texas

New Fort Worth Arena Dickies Holds First Big Event

Thousands of fans packed Dickies Arena on Friday night to see the band 'Twenty One Pilots', the first major event for the $540 million Fort Wort arena.

"We wanted to start strong and we wanted to make sure people really knew and people really understood, Dickies Arena is here for everybody," spokeswoman Alissa Cunningham said.

More than 900 workers spent two years building the 560-thousand-square-foot facility which has 14,000 seats.

It'll be the new home of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, but for most of the year, it'll host everything from concerts to the NCAA finals.

It is the brainchild of Fort Worth billionaire and philanthropist Ed Bass.

On-site camping outside the arena opened on Thursday afternoon with hundreds who brought their tents, Cunningham said. The camping line for the General Admission floor was across from the Circle Stair between Yellow Lot B&C.

"We work for Trail Drive Management Corp., it's a not-for-profit organization that manages the arena and we also manage these parking lots. We're really fortunate in that we have the space to allow this camping," she explained.

Bryan Webb of Keller, Texas said he was pleased with how the arena accommodated the campers.

"Not going to lie, this has been a pretty legit camp out compared to some of the other ones that we've done for Twenty One Pilots and other bands," Webb told NBC 5. "Dickies Arena, big shout out. They did it up right. They set us up. They were real organized. Donuts and coffee, hot chocolate last night."

Breonna Burrell is from San Francisco. She arrived in Fort Worth on Friday around 4 a.m. and has been following the band's tours for years.

This is her 19th Twenty One Pilots concert.

"This week, we've followed them started in LA, Anaheim, up back up to Sacramento, down to San Diego. Now we're in Fort Worth," Burrell said. "I've also been working remotely on two hours of sleep. My team is like, you're insane."

However, super fans say the camp outs are worth it.

"There's really no place I'd rather be. Like, we've made the best of friends just doing shows and getting to tour with the band," Burrell said. "It's my happy place and I just love being able to be here, meet new people get to experience."

The arena has a number of concerts scheduled in the next month. For an event list, click here.

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