May Live Music Preview
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May 1st and 2nd Backseat Lovers-The Admiral-Salt Lake City indie rock band Backseat Lovers have gotten so popular that they are doing double dates now. They will be at The Admiral on May 1st and May 2nd. The Friday show has been sold out for awhile and it looks like only a small amount of premium balcony tickets exist for the Thursday show.
May 2nd-Save Ferris-Waiting Room-Touring ska bands, Save Ferris and Keep Flying head to Omaha for a show at Waiting Room to play with Omaha ska legends The Bishops. Save Ferris is of course known for their 90’s hit cover of Dexy’s Midnight Runners song “Come On Eileen”.
May 2nd-Deafhaven-Slowdown-Black metal shoegaze band (yes, that is a thing) Deafheaven has been doing this for 25 years now and seems to keep getting more followers as time goes on. The band released their new album, Lonely People with Power, on March 28th. Gatecreeper and Trauma Ray will join the band at Slowdown.
May 2nd-Lily Rose-Barnato-SOLD OUT-You may know Lily Rose from her huge hit “Villain” or her doing vocals on Diplo’s song “Sad In The Summer”. Maybe you know her from performances on The Voice or Good Morning America? Lily will be at Barnato on May 2nd and this performance has been SOLD OUT for a long time.
May 7th-Kenny Wayne Shepherd-The Astro-Blues rocker and guitar slinger Kenny Wayne Shepherd is doing an “evening with” on May 7th at The Astro. He is bringing along 91 year old blues legend Bobby Rush for the show. Wild! They also just put out an album together called Young Fashioned Ways.
May 8th-yuniya edi kwon-Live At The Low End at Bemis Center-From the website violinist, vocalist, and interdisciplinary performance maker based in Lenapehoking, or New York City. Her practice connects composition, improvisation, movement, and ceremony to explore transformation & transgression, ritual practice as a tool to queer ancestral lineage, and the use of mythology to connect, obscure, and reveal.
May 9th and 10th-Ben Folds with Omaha Symphony-Holland Center-Pure pop songwriter Ben Folds will spend two nights with the Omaha Symphony on May 9th and 10th. Hear all of the hits from the piano pop star and probably a lot of fun surprises as well.
May 9th-We The Kingdom-Rococo Theater-Contemporary Christian family band We The Kingdom will be at Rococo Theater in Lincoln on May 9th. They will be stripping it down and going unplugged and telling stories and singing songs.
May 10th-Jackie Venson-The Zoo Bar-I think the last time we saw soulful blues artists Jackie Venson in Nebraska was at the blues festival tour that Slash put on at The Astro. She played with Slash, Keb Mo and ZZ Ward. This time she will be on the legendary Zoo Bar stage in Lincoln
May 10th-Secret Weapon-Waiting Room-It’s Omaha’s most celebrated cover band’s (if we are talking about Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards) 20th Anniversary! Who thought they would make it to 20? Yeah, didn’t think so-but they did-and they are gong to pull out every trick in the book when they celebrate on May 10th at The Waiting Room.
May 12th-Torres and Julien Baker at The Admiral-This is super cool. Julien Baker (boygenius) and Torres are going country and they are bringing their new duo to The Admiral on May 12th. The album ended up being an absolute gem and is easily in my Top 5 for 2025 currently. This is a show not to miss. I wrote a little review of the album HERE.
May 13th-Being Dead-Reverb Lounge-Austin Band Being Dead put out one of my favorite albums of 2024 with EELS. The garage rock band are coming to Reverb Lounge on May 13th, and if their live shows are as fun as their albums-this will be a blast. Possibly the sleeper must see show of the month.
May 14th-Wormrot at Reverb Lounge-Singaporean grind core band Wormrot are coming to Reverb Lounge on their Scums North American Tour with Oxygen Destroyer and more. This will be a reunion of sorts with a couple members of the bands past rejoining.
May 15th-Lacuna Coil-Bourbon Theatre-The Italian metal band Lacuna Coil has been doing this for over three decades now, and it has been six years since their last full-length album, Black Anima. Fans have plenty of reasons to get excited for 2025 because their new album, Sleepless Empire, came out on Valentine's Day, and you get to see them live at The Bourbon Theater on May 15th!
May 14th-Black Country New Road-Slowdown- English post punk band and incredible musicians all around, Black Country, New Road released their new single “Besties” and the album Forever Howlong last month. It took a minute to adjust to the band changing up their sound with a loss of a member, but the album ended up being pretty great. They will come to Slowdown on May 14th with Friko, whose debut album was one of the most critically acclaimed of last year. Friko is also scheduled to be at Reverb Lounge on May 20th.
May 15th-Vomit Forth at 1867-Death Metal band Vomit Forth from New York will be taking the stage at 1867 on May 15th.
May 16th-Megan Moroney at The Astro-SOLD OUT-Georgia country pop star Megan Moroney is out on tour supporting her 2024 Billboard Top Ten album Am I OK? That was the follow up to her Certified Gold album Lucky. Hear songs from both albums if you were lucky enough to grab tickets. They are going for quite a bit on the secondary market, so be very careful if you go that route.
May 17th-Lissie-Royal Grove-I am a big Lissie fan; I have seen her in Austin, New Orleans, Sioux City, and Omaha. Sadly, I will be out of town for this one. She doesn’t come through all that often, even though she lives in Iowa (last I knew). Anyway, the singer-songwriter will be at Royal Grove on May 17th, and I highly recommend attending.
May 20th-I Don’t Know How But They Found Me-Bourbon Theatre-Dallon Weekes former keyboardist and bassist from Panic! at the Disco returns to Nebraska for a show at Bourbon Theatre. I did an interview with him last year that you can read HERE.
May 21st-String Cheese Incident at Steelhouse Omaha-The bluegrass band is one of the biggest jam bands on the planet and they are coming to Steelhouse Omaha. The band will be outside most of the summer, but you can catch a show under the beams on May 21st.
May 21st-MIKE-Reverb Lounge-24 year old rapper and producer MIKE is one of the most interesting artists out there currently He released the excellent Showbiz! album earlier this year and already has a new one coming out on May 7th called Pinball II with Tony Seltzer. I think his show at Reverb on May 21st is a must see.
May 22nd-Hamilton Loomis-Electric soulful blues rocker Hamilton Loomis at The Granary Green in Ralston on May 22nd. The outdoor venue is outside of Bushwackers and will provide a large and relaxing space for the Blues Society of Omaha show.
May 23rd-Shannon Curtis-Reverb Lounge-Synth pop artist Shannon Curtis returns to Omaha with 80’s Kids. The artist is known for her original songs, but this time through they are performing songs from 80’s acts we all love. Their 80’s Kids album features songs from Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Bruce Springsteen, OMD, Alphaville and more.
May 23rd-L.A. Guns-Barnato-the last time we saw L.A. Guns was at Steelhouse Omaha. The legendary hair band has released a new album since then and will be at the intimate Barnato on May 23rd. They sounded great at Steelhouse Omaha, so this should be a one not to miss.
May 23rd-Jason Eady at Buck’s Bar and Grill-Country singer-songwriter Jason Eady is always a popular show when he comes through at Buck’s. It has been a couple of years since his last album Mississippi, but he did just released an unplugged version of it January.
May 24th-Florist with Allegra Krieger-Reverb Lounge-This is my most anticipated show for the month in Omaha. The band Florist have always had this nice balance of being a little bit experimental, liminal and atmospheric with their music that is very much of the singer-songwriter vein. I have always wondered how it will be live. Add to that Allegra Krieger and you really have a huge indie songwriter double bill with two of the most interesting acts out there.
May 24th-George Clinton and Parliment/Funkadelic at Steelhouse Omaha-the last time George Clinton came to Steelhouse Omaha it was billed at the last time ever. No one tells Dr. Funkenstein what to do, not even himself. So we will make our funk the P-Funk one more time, because the last one was a surprisingly solid show.
May 24th-Elephant Rifle at The Sydney-Reno noise rock band Elephant Rifle say they are too heavy for the indie kids and too psychedelic for the punk rockers, too arty for the headbangers and…well there is more. If you are still not left out of this equation, you can head to the Sydney on May 24th to see them with the band with my new favorite name-Gaytheist!
May 27th-Black Joe Lewis-The Zoo Bar-I did an interview with Black Joe Lewis a year ago. It is probably still pretty relevant, except this time through he will be at The Zoo Bar. Interview is HERE
May 30th-Jake Owen-Stir Cove -The opening of Stir Cove season is upon us on May 30th. Country star Jake Owen will get the Cove going with good old Uncle Kracker making a return to our area.