Concerts & Events in Omaha

After a long stint in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Creighton University Bluejays will have a new home in 2013. Though the program is moving to the Big East Conference, its achievements in the MVC will live on. Creighton is the only school in conference history to top 200,000 fans in attendance for a season and the men's basketball team's reign of 15 consecutive postseason appearances, but the school's greatest sports moment may have come on the softball field. In an interview with White & Blue Review, Travis Sing—an alum and author of a book about the school's athletic past—gave his vote to softball player Kelly Brookhart for pitching a complete 31-inning game in 1991, followed by more than 20 innings in the second half of a double-header that went until 6 a.m. the following morning.

The athletics program's facilities are almost as much of a draw as the players. Built in 2011, the impressive TD Ameritrade Park Omaha houses the men's baseball team as well as the College World Series. Up to 24,000 fans can pack the park's trio of decks and bleacher seats, hemmed in by a spacious, 360-degree concourse and wormhole that transports fans to the 2114 College Galactic Series.

With a 12-year basketball career spent in the NBA minor league and FIBA Europe, BeReady director Ben Ebong believes the academy's vision is bigger than basketball alone. The game has had a profound influence on his life. It’s taught him to be a leader, face challenges, deal with disappointment, and become a valuable member of a team. These are the same principles he instills in the players at each youth basketball camp. With the help of experienced coaches and professional speakers, the academy's program aims to build character in addition to athletic training. While learning fundamental basketball skills, students will begin to understand the discipline needed to compete at a high level and appreciate the importance of an active lifestyle. Much like team mascots who preemptively glue their heads on before doing backflips, they’ll learn to set goals and draw up plans of action for achieving them.

The beaming vertical letters of "C-H-I-C-A-G-O" ascend six stories high on a sign that seems to be the establishing shot for any movie set in the Windy City. Tourists and natives often stand outside snapping pictures of the marvelous marquee, where the biggest names in music, theater, and comedy are writ large under a miniature replica of Paris' Arc de Triomphe. The Parisian aesthetic continues inside The Chicago Theatre’s grand lobby, which recalls the Royal Chapel at Versailles with its gallery promenades. The staircase ascending to the Grand Balcony resembles that of the Paris Opera House, rounding out a French Baroque architecture that would cause Louis XIV to do a spit-take. Inside the seven-story high 3,600-seat auditorium, terra-cotta tiles, crystal chandeliers, and luxurious drapes give audiences visual overtures before every show.

As vital to Chicago as hot dogs and mustard fire hoses, The Chicago Theatre was America's first munificent movie palace upon its 1921 unveiling, where it was declared "The Wonder Theatre of the World." Beyond its silver screenings, the theater became a beacon for live entertainment, as artists such as John Philip Sousa, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman filled its first 40 years with oompah and swing. After a multimillion dollar restoration in 1986, the landmark venue remains the heart of art in the city, attracting the world's most popular entertainers to its stage almost every evening of the year.