If you plan on attending an event or just are coming in for a drink or two, please…
Bring a valid ID. You will not be allowed entry without one, and you will be carded. It doesn’t matter if you have been here before, or if you’re in a band, or you look like you’re 50. You will be required to show us your ID and we cannot let you in without one.
For all ages shows, anyone under the age of 18 will need to provide a signed and notarized parental consent form from the city of Omaha. You can find this here. (Note: EVERYONE still needs to provide a valid ID at all ages shows).
Anyone caught aiding a minor in the consumption of alcohol will be banned for life. A lot of great people and bands depend on us to provide a place for them to play and hang out. If your actions jeopardize this in anyway, we’ll take the appropriate actions.
Drink responsibly. If you’ve had a few too many, please don’t drive home. We’ll call a cab for you. Seriously.
Be respectful to other patrons, the venue and the bands. Fighting, abusive language or harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. Don’t be a jerk and we won’t hafta kick you out.
Have fun. Dance. Slam. Mosh. Skank. Circle Pit. Have a good time. Be safe. Be respectful and take care of each other.
Bands/Artists:
Bands looking to play here, please email [email protected]. Please provide us with all of the information that we need to book you. This includes:
Your band name: This one seems obvious, but we actually get e-mails that just say, “Hey dudes, you should book my band.”
Genre/influences/”sounds like”: Give us an idea of what you sound like. We’re going to check it out anyway, but it’s nice to know what we’re getting ourselves into! ;-)
Links to your website, your Facebook page, Bandcamp and any other sites you think we should check out: If we haven’t heard of you, we’re going to stalk the hell out of you on Facebook and try to find out as much information on you as possible. Make it easy on us, by giving us the links to your social media sites and somewhere where we can check out your tunes.
If you’re from out of town, have you played in Omaha before?: If you mention specific times, venues, bands you’ve played with, we’re more likely to be interested in booking your band. This will help us figure out what bands you might go on a bill with and what kind of draw you may have here.
Also, if you’re out of town, and we may not have heard of you, it never hurts to have a local band or two lined up a support: If we haven’t heard of you and you’re not from Omaha, try to get a few locals on board before getting ahold of us. If you do the legwork of getting a bill together for us, we’re more likely to offer you a show.
Note to all bands/artists: If you have racist, sexist, homophobic, or any other sort of hateful material, this is probably not the venue for you, so please don’t even bother.
If you are in a band/artist that gets booked at Lookout:
Please help promote your show: We promote our shows as much as we can through fliers, social media and various other internet outlets, but the best way to get people to get to come out to your shows is for you to self-promote. Invite your Facebook friends to and share the event page, pass out fliers (come into the bar and pick some up from us), show up to other shows and talk to people about your shows, and do whatever you can to get people out. This is a competitive industry, and the bands/artists (and venues) that work the hardest are the ones that succeed.
Try not to overplay: Playing shows is fun, but when you’re playing three times in one week, you’re most likely hurting your draw for all of those shows. We don’t have any sort of rules or contracts regarding this, but try to be smart about it. We won’t be offended if you can’t play a show, because you are already playing four shows that month (we’ll actually appreciate the honestly).
Show up on time: Generally, load-in is 30-60 minutes before doors open, so unless another load-in time is specified, please show up accordingly. If your band isn’t here for your set, you probably won’t get to play, so please show If you’re the first band, go ahead and start setting your gear up on stage. If you’re playing later in the night, get everything out of their cases and try to be ready for a quick set change.
Bring your IDs: We are a bar. You need to have your ID. If you don’t, we can’t let you in, so please help us out and bring your ID.
After your set, please load your equipment off the stage in a timely manner: Please be considerate to the next band and get your equipment loaded out immediately after your set. We try to keep shows going in a timely manner, so please help us out with this.
Promoters:
If you are promoting a show at Lookout, please show up (on time) to your show: Unless other arrangements have been made with the venue, you are expected to be here when the bands arrive (usually 30 minutes before doors). It’s your show, so make sure that you are here to make sure it runs properly.
Promote!: This seems too obvious, but it needs to be said. Your primary job is to make sure that there are people at the show. And if they don’t know about it, they won’t come. Please make sure that there is a Facebook event page made for the event and that there are posters/handbills in the venue at least one month prior to the show. Invite people to the event and make sure that the bands on the bill are doing the same. Get fliers out to the bands to hand out and in any local businesses that you feel might have patrons that would be interested in the show. If you can’t get fliers out anywhere else, at least make sure that they are at the venue. We have hundreds of people coming through every week that already are going to shows, who might just be interested in yours. And of course, word of mouth is the best way to get people excited about your shows. Go to other shows and support other bands/promoters, pass out some fliers and talk about your shows.
Don’t dick over the bands: If you agreed to a rider, provide the rider. If you agreed to a guarantee, pay the guarantee. If you offered hospitality buyouts, pay up. If a show that you agreed to put on, doesn’t do as well as you thought it would, that’s on you. Learn from mistakes and next time promote harder, get different local support, don’t offer a huge guarantee, whatever... But if you screw over your bands, we won’t be working with you again. Simple as that.
Only create bills that make sense: It does nobody any good when you put together a bill that doesn’t make sense. Booking four unknown touring bands on a bill isn’t doing anyone any favors and you won’t draw. Doing a seven band bill on a Tuesday night is ridiculous (because who wants to see that many bands on a Tuesday night?) Also make sure your cover charge makes sense. No one wants to pay $10 to see 4 local bands, who just played last week for $5.