Tonight is Elvis Costello at Steelhouse Omaha, which will be the first seated show at the venue. I am curious what that experience is like. I have been wavering on pulling the trigger to buy tickets to the show, but my personal preference is not to sit for shows unless the artists or that particular show is geared towards that. This is what makes the Steelhouse appealing to me: it gets rock bands out of the Orpheum and Holland Center and into a larger venue more suited for those type of shows. Obviously, Costello wants a seated show, so maybe it is geared toward that, but from everything I see, it is a rock show. I am probably in the minority on this, and trust me, my body was aching after standing for the recent lengthy Flaming Lips show at the venue, but for me personally, it just takes away a lot of the vibe. Looking over the set-lists of recent shows, it looks like those that are going are in for a cool show either way. When Costello performed at Memorial Park a couple years ago, he played mostly cover songs, and I found it disappointing. I don’t care if an artist plays zero hits, as long as they play mostly their material. That is what I show up for. These current set-lists are full of Elvis Costello songs that will make fans happy.

The main reason I wanted to attend this show was Nick Lowe, who will be opening with Los Straitjackets as his backing band. The combination of Lowe and Costello on one night is a pop music fan’s dream. Lowe will have masked surf rock band Los Straitjackets backing him, and his set would be worth the price of admission by itself. Have fun tonight. I may still pull the trigger, we will see.

Here is a rundown of the shows that were announced yesterday.

Southern Rock band Blackberry Smoke has been announced for a show at Steelhouse Omaha on September 7th. The band was actually the first to play the Steehouse stage in May, when they performed the soft opening for invited guests and the people who actually built the building. I attended that show, and while Southern Rock is one of my least favorite genres of music personally, they were a very good live band. Gave me Black Crowes vibes more so than the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Many fans seemed a bit bummed out about not being able to go to this show, so this looks to make up for that. The band is a popular live draw, and their 2016 album Like An Arrow just missed the top ten on the Billboard Album Chart but debuted at number one on the Billboard Country and Rock charts.

Also at Steelhouse is Brett Young, who is the first country act to be announced for the venue. He was the 2018 New Male Vocalist of the Year at the Academy Of Country Music Awards that year. 

The jam band Moe. is in their third decade, and they will bring their popular live show to The Bourbon Theater on October 4th. 

Also announced for The Bourbon Theater is the return of Sleazy P. Martini, Balsac, Blothar, and Jizmak and their band GWAR. The shock metal band will bring the blood, guts, and mayhem to Lincoln on August 27th with Crobot. 

The extremely popular Lake Street Dive, taking to a larger stage than they have been playing on, stops through Omaha. They will perform at The Orpheum on November 14th, which should be a big holiday season ticket.

Canadian rock singer Billy Raffoul will be performing at the Waiting Room Lounge on October 17th.

Heavy metal band Baroness announced a new album and tour today. The album is called Stone (a change from usually having albums named after colors), and it will be released on September 15th, so get those pre-orders in at your local independent record store. The band will be performing at Waiting Room Lounge on November 12th. 

Lastly, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness returns to Omaha for a show at The Admiral on November 10th.