Omaha Exploration

I’m not much for casino’s but I do enjoy an outdoor concert when I get a chance. For me, that usually means Stir Concert Cove in Council Bluffs. Having said that, The Astro in La Vista is on my list as a place to check out. I’ve probably gone to a dozen shows at Stir which got me thinking about its history as well as the casino, hotel and riverboat.

The adjacent casino started as Harvey’s which pre-dates the amphitheater by nearly 10 years having opened in 1996. At that time Iowa didn’t allow onshore casinos so they constructed a three-story riverboat casino called the Kanseville Queen. After Harrah’s acquired the casino in 2001 and Iowa changed its law to allow the casino to move to land in 2007, the riverboat no longer made sense. In 2013 they finally got rid of the boat, in part, due to high maintenance costs.

Owned and operated by Caeser’s Entertainment, the casino continues to operate as Harrah’s which recently completed an expansion of the gaming floor and a renovation of the hotel. The current facility has a 25,000 sq ft casino floor with more than 700 slot machines and 70 table games and three self-serve sports betting kiosks. It is also home to 360 Steakhouse, rated as one of Open Table’s Top 100 Scenic Restaurants in America, Guy Fieri’s Kitchen + Bar and Tag Lounge and Bar.

Back to the riverboat, it was built in 1995 and opened on New Years Day 1996. Harrah’s sold it in 2013 at which point it was purchased by the American Queen Steamboat Company and made its way to New Orleans where it was cut in half and extended to increase capacity. Redesigned as a class paddlewheeler and renamed the American Countess, it sailed on the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee Rivers starting in 2021. After American Queen Voyages ceased operations in 2024, the boat was decommissioned and is now slated to be scrapped.

My favorite attraction, the Stir Concert Cove, was founded in 2005, and has a capacity of 4,000 most of which is general admission seating in which you can bring or rent a chair, lay down a blanket, stand or purchase upgraded seating on its deck or patio. It was ranked as the 68th in a list of Top 100 amphiteaters in the world by Pollstar Magazine. Celebrating its 20th birthday, it hosts a popular summer concert series which this year includes not only Weezer but Darius Rucker, Old Dominion, Simple Plan. Over the years, it has hosted shows by Teddy Swims, The Beach Boys, Ice Cube, Willie Nelson, Fitz and the Tantrums, Indigo Girls, Snoop Dogg, The Black Crows and many others.

That leads me to ask, what’s the best show you’ve seen at Stir? Which local concert venue is your favorite place to see a performance?

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