Chase Rice reopens the Devaney Center to concerts on Jan. 9

Three years after his last Lincoln show, Chase Rice headlines the first concert in John Cook Arena in more than two decades.

There's a generation of Nebraska students who know the Bob Devaney Sports Center only by its volleyball nights. On Saturday, Jan. 9, 2027, it hosts something else. Chase Rice headlines John Cook Arena inside the Devaney Center at 7 p.m. According to Nebraska Athletics, it's the first concert in the building in more than 20 years.

The show is billed as Devaney Nights: A Welcome Back, a spring-semester kickoff aimed at students coming back to campus. Josh Ross is also on the bill, and Kylie Morgan opens. Tickets went on sale Oct. 13, starting with a Huskers Athletic Fund presale, and KOLN reported prices from $45 to $105 including taxes and fees. Our show page links to SeatGeek.

For Rice, it's a return to Lincoln after a little more than three years. He last played here on Dec. 9, 2023, at Pinnacle Bank Arena downtown. That night came at the end of a year in which he released *I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell*. What has changed since is mostly about how he works. He has put out music independently, including *Go Down Singin'*, and he has talked openly about not going back to the bro-country sound that made his name. "This is who I am," he told American Songwriter, explaining why he has left that era behind no matter how well it sold.

The first concert in John Cook Arena in more than 20 years, built as a welcome-back for students.

That makes the Devaney booking more interesting than a routine winter stop. The university is betting that a country headliner can bring concerts back to a building that has spent two decades as a sports venue. Rice, now steering his own course, gets an arena full of students at the start of a semester. For many of them it may be their first show on campus.

The building matters too. John Cook Arena carries the name of the longtime Nebraska volleyball coach. Swapping a net for a stage changes the room. Lincoln knows how to fill this place; the question on Jan. 9 is how it sounds with amplifiers instead of whistles.

What to expect: a three-act country night with an early 7 p.m. start, built around a student crowd that just got back to town. Rice's set will draw on his catalog, from the radio era to the independent records. Josh Ross and Kylie Morgan round out a bill that should be done early enough for people to make their way back downtown afterward.

If this goes well, it might not be another 20 years before the next one. For now, there's a date, a headliner and a building that's ready for it.

Sources: Huskers.com: Chase Rice to headline return of concerts to the Devaney Sports Center (huskers.com); WOWT: Chase Rice to headline first Devaney Center concert in 20 years (wowt.com); JamBase: Chase Rice at Bob Devaney Sports Center (jambase.com); SeatGeek: Chase Rice at Bob Devaney Sports Center (seatgeek.com); American Songwriter: Chase Rice says he won't go back to bro country (americansongwriter.com); Chase Rice Goes Independent, Details New Album 'Go Down Singin'' (Country Town) (countrytown.com); Board of Regents Approve Naming of John Cook Arena (Huskers.com) (huskers.com)