Okcfest 2014

[warreng88]

Country stars coming to Oklahoma City in June for OKCFEST 2014

Some of country music’s biggest stars will headline a new summer music festival coming to downtown Oklahoma City in June.

FROM STAFF REPORTS • Published: April 10, 2014

Country music stars Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley and Merle Haggard will headline OKCFEST 2014, a new summer music festival dreamt up by Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett and business leader Fred Hall.

The four-day festival is expected to draw 30,000 people to downtown Oklahoma City in late June, organizers said Thursday morning when plans for OKCFEST 2014 were unveiled.

“Something special is going on in Oklahoma City,” Hall said. “OKCFEST will be a kick-off party to celebrate Oklahoma City’s planned Core to Shore downtown park and new convention center and will give festivalgoers an exciting glimpse of what is possible in the years ahead as this event and downtown evolve together.

“Our event site is literally at the epicenter of these future transformational attractions for our city.”

The festival begins June 26, when renowned jazz vocalist Steve Tyrell and his 8-piece band will kick-off the weekend with an exclusive and independently ticketed Thursday night show for festival underwriters, sponsors and their special guests.

The festival’s first-year line-up resulted from a collaborative effort between Hall and Victor Sansone, the former ABC radio executive and past chairman of the Country Music Association who is serving as a consultant to OKCFEST.

Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Merle Haggard, Randy Rogers, Kix Brooks, Josh Abbott, Casey Donahew and Scotty McCreery will perform on the OKCFEST’s Main Stage on June 27 and 28.

Additional music and other entertainment events on three nearby Myriad Garden stages will be free to the public Friday through Sunday afternoons and evenings, with preferred seating at each stage reserved for those with OKCFEST passes.

One-day and two-day passes for the main stage event area, which will feature food, beverage and unique shopping throughout OKCFEST, go on sale this month one the OKCFEST Festival Website. Tickets are $35 per day and $59 for two-day passes.

“The OKCFEST 2014 is a reflection of the incredible aspirational vision of our business leadership in Oklahoma City,” Cornett said. “The variety of the entertainment offering at the first annual OKCFEST 2014 shows the growing diversity of our community.

“As evident by the big plans for OKCFEST 2014, our city’s national and international standing as a place where arts and culture can flourish continues to grow.”

Country stars coming to Oklahoma City in June for OKCFEST 2014 | News OK

[HangryHippo]

OKCFest?

[UrbanNorman]

Underwhelmed with the country bent, but I understand this fits the market in some ways. Good for downtown in terms of bringing people down to spend some dough and program the area.

[Pete]

I assume this will be on the property owned by Hall -- the future convention center site immediately south of the Myriad Gardens.

[Pete]

OKC Fest ? Oklahoma's Premiere Outdoor Music Festival ? June 27 - 28, 2014

[bchris02]

Underwhelmed with the country bent, but I understand this fits the market in some ways. Good for downtown in terms of bringing people down to spend some dough and program the area.

Agree. This likely won't be appealing to those who don't like country or redneck culture, but it fits OKC like a glove and will be great for downtown business.

[Pete]

country or redneck culture

These are two completely separate things.

Lots of people like country music and aren't rednecks. You'd be surprised by how many friends I have in Cali who love country.

[AP]

These are two completely separate things.

Lots of people like country music and aren't rednecks. You'd be surprised by how many friends I have in Cali who love country.

I was extremely surprised to hear the amount of Country music that I have up here in Halifax.

[warreng88]

As much as I can appreciate country music, I am not a huge fan so I won't be attending but I think it is great for the city and will bring people from all over to see it. I really wish they went all out and got an artist that could appeal to more people as a put us on the map kind of thing like Aerosmith or Paul McCartney. One can dream.

[Pete]

It says "first annual" so hopefully there will be other types of music represented in future years.

[gopokes88]

This is a huge deal. I bet it draws 50,000 easily. Month of June could be busy for downtown if the thunder make the finals.

[Jim Kyle]

As much as I can appreciate country music, I am not a huge fan so I won't be attending but I think it is great for the city and will bring people from all over to see it. I really wish they went all out and got an artist that could appeal to more people as a put us on the map kind of thing like Aerosmith or Paul McCartney. One can dream.

I was quite amazed, some 60 years ago while visiting Tulsa, to stop by a small bar where a fellow was blowing piano and sounding very much a member of the "modern jazz" mainstream -- and then I learned that he was a guitarist with Bob Wills!

He pointed out that professional musicians have to eat, and consequently most of them will work at whatever gig will bring in their bean money. I'm sure that rule still applies today. For example, some of the best country artists began as rock musicians -- I mean Kenny Rogers, the Oak Ridge Boys, and I'm sure there are others -- and I just finished writing up an article for my alumni association's magazine about an opera tenor who performed at the Met 89 times, one of whose students has now conbined classic opera and rock music to become one of the latest innovators.

And the C&W genre isn't the only thing for which OKC is known -- we also had Charlie Christian, and an annual festival celebrating his legacy!

[BoulderSooner]

The oak ridge boys started as a country gospel band

[trousers]

As a music fan, this sounds terrible.
As a supporter of downtown this sounds great. This crap sells.

[Jeepnokc]

Look at two of the oldest and biggest clubs in town. Country music is still very popular here. Grahams has been here forever and Cowboys has been going strong under various different names for several decades also. These are huge clubs. Get outside of the metro schools and look at the strength of the FFA clubs and ag programs. I see nothing wrong with the choice of music as it will bring in a huge crowd from the rural areas which will mean lots of outside money coming in to OKC.

[HangryHippo]

I like country music and if it helps downtown OKC, bring it on.

[Dubya61]

These are two completely separate things.

Lots of people like country music and aren't rednecks. You'd be surprised by how many friends I have in Cali who love country.

We have rednecks in Cali, too. We rednecks are EVERYWHERE (ever been to rural Maryland?)! We're in Mexico, too, per Gabriel Iglesias, but don't listen to country.

[MadMonk]

As a music fan with eclectic tastes, I'm all for this.

[trousers]

Would really like to see Merle. I could go for a classic/outlaw country stage.

[soonerguru]

Not excited.

[coov23]

It says "first annual" so hopefully there will be other types of music represented in future years.

Sadly, they have some country music chairman doing the scouring and pulling in the artists. Don't bet on it being anymore diverse. Definitely not going to appeal to those millenials that okc is trying to attract. Way to pander to stereotypes.

[Swake]

Sadly, they have some country music chairman doing the scouring and pulling in the artists. Don't bet on it being anymore diverse. Definitely not going to appeal to those millenials that okc is trying to attract. Way to pander to stereotypes.

Something more like this?
Center of the Universe Festival - 2014 Main Stage Bands Announced

80,000 people went last year. It was a good time.

[coov23]

Something more like this?
Center of the Universe Festival - 2014 Main Stage Bands Announced

80,000 people went last year. It was a good time.

I just moved from Delaware. They started FireFly Festival about 3 years ago. It's huge now. So...
More like this.....https://fireflyfestival.com/lineup/

[kevinpate]

Merle and several known to exceptionally well known country/pop artists.

I like Merle. Don't hate the others, but prefer the sounds of Little Big Town and Sara Evans to any of the rest of those signed for the event.

[coov23]

I think the ones that are upset is the millenials, like myself. Okc professes to trying to change and be this cultural place. Then they go off and pull a music festival like this. That's not cultural, nor is it appealing to the millenials they are trying to move here. It's the exact opposite. Okc wants to be seen as this new hip city. Bad way of doing it. Mick needs to step aside and let the younger crowd pick the musicians. I linked what most in my generation see as a great music festival.

If okc is trying to aspire and be like ACL, they did it all wrong. Just frustrated to see okcfestival 2014 and click to see it's just like a state fair concert event.