311 Celebrates 30 Years of 89.7 The River!

Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming

This article is brought to you in partnership with Shadow Ridge Music Festival

Saturday July 12, 2025 the legendary Midwest radio station 89.7 The River celebrated it's 30th year by throwing a giant bash on the riverfront. With a stacked lineup featuring hometown heroes 311, the park was packed with fans ready to party. I've been to a ton of River events going back 25 years but this was one for the history books. From the perfect weather to the passionate fans, we'll be talking about this show for a long time.

The lead up to this show actually started back in early May. The River announced that for the 30th anniversary they wanted listeners to submit their best design for the concert t-shirt. Seeing that 311 was the headliner and my wife (Stories Co-Founder Virginia) and I have been following them since the early 2000s this was a fun challenge. I can't tell you how many 311 shirts Virginia has designed over the years but after seeing 34 Three Eleven shows I know it's a lot. Between screen printing, hand stitching, puff paint, and our newest medium, sublimation printing, we've done so many memorable shirts. For this year Virginia worked really hard, pouring over every detail and submitted a shirt design to the River on the day of the deadline June 1 with only minutes to spare. About a week later we got the email confirmation that Virginia won the contest! We were so stoked. I kept joking to Virginia that if her design didn't get picked I would still get a print of the shirt for myself and wear it. When we pulled up to the venue and saw people walking around with the t-shirt I was beaming with pride. Such a cool experience that we'll never forget.

Ok, ok, what about the music?

The day started out with the local blues master Hector Anchondo. Hector and his band titled Anchondo have been playing the Omaha music scene for nearly as long as the River has been around. I remember seeing Anchando play at the Ranch Bowl! I was running late so I wasn't able to catch the set, but I talked to a lot of fans and they said the band killed it. I have no doubt as they've been an Omaha staple for so long. Leading up to the show the River was playing Anchondo's breakout single "She-Devil" to get the fans excited. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of Anchondo but I wanted to make sure they got their flowers and let them know we appreciate them.

I was able to catch the next band though and it was such a good time. Hailing from St. Louis, The Urge have been in the game for nearly 40 years! They mix up alternative and ska with pop melodies. Steve Ewing and his crew smashed the stage with their high energy antics. They had a pretty long set so they had time for all the hits, a crazy deep cut, and even a special guest.

After shooting the first three songs I milled about in the crowd to catch the good vibes. As I was bobbing along I heard something I never expected. A horn section with a little surf guitar jangle slowly builds up. Steve starts singing about "Chilling in the van" and I about lost it. This poetic jam is called "Open All Night" and it's about going to the liquor store when the party runs out of alcohol. Yes, I know, how sophisticated. But with a breakdown that says "Go inside and get my pickle!" you can't help but smile. I even saw someone in the crowd with a blow up pickle guy. I was so hoping to see the pickle get thrown on stage, ha!

As if hearing one of my favorite deep cuts wasn't enough towards the end of the set Steve brought out Nick from 311 for "Jump Right In". This absolutely blew my mind. When I was like 11 or 12 and I first discovered 311 I started looking for them everywhere. Since this was pre-internet you couldn't look up all your favorite albums or stream any song ever recorded at the click of a button. I was at a store and I saw this CD that said "Featuring the song "Jump Right In" with Nick Hexum of 311". Since I was devouring anything 311-related I could get my hands on I got the CD. It was so cool seeing the song play out live nearly 30 years later!

Between The Urge and Blue October I spotted 311 guitarist Tim Mahoney! I was able to chat with him for a few minutes and it was the greatest. They say never meet your heroes but I've met Tim a good handful of times and he's the GOAT. Always such a fun hang talking music and live shows. I was telling Tim how stoked I am for Deftones in September with the new album dropping just a few weeks before the show. He said he was really looking forward to their new album as well. Such a good dude. If you see him around try and say hi, you won't regret it.

After The Urge melted the stage it was time for another "hometown" favorite Blue October. I say hometown favorite because lead singer Justin spent many years in Omaha before moving to Texas. His on stage persona is so fun. He kept joking that he wanted to meet 311 and he hoped someone could hook that up. Blue October has played Omaha so many times I have no doubt Justin knows 311 and is really close with them. I'm a super casual Blue October fan but what I have heard on the radio (mainly 89.7 The River) I've really enjoyed. One of the first songs I discovered through the station many years ago was "Calling You". It's such a feel-good pop jam. It's funny actually, many of Blue October's songs deal with heavy subjects like depression, family separation, and turbulent relationships. You could say "Calling" is a bit of an outlier.

Anyways, I had seen the band a few times but never heard the song. I had the chance to talk with the band during a meet and greet and Justin said "Yea I don't really like playing "Calling" very often because I can get bored with it". The show I was at was the first of two nights in Omaha. I saw on the setlist they played "Calling" on the second night! I felt personally wronged by Justin (just kidding), but yea I was bummed I was only there for night one.

The band started their set with the brooding "Daylight". It's an awesome opener considering they were playing a "River" concert on the riverfront. The chorus goes "Come party, break the river in the daylight". Reading into the lyrics it's got a dark theme, but on the surface who doesn't love a party on the river? After the first song I had my fingers crossed I would hear one of my favorites "Calling". I know the band can't usually hear the crowd because they have in-ear monitors but I yelled to Justin "Play Calling!". You never know if you don't ask, right? To my surprise Justin said "This is a radio song" and they started playing "Calling"! Between the awesome Urge set, the Tim Mahoney hang, and hearing one of my favorite Blue October songs I was floating!

Following Blue October was a truly special musical experience. 90s hit makers Sublime graced Omaha with their presence and the crowd was losing their minds!

For a quick history lesson, Sublime came onto the alternative music scene in the early 90s and quickly built a decent following in southern California. Just as the band was reaching national success and only a few months before their major label debut, lead singer Bradley Nowell died from a heroine overdose. The band broke up but their album was released and it gained a ton of traction thanks to the number one hit "What I Got". The band's popularity continued to rise as the album spawned several singles and went on to sell millions of copies. Sublime cemented their legacy as one of Southern California's biggest alternative rock acts.

In 2009 Sublime's founding members re-formed with singer-songwriter Rome Ramirez taking over on lead vocals. Nowell's family didn't want the band touring under the name Sublime, so the group settled on "Sublime with Rome". I was able to see Sublime with Rome a few times mostly through opening for 311. They played a fun show and Rome is no slouch, but something always felt off.

Fast forward to 2024 and Bradley Nowell's son Jakob joins Sublime as a full-time member. Jakob has had some modest success with a few different bands, but now stepping into his father's legacy long-time Sublime fans are foaming at the mouth.

From the moment Jakob kicked off his shoes and strapped on his guitar I could tell this set was going to be magical. The band started to play "Garden Grove" and the crowd lit up with excitement. Jakob sounds exactly like his dad Bradley and it gave us the chills. Seeing this legendary band re-formed with Jakob taking up his father's mantle was so awesome. The stage had a cool setup too with a giant inflatable Lou-dog and skateboard clips playing in the background. The 90s alternative scene came to life.

Sublime ripped through all the hits and the crowd ate up every morsel. Sublime closed things out with "Santeria" as the sea of fans sang along. Sublime has a new album in the works with producers Travis Barker and John Feldman. Knowing those guys and their track record of success I'm very much looking forward to that release. On July 18 Sublime will drop a new song "Ensenada". Keep an eye out for the new song and album and drop us a comment to let us know what you think.

Before 311's set I caught up with the 311 "Railiens". These fans follow the band all over the world and rock the rail. The last time I saw them in 2023 I thought they just followed 311 regionally, but one of the group members said they went to Europe for 311! That's what I love about 311. I've seen them a ton but there are so many others who have seen them sometimes in the hundreds. As 311 came on stage the Railiens held out a 311 Nation banner.

Also before 311 The River crew came out to thank everyone for all the support over the years.

As the sun was slowly descending it was time for the hometown throwdown! 311 walked on stage to thunderous applause. Nick stepped forth with his red flying V guitar and hit the crunchy riff of "Beautiful Disaster". I snapped away getting some beautiful shots. Not trying to be cocky, but shooting a band in the natural daylight is a breeze compared to a dark club or night sky. I was having a great time getting close-ups of Tim and Nick with their dueling guitars.

311 broke out the fan-favorite "Freeze Time" from 1999's Soundsystem and the crowd was raging! I looked to my right to see a kid about 13 or 14 just slaying the lyrics. 311 truly does have timeless music. This song came out years before this kid was even born! How cool that it keeps finding a new audience. The band tore through their set of mostly radio hits like "Come Original", "All Mixed Up", and "Amber" but they pulled out some deeper cuts for the 311 faithful like "Unity", "Don't Let Me Down", and "Sick Tight". Of course it wouldn't be a proper 311 show without "Applied Science" and the drumline that saw all five members drumming in time together. I was at the tour that started the tradition back in 2000 and I've loved seeing that part of the show so many times. It's definitely a highlight and brings a new twist each year.

Being in "Fauxmaha" (an Omaha show technically in Council Bluffs) the band had to play "Omaha Stylee" or there probably would've been a riot. 311 kicked out the jam as people everywhere bobbed their heads and lit that last "closed cigarette". As per tradition 311 closed with the song that put them on the MTV map "Down".

A great time was had by thousands of Omaha and Iowa fans.

Shout-out to these four fans pictured above. They met Sublime the night before the show at a restaurant and got the VIP hookup!

We have to thank our lucky stars for 89.7 The River. The station has been bringing killer shows for 30 years and I know so many of my live concert experiences can be tied back to The River. I've made so many friends in the music scene from River events and concert connections. The biggest of thanks goes out to Sophia John and her crew for their tireless efforts making all of these shows so awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Here's to the next 30 years!

A huge thanks to 311 management for photo access. Shooting my favorite band never gets old and I'm truly grateful for every opportunity.