The 2014 Maha Music Festival crowd late in the evening, looking from stage left.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A more-detailed review of the Maha Music Festival will appear in my column in The Reader on Thursday. The micro-summary: It was a good, though rather exhausting, day thanks to humid weather and a loaded line-up that made it hard to sneak away to re-energize. I ended up skipping the Radkey and Doomtree sets to go home and change my clothes and cool off.

All the performances were good. Domestica, Whipkey and Twinsmith were as expected. It was good to see Heidi and Jon on a festival stage. The surprises were M34n Str33t, who I’d never seen before and thoroughly enjoyed, and Envy Corp, a band I’d all but written off as just not being my thing, that is until this gig. I was talking to a musician and another music journalist during their set and all three of us were like, “Who the f___ is this? These guys are pretty awesome.”

The Both were good, if not a bit sleepy in their mid-tempo way. I’d rather see them in a regular venue than on an outside stage. Local Natives ramped up the crowd for the coming evening, but what really got the crowd pumped was Icky Blossoms.  The old favorites from their debut album were as good as ever, but the new stuff points toward a different, more punk-fueled sound. Edgier, despite the dresses.

Head and the Heart and Death Cab did their things, and I’ll go in a little more detail about them in the column, though it’s safe to say Maha has broken its curse of having dull headliners.

Anyway, here’s a collection of photos taken throughout the day.

Domestica kicked off Maha to an adoring crowd.

Actually, the crowd for Domestica was bigger than it looked.

Matt Whipkey and his band launched the local stage in style.

And then there was Snot, representing this year’s class of talent from Omaha Girls Rock!

Twinsmith looked right at home on the main stage.

M34n Str33t was the only band to bring props for the crowd, which hung around at least until they got all but destroyed during Icky Blossoms’ set.

Aimee Man and Ted Leo do their thing as The Both. And yes, there was even a rendition of “Voices Carry” (though it paled compared to Leo’s awesome “Bottled in Cork”).

Local Natives got the evening rolling in style.

Icky Blossoms dressed for success.

The view from the side of the stage of The Head and the Heart.

Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard kicking off their headlining set.

A view of Death Cab from in front of the stage.

The huge crowd on hand at the end of The Head and the Heart’s set.

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Tonight at O’Leaver’s, The Everymen return. Remember them from a few weeks ago and from this column? Check them out again tonight. The Ridgways and Sidewalkers also are on the bill. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.