Guided By Voices, Cursive, Matisyahu to play 2011 MAHA Music Festival
by TIm McMahan, Lazy-i.com
MAHA Music Festival organizers named the first three main stage acts for this year’s event, slated for Aug. 13 at Lewis & Clark Landing — Guided by Voices, Cursive and Matisyahu. Sayeth the MAHA press release:
Recently reunited with its “classic 1993-1996 lineup,” Guided By Voices is universally regarded as one the greatest indie bands of all time. The band’s 1994 album Bee Thousand was ranked number one by Amazon on its list of the “100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time,” Spin magazine listed the record as one of the “Top Records of the Past 25 Years” and Paste magazine named Guided By Voices’ frontman, Robert Pollard, as one of the “100 Best Living Songwriters.”
Named the “most intriguing reggae artist in the world” by Esquire magazine, the Grammy-nominated Matisyahu will be the final performance of MAHA 2011 so that his performance will occur after sundown and comply with his devout religious beliefs. Last, but certainly not least, the inclusion of local favorite Cursive continues MAHA’s tradition of featuring artists responsible for creating the indie music scene for which Omaha is now internationally recognized.
Tix are just $30 and go on sale Saturday…
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
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I really wanted to be excited about MAHA. It seemed like they were on the right track, but then for the last couple of years they’ve just been spinning their wheels. GBV has been in Omaha a couple of times in the last few years. Cursive plays here at least a couple of times a year. I love them, but why pay $30 to see them in the heat while being sunburned? Will any GBV or Cursive fans stay for Matisyahu? Does Matisyahu draw anywhere? I was really hoping this would be the year that MAHA took a huge leap forward. Instead, they’re running in place.
Comment by mike — April 27, 2011 @ 7:08 am
Hmmm… According to the GBV Database, the only time GBV played in Omaha was in April 2000: http://www.gbvdb.com/album.asp?albumid=1396
Comment by tim-mcmahan — April 27, 2011 @ 8:41 am
I think it’s great that MAHA is trying, but I will not be paying $30 to see Cursive or Matisyahu. Cursive is awesome, of course, but I’d rather see them in a local club, and I’ll probably have several opportunities to do so in the near future. I don’t know why MAHA wouldn’t try and book another out of town band, which in my mind would make this more of an event. I’d LOVE to see Guided by Voices, and might even pay $30 to do so, but not in an outdoor festival setting. Still, as I said, I think it’s great that they’re trying. But I have one more big giant complaint: The poster. Man, that thing is butt-ugly.
Comment by wolfie — April 27, 2011 @ 9:43 am
MAHA intends to book three more out-of-town bands for its main stage, so stay tuned…
Comment by tim-mcmahan — April 27, 2011 @ 10:09 am
It may be that Guided by Voices has less hipster allure than bands like Superchunk, who played last year; and I do understand the “I would rather see them in a club” view, having just seen GBV in a club in Iowa City recently. Nevertheless, if you want to see one of the greatest rock bands ever do an amazingly powerful live show, you really should pay the 30 and see Bob Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Greg Demos, and the drummer whose name I can’t remember– the original old cats.
Comment by Fred Robertson — April 27, 2011 @ 10:41 am