Check out all the events in and around Omaha this July.
Legendary guitarist Dave Mason has been touring a lot lately.
And it has been hot everywhere he’s played, he said this week from a stop in Lawrence, Kansas.
All of his shows — including a recent gig in sweltering Texas — have been air-conditioned. That will change Friday when he appears with Grammy Award-winning singer Sheryl Crow at the annual City of Omaha Celebrates America concert in Memorial Park.
Forecasts call for Omaha’s high temperature to reach 99 that day, though the humidity should be a relatively low 56%. Mason’s not sure how he’ll feel during his first hot outdoor show in a while, but he has a plan.
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Guitarist Dave Mason will perform ahead of Sheryl Crow at the
City of Omaha Celebrates America concert at Memorial Park Friday
night.
CHRIS JENSEN
“I probably will be drinking a lot of Pedialyte,” he said.
That’s also a wise move for the audience, said Heidi Walz of Vic Gutman and Associates, who is project manager for the concert.
She advised people who attend the concert to bring non-glass, reusable water bottles and coolers filled with water and Gatorade. The Metropolitan Utilities District’s hydration station will be at the park from mid-afternoon to 9 p.m. with chilled water for bottle refills.
Walz also said the park will be open at 5 a.m. for people who want to reserve a spot when it’s cool — using blankets with weights, no poles. Then they can go about their business and not wait in the heat all day.
“This is summer outside in the Midwest,” she said as a droll reminder of the potential for blazing sun and soaring temperatures. People should also pack sunscreen, bug spray and a couple of cooling, wet washcloths, she said.
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A crew constructs the stage for Friday’s City of Omaha
Celebrates America concert at Memorial Park, which will feature Da
Crabby Blues Band, Dave Mason and Sheryl Crow followed by a
fireworks show.
LILY SMITH photos, THE WORLD-HERALD
In addition to the hydration station, there will be food vendors: The Kettle Corn Guy, who also sells lemonade; Uncle Earnie’s BBQ; Kona Ice; and eCreamery.
Parks department personnel and others have been setting up for the concert since Monday, Walz said. The first thing they do is place thousands of linear feet of fencing on the large expanse of green space that faces the stage, which is at the bottom of the hill near the intersection of Dodge Street and Happy Hollow Boulevard.
Among other purposes, the fences create an aisle that cuts the park in half north to south. These preparations allow police and fire personnel to reach people in distress because of the heat or other issues, and provide routes for emergency vehicles.
Workers employ a drone to map out the concert area and take pictures backstage so they’ll know how to set things up.
“This is a major, major production,” Walz said. “It’s cool to see all the public and private groups that come together (to put it on).”
Crow, the headliner, has won nine Grammys over a career that started in the early 1990s. Her first nine studio albums have sold 35 million copies worldwide, and seven of them charted in the Top 10, with three singles reaching No. 1 on the Billboard charts. She supports a number of charities, including MusiCares and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She wasn’t available for an interview prior to the concert.
Mason, a native of Britain, got his start with the rock band Traffic and has had a prolific solo career. He has written more than 100 songs — including “Higher Ground” and “We Just Disagree” — and has three gold albums. He also has played on or contributed to albums by other artists, notably George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland.”
In an interview, Mason said Omaha audiences can expect him to play a number of songs from both Traffic and his solo career.
“Just good music,” he said, with “no dancers, no flames. If you’re into a good band, that’s what we do.”
When asked what was his proudest accomplishment, the 76-year-old artist came back with a joke: “Probably the fact that I’m still doing it at this age.”
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Neal Stepanek, left, and Ross Leisure unload fencing at Memorial
Park. The fences will create an aisle that cuts the park in half
and allow emergency personnel to reach people in distress during
Friday’s concert.
LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD
The concert starts at 5:45 p.m. with a welcome and the national anthem. A local group, Da Crabby Blues Band, plays at 6, Mason goes on at 7:15, Crow is on at 8:45 and the night ends with fireworks at 10.
Walz said parking options are plentiful. The garage on the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus across the street from the park will be open all day, and surface lots at UNO will open to the public at 4 p.m. There’s also street parking (with restrictions such as one-side only and one-way streets), and churches in the area are selling spots and using the money they raise for youth programming.
She also recommended ORBT, Metro transit’s express bus.
Nicole Ebat, senior communications manager for Metro, said passengers can catch the express for a ride to the park at any stop.
She suggested driving to Westroads Mall no matter where you live, because you can park there for free, catch the bus and avoid the hassle of finding a spot near the concert.
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Dylan Oliver helps build the stage for the Memorial Park
concert. Forecasts call for the temperature to reach 95 degrees in
Omaha on Friday.
LILY SMITH, THE WORLD-HERALD
When the concert is over, she said, buses will be waiting on Dodge Street to return passengers to where they caught their ride.
“ORBT’s going to be way easier (than driving to the park),” she said. “People can bring on coolers and chairs and picnic baskets.”
As in past years, police will close Dodge Street at about 9:45 p.m. for the fireworks and traffic will be detoured. It will be closed until the end of the fireworks show, she said.
Last year’s concert, as people were emerging from COVID isolation, drew about 20,000 people, Walz said. Both she and Tiffany Regan, executive director of the Omaha Parks Foundation, said this one has the potential for a bigger audience.
“I definitely feel it will be better than last year,” Regan said. “A number of people are feeling better because of (COVID) boosters, it’s in an outdoor venue and the fireworks are a huge draw.”
She also said she has heard from people who are “pretty jazzed” that Crow — who recently was on NBC’s “Today” and has a podcast — is the headliner.
Previous concerts with Kool and the Gang and Starship had estimated crowds of 65,000 people, according to omaha.com.
Whatever the audience, Walz thinks Omaha has a winner on its hands with the yearly concert.
“This event is a legacy for Omaha,” she said.
