid homage to the stadium two songs into his set.
"This is pretty damn incredible, isn't it?" he asked. "I'm so honored to be here, I can't even tell you how much. I mean, I can say I've done a lot of things in my career and had a lot of fun. This is right up there at the top of anything I've ever done."
One who wouldn't disagree was Cowboys owner and country music fan Jerry Jones, who strolled into the stadium with a big cigar and an even bigger smile after a decade of planning for the day.
He held court from an owner's suite — larger than many apartments — filled with flat-screen TVs, VIPs and etched glass pictures of Cowboys superstars, including Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.
"This has been an incredible night. It is everything we dreamed and more," Jones said. "After almost 10 years of working toward this day, it has been a joy to see the reaction of everyone coming through the doors. … The crowd has just been electric, and we are all feeding off that energy."
Former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson flew in from Florida to watch the concert from Jones' suite, along with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Footage of Jones and Johnson chatting was projected on the nearly 60-yards-long video boards.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry was in the stadium and sending updates via Twitter, and state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, was also watching the show.
Most in the crowd were ordinary people hoping to be part of history. The stadium is only the third in Cowboys history and the second built for the team.
Richard Nevala of Benbrook was sipping a beer in the concourse just after the doors opened and admiring the stadium. He said he knew it was going to be big, but he didn't realize it was so plush.
"Number one, it's classy," he said, standing outside one of the main concourse clubs.
The club is reminiscent of the Ghost Bar at The W Hotel or perhaps a high-end interior décor showroom. The color pattern is black, white, silver and the occasional blast of blue, and it has fancy pendant lighting and floating panels hanging from the ceiling. Nevala said he unsuccessfully tried to slip an employee some money to get inside one of the clubs, where fans were snacking on a variety of Kobe beef dishes.
Verna Fathree of Fort Stockton in West Texas said she was excited to see the stadium and Strait, but she was also a little uncomfortable.
"There's too many people," she said.
The stadium had a crowd many times the size of Fort Stockton's entire population.
The stadium's debut left many fans in awe, but flaws were also exposed.
As the night wore on, there were long lines and shortages at the concession and T-shirt stands. At one souvenir stand, the line was at least 50 feet long, and some fans said the wait was as long as an hour.
On the main concourse level, some fans said the food service lines were too long and too slow.
Brandon Wilson of Justin said he waited nearly an hour for two hot dogs and fries.
And the complaints continued when some reached the front of the line and got their food.
"They have hamburger but don't have buns," Amanda Ricks of Arlington said. "Eight dollars for warm beer."
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