The MAHA Music Festival is a single-day indie rock music festival owned and operated by the nonprofit YFC organization. It's an annual event held at the Lewis & Clark Landing in downtown Omaha. The 2009 program drew 3,000 for acts like G. Love & Special Sauce, Dashboard Confessional, The Monsters and The Appleseed Cast. The 2010 version had more than 4,000 guests and a bill that included Spoon, It's True!, Ben Kweller, Superchunk, the Old 97's and a native Omaha band, The Faint.
The six-day Red Sky Music Festival was scheduled to debut in July of 2011. Some of its projected 50 acts will perform at the TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, the 18,000-seat baseball stadium just north of downtown that was also debuting in 2011. Others could play in the lots around the park or in the nearby Qwest Center arena. As of January 2011 Red Sky had not announced any performers. Its organizers, including the national promotion firm Live Nation, were aiming for a lineup that would represent a broad range of music.
The Nebraska Pop Festival focuses on independent pop bands and artists not signed to any label. The 2010 event was held in September with 35 bands playing three different bars in Omaha. Some of the acts were The Wandering Bears (Iowa City, Iowa), Spencer McGillicutty (Minneapolis, Minnesota), Modes of Resuscitation (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Paris When It Sizzles! from Omaha and Alone With Everybody from France.
The Omaha Riverfront Jazz and Blues Festival is held on the first weekend of July at the Lewis and Clark Landing in Riverfront Park. The festival, which launched in 2002, is operated by the Omaha Blues Society but leans toward smooth jazz. In 2010, the festival featured Imprompa, Spryo Gyra, Cindy Bradley, Boney James, Bryan Culbertson, Mike Phillips, Nachito Herrera, and Steve Raybine.