For more than four decades, Panic wasn’t just a bar — it was the queer heartbeat of Lincoln. Opening its doors in 1982, at a time when LGBTQ Nebraskans had precious few safe spaces, Panic quickly became the city’s longest-running gay nightclub: a thumping, glitter-dusted refuge where drag queens reigned, dance floors shook, and entire generations came out, grew up, and found their people under its lights.
It survived culture wars, crackdowns, changing laws, new scenes, and every shift in the Midwest’s social weather — always adapting, always welcoming, always loud in all the right ways. By the time it closed in 2020, Panic had shaped more queer lives in Lincoln than any bar before or after, a place where shy first-timers and lifer regulars learned the same lesson: the Plains have a pulse.
