The 25 biggest Creighton concerts ever

This is part of our Year of Years series, recognizing Creighton’s most notable 2024 anniversaries. The following feature highlights the biggest musical acts Creighton ever brought to campus or the Civic, many of the concerts celebrating their 60th, 50th or 30th anniversaries this year.

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By Micah Mertes

Since its earliest days, Creighton University has been known to carry a tune.

From the first commencement ceremonies to the laying of St. John’s Church’s cornerstone, the University performed or (when there weren’t enough students to make up a choir or band) invited others to perform at events for all occasions. Creighton’s first orchestras and Glee Clubs were popular on campus, as were long-forgotten local acts like singer Harry Burkley and pianist August Borglum.

Later on, Creighton built a bigger stage and started bringing in national acts. If you could line up all the posters for all the concerts Creighton has hosted from the 1960s to the early 2000s, you would see a clear progression, an escalating caliber of performers reflecting the University’s own rise in stature (and student funds).

As enrollment grew, event budgets surged for the Student Board of Governors (now called the Creighton Students Union Program Board). Pep rallies and Peony Park Frosh Frolic dances progressed to Folk Festivals and Grammy-winning pianists. (Concert tickets for Creighton-sponsored shows have almost always been free to students or, at least, priced at a good discount.)

Further amping up Creighton’s concert game was the 1954 opening (happy anniversary!) of the Omaha Civic Auditorium and Music Hall. The Civic (which was demolished in 2016) served at various times as the arena of Creighton men’s basketball, women’s basketball and volleyball, in addition to the University’s commencement ceremonies. The venue, of course, also hosted countless non-Creighton events — from rock concerts to comedy shows to professional wrestling rumbles.

Creighton would later turn its own prime campus spots — the Mall, Kiewit Fitness Center and softball field — into makeshift concert arenas.

This admittedly lengthy opening act is our way of headlining this: Creighton used to bring some of the biggest names in music to town.

Here are a few of our greatest hits.

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1960s

1964 – Nina Simone

One could make a credible case that the true history of Creighton concerts started 60 years ago, when the University and a group of Ford dealers brought one of the greatest singers of the 20th century to Omaha.

Before Nina Simone was Nina Simone, she performed for Creighton students at an event co-hosted by the University and the Ford Motor Company.

Simone, along with jazz flutist Herbie Mann and others, played at a “folk jazz wing ding” called the Ford CARavan of Music at the Civic Auditorium Music Hall. Participating Omaha Ford dealers gave concert-goers an incentive beyond seeing one of the world’s greatest living singers perform — the chance to win a free car.

One lucky student left with a 1964 Falcon Spirit. (Our records, alas, don’t say who.)

The concert was a huge success, with the Creighton Student Board of Governors calling it “the finest program we’ve ever attempted.”

1969 – The Byrds

Students expecting to hear the hits “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn, Turn, Turn” were disappointed when The Byrds played mostly country-rock tunes at Creighton’s Welcome Week concert. A good number of students reportedly walked out of the show. It didn’t help that the Civic Music Hall’s notoriously dodgy sound system was in especially bad form that night.

1969 – Blood Sweat & Tears

This was one (not especially frequent) case when a band was at the peak of its powers while performing for Creighton. BS&T played for students at the Civic Music Hall just a week before releasing their self-titled second album, which topped the charts, won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and ultimately became the group’s most commercially successful record.

The Creighton crowd was treated to such future hit songs as “And When I Die," "You've Made Me So Very Happy" and "Spinning Wheel."

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1970s

The ’70s marked Creighton’s big-deal concert era, with budgets skyrocketing to bid for national acts.

By the middle of the decade, the Student Board of Governors was spending up to $35,000 per concert. The ballooning budgets almost led to such bands as REO Speedwagon and the Beach Boys performing for Creighton.

1970 – Badfinger

The Beatles-esque Badfinger performed at the Brandeis Student Center right as they were about to hit it big with a series of wildly popular singles: “No Matter What,” “Baby Blue,” “Day After Day,” “Without You” and the Paul McCartney-penned “Come and Get It.”

Despite the band being in its prime, only about 350 students showed up to the concert, less than half the expected attendance. The Student Board of Governors lost about $1,700 on the show.

1974 – Sly and the Family Stone

Fifty years ago, Creighton teamed up with the University of Nebraska at Omaha to bring Sly and the Family Stone to the Music Hall. The universities continually collaborated to host big acts throughout the ’70s.

And at the time, acts didn’t get much bigger than Sly and the Family Stone, who were one of the most influential bands of the 1970s. (They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.)

1974 – Herbie Mann and the Family of Mann

Creighton and UNO teamed up yet again in their effort to bring big-name stars to Omaha. Because it was 1974, “big names” included a flute player and his jazz band. Creighton students gave their smooth performance a warm reception.

1974 – REO Speedwagon (canceled)

It would have been one of the biggest concerts in Creighton's history, if only it had happened.

REO Speedwagon was slated to headline a Creighton-sponsored show at the Civic, with Quicksilver Messenger Service as the opener, but just days before the concert, REO canceled, claiming they needed more studio time for the album they were working on. 

So students were already irked when they showed up to the now REO-less concert. Making matters worse, a blizzard at Chicago’s O’Hare airport delayed the arrival of Quicksilver’s instruments and amplifiers, and the show started 90 minutes late.

The band did its best, but, according to the Creightonian’s review, “the whole thing was a night to forget.”

REO Speedwagon never ended up playing for Creighton University, but they did play at Creighton Prep High School’s gym in the summer of 1974, just a few months after their no-show at the Civic.

1975 – Marshall Tucker Band and Michael Murphy

This one illustrates how high-stakes these concerts could be for the Student Board of Governors.

In January of 1975, the SBG realized that tickets for the upcoming Marshall Tucker show were selling so poorly (due to under-promotion and a rival Jethro Tull concert going on in Lincoln the same night) that it would result in a loss of $17,000, wiping out the board’s events budget for the year.

The SBG voted to delay the concert until the spring. Ticket sales improved, the Marshall Tucker Band played the Civic, and the board lost only $2,000.

1975 – The Beach Boys (arrangements fell apart)

Throughout 1975, the Student Board of Governors negotiated with the Beach Boys' management to have the band perform a Creighton-sponsored concert at the Civic Auditorium. In the end, the Beach Boys wanted a bigger paycheck than the SBG could afford.

But the SBG did later buy 1,000 tickets (at $6 a piece) to a Beach Boys concert and sold them to Creighton students at half price. Such ticket subsidization became common practice for the SBG throughout the ’70s, allowing Creighton students to see these national acts without breaking the board’s budget.

The University sold discounted concert tickets for The Carpenters, Santana, Frank Sinatra, Olivia Newton-John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles and many more.

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Interlude: A brief explanation of the 1976 Eagles tickets controversy

Nov. 8, 1976: Creighton offers 500 subsidized tickets to the Nov. 14 Eagles concert at the Civic. Tickets are sold to students on a first-come, first-served basis.

Later that week: It’s revealed that the Student Board of Governors voted to reserve two subsidized Eagles tickets for each board member.

Nov. 12, 1976: The Creightonian reports that students are outraged that board members “cut in line” to get Eagles tickets. The student newspaper ran a series of letters to the editor in which students protested the board’s “grave misuse of power.”

Nov. 14, 1976: The Eagles perform, with 500 students at the show. The controversy peters out; everyone moves on.

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1976 – Loggins and Messina (canceled)

The chart-topping duo were going through a breakup in ’76 and cut a good chunk of shows from their final tour. The Creighton-sponsored Civic concert was one of them. (Loggins and Messina reunited briefly in the 2000s.)

Kenny Loggins would go on to have the much more successful solo career of the two, becoming the 1980s' "King of the Movie Soundtrack," making hit songs for such movies as Caddyshack, Footloose and Top Gun.

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The 1980s

A profoundly lackluster decade for Creighton concerts. We couldn’t find a single big show to spotlight.

It was actually a much more interesting decade for guest speakers. The ’80s saw Creighton bring to campus an eclectic assortment of figures, including paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (the real-life couple portrayed in the Conjuring movies); Night author Elie Wiesel; Shirley Chisholm (the first Black woman to run for President); former President Jimmy Carter; former Batman Adam West; and, at the height of her Brat Pack fame, actress Ally Sheedy.

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1990s

1990 – The B-52’s (canceled)

The Student Board of Governors was slated to sponsor a B-52’s concert at the Civic Auditorium, but the show was canceled due to a last-minute scheduling change and a double booking.  

The SBG was able to book them at Peony Park instead, and the concert was back on. But not for long.

Ultimately, the B-52’s big-timed us. The group's manager informed Creighton that, with the band's recent rise in the charts, their new policy was to play for a minimum audience of 3,000. Peony Park held only 2,250. The concert was canceled a second time.

1994 – Violent Femmes

Thirty years ago, Creighton brought the Violent Femmes to campus to perform at the Creighton Sports Complex for the University’s annual Spring Thing (precursor to the Spring Fling). It was the first (and decidedly last) concert ever held in the complex.

(Though the Jonas Brothers did later play a "secret" game of softball there.)

The Creighton Sports Complex was only six years old when about 3,000 students crammed in to watch the “Blister in the Sun” band take the makeshift stage. By all accounts, it was a good show, but one that left its venue in tatters.

Once the crowd cleared, Creighton found the field turf covered in chewing tobacco stains, cigarette burns and other damage. The entire turf had to be replaced, a cost in addition to the $30,000 the Student Board of Governors paid to host the concert.

From then on, most Spring Thing/Fling concerts were held in the Kiewit Fitness Center, and the crowd was asked to please wear sneakers to avoid damaging the floor.

1996 – Sheryl Crow Sinbad

Here’s a sentence that only makes sense in the context of 1996, if it makes sense at all:

One time, Sinbad came to Creighton University because Sheryl Crow couldn’t.

The comedian filled in as the main act for Creighton’s Spring Fling after Crow, the original performer, canceled. Sinbad performed his act on the Mall for a thousand students, faculty and staff.

Of Sinbad’s 38 requests to perform during this time, Creighton was one of only two offers he accepted. The comedian was arguably at the height of his popularity, selling out arenas and starring in popular family movies like First Kid and Jingle All the Way.

Other candidates for the Spring Fling that year included the Goo Goo Dolls, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Coolio, George Carlin and the Gin Blossoms.

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Interlude: Others that might have been

In 1996, Creighton held a student vote for the acts they’d like to see come to Creighton: The top names included Beck, Blues Traveler, Toad the West Sprocket, Tracy Chapman, No Doubt, Shania Twain, and George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars.

The Student Board of Governors booked one of those acts the following year, and it led to a minor controversy.

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1997 – George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars

One student reported that the “godfather of superfunk’s” KFC concert had “a devastating lack of funk.” Another said the three-and-a-half-hour show more than delivered the goods.

But the big news about the concert was how much it cost to host: $44,000.

Budget-conscious students were annoyed when they learned that thousands of dollars of Creighton money had been used to pay for the band’s food budget and Clinton’s massage therapist. This sparked a larger discussion about whether the Student Board of Governors' Program Board was using its resources wisely.

1998 – Smash Mouth and Third Eye Blind

Two bands so popular that Creighton had to move the concert from the KFC to the Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum to accommodate the larger crowd. (The University rented seven school buses to shuttle students to the arena and back to campus.)

Each band gave fans what they wanted, playing the radio hits “Walkin’ on the Sun,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” “Graduate,” “Semi-Charmed Life” and “How’s It Gonna Be?” Third Eye Blind also played a cover of the Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” one of the night’s highlights.  

1999 – Goo Goo Dolls and New Radicals

Two Top 40 radio darlings from the era come to the KFC for the Spring Fling. Not much to note about the show except that the cold, wet spring weather put a damper on the crowd size and that the New Radicals lead singer was reportedly acting like a jerk his whole set.

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The 2000s and beyond

2000 – Bush and Moby

In the spring of 2000, the MTV College Campus Invasion Tour brought rockers Bush and (genre unknown) Moby to the KFC.

MTV’s invasion wasn’t limited to the concert. The weekend of the show, the network set up tents along the Mall where students could “touch, see and feel MTV.” This included MTV VJ auditions, “a hands-on lesson in the newest music software,” tips from MTV’s House of Style and a chance to meet Moby and Bush.

Creighton didn’t meet the MTV tour’s criteria of being a school with 10,000 students or more, but the University had a great booking agent who convinced the bands to come to campus anyway.

Then-student Juan Gallegos, BSCS'00, was the KFC building manager at the time. After the crew set up the stage for the concert, they saw the pool and asked Juan if they could take a swim before the show. He said no at first but relented after talking with the road manager, and the crew spent an hour relaxing in the pool.

Later that night, after the concert was over, the crew introduced Juan to Moby and the Bush band members, who gave him some signed photos.

“They asked if I wanted to go on the road for the rest of the tour,” Juan said. “But considering it was my last semester, I turned down the offer.”

2001 – Vertical Horizon and Five for Fighting

The two bands most likely to be featured in an early 2000s Friends season finale promo — could there be a more perfect song to dramatize Monica's struggle to choose between Chandler and Richard? — left Creighton students underwhelmed.

The problem was that students were unfamiliar with most of the bands’ songs, except for Vertical Horizon’s hit “Everything You Want” and Five for Fighting’s “Superman (It’s Not Easy).”   

2002 – Everclear

For a students-only St. Patrick’s Day concert at Sokol Auditorium, Everclear frontman Art Alexakis performed a solo acoustic show.

2002 – 311 and Hoobastank

Just a few weeks later, Omaha’s own 311 headlined the Spring Fling concert at the KFC.

311 guitarist Tim Mahoney said he was excited to play at Creighton because his parents met there when they were students.

The 311 performance was high-energy, with security having to wrangle moshers and catch crowd surfers tumbling over the stage barriers.

Mid-show, the crowd started getting antsy after a run of more mellow songs. 311 decided to mix up the setlist and get the students moving again.

2002 – Ben Folds

Ben Folds took the KFC stage for Creighton’s first Fallapalooza (which replaced the annual Spring Fling).

An interesting detail about that show: For the concert, the men’s locker room had been converted into Mr. Folds’ dressing room, where he prepared a spread of carrots, eggplants, alfalfa and bottled water. Eating vegetables makes a big difference on tour, Folds told the Creightonian. “I like things I can juice real quickly.”

So there’s a fun new factoid to tell your Creighton friends: Did you know Ben Folds once made a vegetable smoothie in the KFC locker room?

2003 – Flogging Molly

Who better to play Creighton’s second annual St. Patrick’s Day concert at the Sokol Auditorium than America’s second-most Irish punk band? (The Dropkick Murphys, of course, being America's most Irish punk band.)

2003 – Cake

The wonderfully deadpan band brought its Unlimited Sunshine Tour to the KFC for an eclectic four-hour show that also included the bluegrass of the Hackensaw Boys and garage rock of the Detroit Cobras.

2004 – Black Eyed Peas

Fergie, will.i.am and co. played the hits (including “Let’s Get It Started” and “Where is the Love?”) to a receptive crowd at the KFC.

2005 – O.A.R.

The “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker” rock band performed at the KFC at the peak of their popularity. Just two months later, they drew about 18,000 fans to a sold-out Madison Square Garden.

2006 – The Presidents of the United States of America

The popular ’90s band behind the hits “Lump” and “Peaches” joined Creighton’s longtime-favorite hypnotist Jim Wand for a week of homecoming festivities.

2007 – Jimmy Eat World
2008 – Third Eye Blind

Two years in a row, students griped about the Fallapalooza bands being outdated pop-rock has-beens.

Please now indulge the writer as he puts on his elder millennial hat …

Both bands were still making good songs well into the late ’00s, and it’s not like their older radio hits have an expiration date. At their height, both Jimmy Eat World and Third Eye Blind were crafting some of the better pop rock of their era. They were never one-hit wonders, and they deserve our respect. So there.

End of editorial comment.

2011 – Ben Folds

Folds (consumer of locker-room vegetable smoothies) made his triumphant return to the KFC for a wide-ranging set of songs that included a few audience requests, such as a cover of Kesha’s “Sleazy.” The cover somehow made perfect sense in the context of the show. You just had to be there.

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Did we miss any big Creighton concerts? Let us know. Email micahmertes@creighton.edu if you spot any glaring omissions, and we might add them to the feature. And please send any Creighton concert images you'd like to share.

See the Year of Years archive of notable 2024 Creighton anniversaries here.