by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Maha Music Festival’s Saturday show is now sold out. This hasn’t happened (officially) since 2015, when Modest Mouse headlined and sold out a day or so before the date.

Back then, a sell out was around 8,000 tickets. These days, with the festival’s increased capacity, a sell out is 11,000 tickets sold — impressive.

Rachel Grace, Maha’s marketing and communications manager, tells me they’ve had reports of fake tickets circulating — what would suck more than showing up and finding out the ticket you spent $100+ for was a fake? Those of you buying tickets in the after-market, be careful.

No doubt ticket sales are being driven by the ascendance of Lizzo as a national pop star. You cannot turn on your TV without hearing Lizzo selling something, whether it’s a mini-van, cell phone or a boutique wine cooler. Add to that a tidal wave of magazine articles and heavy rotation on pop channels, and you’ve got the next Queen Latifah. And she’s headlining Maha.

I’d like to think that The Oh Sees had something to do with Saturday’s sell out, but let’s be real… I doubt that 95 percent of the folks at Stinson Saturday will have ever heard of the Oh Sees. Ah, but for that 5 percent of us, their appearance is a dream come true.

BTW, tickets are still available for Friday night’s show, headlined by Courtney Barnett and Jenny Lewis (and don’t sleep on Thursday night’s Pinback show at The Waiting Room). Also of note, the “Maha Discovery” — the Big Omaha innovation conference that became part of Maha last year — also is sold out.

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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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.