Legendary Texas country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson will perform an outdoor “Willie Nelson & Family” concert on Thursday, May 14 at the Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark. The concert marks the singer’s first on-campus appearance since he attended the university in 1954.
Tickets go on sale Friday, April 10 at 10 am at baylorbears.com/tickets.
Nelson’s rocky history with Baylor University
Originally from nearby Abbott, Nelson, 92, attended Baylor University on a GI bill for just four months in 1954, according to a feature in the Baylor Line Magazine. He subsequently left to pursue a music career, playing in honky-tonks in and around Waco.
Since his national success, Nelson has returned to play in Waco several times. Recent appearances include a concert in 2008 at the Heart O’Texas Coliseum and a 2002 appearance with Pat Green at the Margarita and Salsa Festival downtown. But the Baylor alum has never performed at the university.
In 1988, Nelson was scheduled to perform at the newly constructed Ferrell Center as part of a fundraiser for those who lost money in a failed bank in nearby Leroy. But just months before the concert, then Baylor President Dr. Herbert Reynolds pulled the plug on the concert with little reason other than Nelson was not a “positive influence” to have on campus.
Rumors swirled that the decision was in response to Nelson’s open and regular use of cannabis, but the Baylor Line feature of Nelson suggested it was his support of Native American activist Leonard Peltier that led to the concert being nixed. Nelson kept the performance at the Heart O’Texas Coliseum, but he told the Baylor Line it left a stain on the university.
Bringing Nelson back to Baylor University
It’s long been rumored that following the canceled concert in 1988, Nelson had been banned from campus performances. Baylor President Linda Livingstone, tired of those rumors, asked about bringing Nelson to Baylor for a concert several months ago, a Baylor spokesperson told the Waco Tribune-Herald.
“Seventy-two years after Willie Nelson walked our campus as a Baylor student, I am trhilled this Texas legend will finally take the stage at his alma mater for a once-in-a-lifetime concert event” Livingstone said in a Tuesday press release. “I look forward to welcoming Willie home to Baylor and Central Texas.”
The performance will be the first concert held at the Baylor Ballpark. Two weeks after his Baylor show, Nelson will release his 79th solo studio album, “Dream Chaser,” on May 29.
