An Honest Review of George Strait's Show in Ames

History was made in Ames over Memorial Day Weekend.

For the first time in 25 years, Jack Trice Stadium played host to a massive concert.

The last show that was played at the famed stadium of the Iowa State Cyclones was back on April 24th, 1999.

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First Concert in Decades at Jack Trice Stadium

Major country acts like the Chicks and Tim McGraw performed at this arena on that day. Another important name on that list of artists was the king of country music, George Strait.

And he just so happened to be the person headlining this show at Jack Trice Stadium 25 years later.

Safety at George Strait

On Saturday May 25th thousands of people flocked to Ames for the show of the summer. According to reports, Jack Trice Stadium was able to hold approximately 55,000 people for the concert.

While it was a packed show, officials are saying that it was a relatively quiet night.

Iowa State University Police department officials reported that there were only seven arrests and one ejection from the show.

One individual was cited for possession of alcohol under the legal age.

Only five people were arrested for public intoxication, and officials claim that there were only 91 calls for first aid.

With a crowd that big, it's a surprise there weren't more.

The Opening Acts

While these 55,000 people were there to see Strait, the openers were also country music heavy hitters.

At 5:45 PM that evening, the band Little Big Town went on for an hour long set.

They performed their big hits and even opened with the song 'Boondocks.'

Chris Stapleton took to the stage at approximately 7:30 PM. He did a shorter set than he does at his headlining shows.

While he played his popular songs like 'Starting Over,' 'You Should Probably Leave,' and even 'Tennessee Whiskey' the singer completely skipped over one of his newest country radio hits, 'White Horse.'

George Strait 'The King'

First things first, I cannot believe this guy was able to stand up for almost two hours straight. Kudos to George Strait for being a kick-ass 72-year-old man.

Strait knew exactly what the crowd was there for, and he delivered!

He played ALL of the hits!

'Check Yes or No,' 'Write This Down,' 'Amarillo By Morning, and OF COURSE 'Troubadour.'

He even played some newer tracks! My favorite newer Strait song that he performed played was 'Every Little Honky Tonk Bar.'

Food/Concessions

This might have been the only weak spot for the entire night.

Overall, there were some great choices for food and drink. The staff at Jack Trice Stadium were selling delicious looking corndogs, popcorn, nachos, and other classic stadium fare.

The drink options were similar to what Iowa State usually serves during football games, seltzers, beer, and some mixed drinks for VIP ticket holders.

It appeared that food at some stands ran out before Strait even took the stage. The drink lines were also pretty long depending on where you were.

The prices for food and drinks were typical for any sort of major sporting event, so I'm not going to complain about that.

My co-worker waited in line for 45 minutes to get a drink.

Due to the large number of crowds and the fact that this was Jack Trice Stadium's first concert in 25 years, I would cut 'em some slack on this.

Parking

Going into this concert event, my main concern was the parking situation.

You could purchase parking passes with your ticket. Some were even going for around $300 on the resale websites, according to reports.

Luckily enough, we found a good spot to park, and it was only a short walk away from the stadium.

It cost us $40 to park at a hotel called Stadium View Suites for the next couple of hours.

Getting out was not too difficult. The group I was with left after Strait sang Troubadour and right before the encore. We beat a majority of the crowd out of the stadium and were able to get on the road in no time.

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