Okcfest 2014

[bchris02]

Oklahoma City already hosts a Deep Deuce Blues Festival which is a pretty cool thing.

Norman has a Jazz in June and a 4 day Norman Music Fest, which features a lot of Gen X bands so the area gets coverage.
Nothing wrong with a C-W fest, also. It's not like having a C-W music fest precludes OKC from also having a separate event
which features younger and more current music.

You are correct. The OKC area has a lot of music festivals that aren't country oriented.

As has already been said, I don't think there would be as much dislike towards this if it was called something other than OKCFest. Having a C&W festival and calling it OKCFest helps re-enforce a stereotype the city is trying to leave behind or simply diversify from.

[David]

I don't know why I was expecting the ACM@UCO announcement to distract from the OKCFest = C&W narrative. Hopeless optimism I guess.

[BoulderSooner]

FYI VIP tickets for okcfest are 450

[Questor]

The lineup:

Lineup — OKC Fest — Oklahoma's Premier Outdoor Music Festival — June 27-28, 2014

[Pete]

This starts tomorrow; stage is up:

[TheTravellers]

Yee-haw! This is kind of funny, from First OKCFest showcases national, regional and Oklahoma musical talent | News OK

"Plus, a diverse (emphasis mine) slate of Oklahoma talents playing on an array of free stages in the Myriad Botanical Gardens will take OKCFest beyond country and into rock, folk, bluegrass, gospel, jazz and rock en Espanol."

Um, folk and bluegrass can be pretty much lumped in with country (yes, I know they're completely different styles and have different histories, etc., but for practical purposes, they're closely related to country), so that leaves rock, gospel, jazz as being "diverse". Guess so, in the most literal sense of the word, but man, there's soooooooooo many more types of music out there than that. Admittedly, they won't draw all the fans that country will here in OKC, but I wouldn't classify this as a diverse festival. At least they're being upfront about it being OKCountryFest now, though. Little steps, I suppose, we'll see how decountry-ed the fest gets in the next few years...

[bchris02]

As I've said before, and have been attacked for saying it, there is nothing wrong with having a country music festival. They should call it something other than OKCFest though. Its my hope that in future years, if it remains a country music festival that it gets renamed to something that reflects that. I know country is the preferred genre of the majority of people who live in OKC but there are people here who don't like it and something with a name like OKCFest should represent the entire city.

[adaniel]

This navel gazing about the name, the lineup, etc. is pretty ridiculous at this point. It's happening, let it go.

I will have a good laugh at your expense when this concert is successful, as I expect it to be.

[TheTravellers]

This navel gazing about the name, the lineup, etc. is pretty ridiculous at this point. It's happening, let it go.

I will have a good laugh at your expense when this concert is successful, as I expect it to be.

Not at my expense, I expect it to be wildly successful, they expect 60,000, never said it wouldn't be. Funny enough, it being successful is part of the reason I don't like it, just reinforces that country is the #1 thing around here, in lots of aspects, which I get tired of.

[onthestrip]

Read some questions and comments on OKCFest fb page and no outside water is allowed in but that there will be water for purchase inside. They also said no re-entry, so you cant go in, then leave for a bit to go see some of the free shows and then come back. Also, no blankets or chairs allowed. So you have a 93 degree day and you are trapped on a parking lot with no shade, comfortable place to sit and the only water you want you have to purchase...sounds incredibly miserable.

[warreng88]

Hope the weather holds out tomorrow for the concert. I think venture was showing there was a chance of more severe storms in the afternoon.

[Anonymous.]

Yea the lineup for tonight looks like fantastic weather, save for the stupid wind.

Tomorrow looks like a soupy day with upper 80s to low 90s and HIGH humidity. Then potentially supercells moving into C OK by around Antebellum.

[Bullbear]

This starts tomorrow; stage is up:

I see Green parcels of land in this photo.. however they set the stage up in a concrete parking lot. that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. and if they aren't allowing people to come and go from the main stage as someone stated then I don't see the point of touting the free stages with diverse music acts because anyone attending the main stage cannot leave and enjoy other acts. am I missing something?. I am not a big country fan but if they are going to have the festival they should work a bit harder at making it appealing. I do plan on going down to see Wanda Jackson tomorrow evening.

[Bullbear]

Just checked out the website for myself.. lots of craziness in the planning of this in my opinion. it is true once inside the main stage area you cannot leave and re-enter. You can have blankets and chairs at the other stages in myriad gardens but not in the main stage area. It seems had they put the main stage on the grass at 3rd and hudson and faced it to the east or west it would not only be on grass and more cool it would also allow a sound buffer.. facing the stage to the north will leave little sound buffer between main stage and the Myriad gardens.

[adaniel]

Not at my expense, I expect it to be wildly successful, they expect 60,000, never said it wouldn't be. Funny enough, it being successful is part of the reason I don't like it, just reinforces that country is the #1 thing around here, in lots of aspects, which I get tired of.

I am a bigger fan of OKC than I am of any music genre. If we get 60K people in downtown spending $ and having a good time thats a win in my book.

You should really take your complaints up with the owners of venues and promoters who do a half-assed job bringing acts into this city, as well as the citizentry who do an even bigger half assed attempt at supporting what little comes. Not these people, who are actually trying to create something with enough success that it can be improved upon in the future. Just my 0.02.

[TheTravellers]

I am a bigger fan of OKC than I am of any music genre. If we get 60K people in downtown spending $ and having a good time thats a win in my book.

You should really take your complaints up with the owners of venues and promoters who do a half-assed job bringing acts into this city, as well as the citizentry who do an even bigger half assed attempt at supporting what little comes. Not these people, who are actually trying to create something with enough success that it can be improved upon in the future. Just my 0.02.

Exactly how would I go about that? How do I convince the citizens of OKC to go to shows they normally wouldn't go to and promoters to bring in more, different acts? I don't have a personal fortune to give to promoters and say "Here, do what you can to bring this act here" and then to say to the OKCitians "Here are a bunch of free tickets, go see them, promote more diversity in our live music scene". That might be about the only way to do it, and that might not even work (at the risk of being flamed to death, I'll say this - based on decades of personal observation, people that like country music are pretty averse to a lot of other genres, except classic rock). I don't have a personal fortune to start a new promotion company to bring those acts in, either, but damn, I wish I did.

Not really sure what I can do as one citizen without much money or power (just like a lot of things that I believe are beyond my control that still frustrate the hell out of me), although I did get them to change the promotion of it from "Oklahoma's Premiere Outdoor Music Festival" to "Oklahoma's Premier Outdoor Music Festival" (but it should never have gotten past any proofreaders). :-D

[Urbanized]

..I know country is the preferred genre of the majority of people who live in OKC...

How exactly did you decide this? You took a poll? If I were to label OKC as any one thing in particular I would probably call it a classic rock town.

[David]

Man, that's about the fourth post in this thread today I've written up and then deleted on account of not really wanting to pick a fight.

[Edgar]

what's the over/under non-caucasians at OKCfest?double digits?

[BrettM2]

Just go away Edgar.

[warreng88]

what's the over/under non-caucasians at OKCfest?double digits?

What's the over/under on the amount of times Edgar complains about this concert?

[bradh]

For a festival that many here claimed would only attract coal rolling rednecks, I have seen lots of tweets and instagrams tonight from all types, including Barons players and other non natives. Hate the music if you will (I like it but I would t mind more diversity myself) but this event is a huge plus.

Disappointed about not allowing outside water. It's balls hot, thinks of patron safety before profits for a moment

[dcsooner]

What was the estimated attendance. It looks from photos maybe to not have met projections

[PWitty]

What was the estimated attendance. It looks from photos maybe to not have met projections

I have a bunch of friends that went down for the weekend from KC for this, and they texted me last night saying it was pretty packed. I think I saw somewhere that there was around 20K+ at the main stage when JAB finished his set, but don't quote me on that.

On a side note, my buddies have only been down to OKC a couple times and they're staying DT for the concerts all weekend. They kept sending me pictures throughout the day as they were making their rounds DT and kept telling me how cool OKC is.

[sooner88]

Was anyone else there last night? I thought I heard Merle welcome Robert Earl Keen to the stage for "Okie from Muskogee", although I couldn't tell if it was actually him. Can anyone else verify this/tell me I'm crazy?