by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Like I said yesterday, Outlandia Festival won the weather lottery. They should have perfect weather for their two-day concert, which begins this afternoon at Falconwood Park in Bellevue. 

This year’s line-up is on par with what they’ve done the past two years. I’m listening to the Outlandia 2024 playlist on Spotify as I type this mainly to catch up on the handful of acts I’m not familiar with: Men I Trust, The Revivalists, Flipturn.

The familiar names should be familiar to anyone who has gone to an indie show in Omaha over the past… 20 years?  Tonight’s headliner, Flaming Lips, just played at Steelhouse Omaha last year and it sounds like a repeat of their Yoshimi concert, which quite honestly, is the only music most folks know. Which is a shame, because The Lips’ early, proggy experimental stuff would be a kick to see performed live.

Men I Trust is a Canadian trio fronted by singer/songwriter Emma Proulx with a smooth, indie-pop vibe. They self-released their last full-length, 2021’s Untourable Album, and boast about 7.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify. 

Vacations, who also plays this evening at Outlandia, is an Aussie four-piece, that also plays soothing dream-pop, with song titles like “Relax” and “Honey.” They release stuff on Nettwerk and No Fun Records, and played at Reverb Lounge back in spring 2022. 

See a trend here? Tonight is rounding out to be a very laid-back evening in the park… well, except for The Faint. I’ve talked to more folks who are excited about The Faint’s set than any other on the Outlandia bill, despite the fact that the band hasn’t released new music in years and just played Outlandia last year. In addition to their 7:30 performance, The Faint is hosting a DJ set at midnight on the Falconwood Stage where Grrrl Camp was held. 

Omaha bands Ex Lover and Twinsmith are today’s openers.

Outlandia ratchets up the rock tomorrow (Saturday) Headliner The Head and the Heart is a local favorite, or so it seems as they play here a lot, most recently just last year at Pinewood Bowl (a show, that if my memory serves, did very well but got rained on after Fr. John Misty’s set?). 

The first time I heard of The Revivalists was when they announced this festival’s line-up. Totally off my radar (but then again, so was Lord Huron last year).  Hailing from the Big Easy, the eight-piece has had their sound described as “roots rock,” and have among their credits opening for the Rolling Stones’ No Regrets tour in St. Louis, as well as 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify (their hit “Wish I Knew You” has 216 million listens and was used in a Blue Moon commercial). Their music has a Dave Matthews tang. Interesting Revivalists trivia: Their 2014 album, City of Sound, was released by Wind-up Records, who released albums by Commander Venus (and Creed). 

Flipturn was another new one on me. They’re playing in Chicago tonight with Revivalists, which might explain why they’re on this bill. From Fernandina Beach, Florida, they play a shimmery style of indie pop, releasing their last album on Dualtone Records. 

At the core of tomorrow’s schedule are sets by ‘90s indie band Buffalo Tom and old reliable Dinosaur Jr. (Dinosaur Jr. cancelled). For my money, Buffalo Tom alone is worth the price of admission if you, like me, grew up with 1992’s Let Me Come Over. Their videos were a staple on the old MTV 120 Minutes program back in the day. 

Gypsey caberet act Devotchka, another local favorite, also is on the bill. Tomorrow’s opening bands are The Eye, a band that includes Outlandia Festival organizer Tyler Owen. They’re followed by Kentucky-based country singer Kelsey Waldon.

Set times are below. If you’re still wondering what the heck is Falconwood Park, read my feature on the park that was published yesterday at Flatwater Free Press. The park is a great location. Don’t be afraid of Sarpy County.

More info including tickets, parking, maps, what have you, are at OutlandiaFestival.com.

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What else is happening tonight?

Well, Sacramento punk duo Dog Party is headlining a four-band bill tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s. Joining them are The Rare Candies, Las Cruxes and Bruiser Queen. No idea on cost, though when I clicked into the ticket info link it said $12, but tickets were no longer available, which either means it’s sold out (unlikely) or $12 at the door. 8 p.m. start time.

Also, Lincoln-based leather-electro-freak-out artist Plack Blague headlines at The Waiting Room with Moon 17 Saturday night. $15, 9 p.m. 

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend!

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A personal highlight of attending this year’s Grrrl Camp festival was getting a personal tour of the Falconwood Park compound by 1% Production’s Jim Johnson. During the golf-cart adventure I met Brandon and Jim Miller, the proprietors of Falconwood, who briefly recapped the park’s story. 

So inspired was I by their tale of overcoming one disaster after another only to come out with one of area’s premiere event facilities that I pitched the story to the fine folks at Flatwater Free Press. They said “proceed,” and lo and behold, the story was published yesterday. 

You can read the story right here at the Flatwater Free Press website. It details the Millers’ history of the park, from acquisition through disasters, and also includes comments from Outlandia’s Tyler Owen about how and why he and his team choose the site for their annual music festival. Give it a read.

I got this one done just under the wire. Outlandia Festival begins tomorrow at Falconwood, and despite what has been the worst weather year I’ve lived (survived) through (flooding rains, grapefruit-sized-hail storms, blistering heatwaves and last week’s hurricane-force windstorm), Outlandia is lucking into one of the best weather-weekends of the year. 

During the reporting, everyone talked about reasons folks have yet to venture out to the park for past festivals or events. Distance and unfamiliarity were on the list, but one of the toppers was concern about park access – Falconwood Park is accessed by taking the Glenwood Exit driving on Interstate 75 and then taking Highway 34  a few hundred yards to narrow, two-lane South 8th St. to  Falconwood’s main entrance, where you’re on an even narrower barely two-lane road to the parking fields. If you saw it on a map you’d think, “man, getting in and out of there during a festival has to be a nightmare.”

The organizers know you’re thinking this and have prepared to make coming and going as smooth as possible. They tell me there’s never been a severe backup leaving the park. Tyler Owen, one of Outlandia’s organizers, put it this way: 

“I don’t know if you’ve ever been stuck in a Husker parking garage after a football game. It ain’t that,” he said. “We watched the line of red tail lights and it was maybe bad for 15 or 20 minutes, but it wasn’t (like) getting stuck on the top deck of a parking garage in Lincoln.” 

I’ve talked to a number of folks who have attended past Outlandia Festivals and all said getting out of the park wasn’t a headache. If what Tyler and the Outlandia team says is true, it’ll be tested Friday night when The Faint (and not headliner The Flaming Lips) close out the first day’s festivities. I’ve talked to more people excited about The Faint than any other band on the festival’s bill this year. The Head and the Heart close out Saturday night. 

The full band line-up and other specifics are at outlandiafestival.com. I’ll write more about the bands tomorrow w/some sound clips, etc. All three tiers of tickets are still available.

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday Bright Eyes dropped the second single, “Rainbow Overpass,” from the band’s upcoming full-length, Five Dice, All Threes, slated for release Sept. 20 on Dead Oceans. 

From the press release: “The bright, punky anthem is propelled by acoustic guitar, horns, and fist-pumping gang vocals featuring Alex Orange Drink of The So So Glos, the accelerating tempo like a speeding car driving off the eponymous rainbow overpass.”

It kinda sounds like a kinder, gentler version of Desaparecidos, a band desperately needed in these trying times. Or maybe soft-hearted Titus Andronicus? The band also announced an extensive North American Tour for 2025 (god-dang, is it 2025 already?). Check the tour dates here. 

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Manhattan-based self-described “indie pop / dream pop” band Cults headlines tonight at The Waiting Room. Cults is Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin, but live they’re backed by a full band. Cults was kind enough to do a Ten Questions interview back in 2017 (which gives you an idea just how long I’ve been doing these Ten Questions surveys – I got a new one with PACKS coming out next week). 

From that 10Q interview:

1. What is your favorite album?

Cults: Home Schooled-The ABCs Of Kid Soul. Pretty sure everyone in our band could sing every lyric to every song from this record. The mix of incredible musicianship with the most bizarre/touching vocal performances you’ve ever heard perfectly rides the line between emotionality and kitsch.

2. What is your least favorite song?

Sugar Ray, “Every Morning.” I once had the song stuck in my head for an entire year. It’s a great song but having any song stuck in your head for that long will ruin it for you!

Read all 10 questions and answers here. Opening for Cults tonight is Chicago indie band Bnny. 8 p.m., $27.

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

We all already sort of knew Jake Bellows and his band, Neva Dinova, had a new record in the can. Today they officially announced that the new album, Canary, is set for release Sept. 27 on Saddle Creek Records.

Interestingly, the press release leads with “Omaha greats Neva Dinova have announced…” Jake moved to Los Angeles a number of years ago, but still identifies with his hometown (as he should!). In fact, the entire press release is feels very Omaha-centric maybe because drummer Roger Lewis and bass player Megan Siebe, who round out this iteration of Neva Dinova, still live here. 

Canary is the first new material by the band in 16 years, and in my humble opinion, it’s the fastest, heaviest stuff Jake and Co. have done. Recorded at Make Believe Studio, “The songs on Canary were honed on the road allowing for a largely live recording session that captures the visceral energy of the band.”

Check out the revised lyric video for first single “Edge of Something,” and pre-order your copy here.

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I just walked the dog through our neighborhood. Good god, it still looks like a war zone, with downed power lines lying in the streets. With that in mind, who knows when the 90,000 folks without power this morning will be back up and running. That includes Benson’s business district, which was still in the dark as of 10 a.m. Friday morning.

Despite that, it’s still the first Friday of the month, and by all accounts, still #BFF, though I don’t know which galleries or businesses will be open tonight. 

There is one gallery I know will be open: Ming Toy Gallery, 6066 Maple Street, where we’re hosting an opening for artist Lew Lunbeck, titled “Seeing Greatness + Kicking It in the Teeth.” Lew’s post-impressionistic paintings revolve around dreamlike characters in imaginative places, a sense of style he developed while traveling as a self-described vagabond. Of course we don’t have power at Ming Toy, either, so we’ll be hosting by afternoon light and battery-powered boombox, with a cooler of beer and other drink-stuff. The show runs from 6 p.m. to whenever it’s too dark to see (probably around 8 or so). If you’re in Benson, drop by and say hi.

Rockshow-wise, it’s gonna be a hit-and-miss weekend. No idea what’s happening at The Waiting Room, The Sydney and Reverb – it depends on if they have power. Slowdown does have power, as does The Astro in La Vista, but The Admiral in south Omaha appears to be in the dark, or so it seems as tonight’s Admiral show has been cancelled and the Orville Peck show, scheduled for The Admiral Saturday, has been moved to The Astro. 

The Gin Blossoms/Toad the Wet Blanket show at The Astro is still listed as happening at The Astro Amphitheater tonight, according to the One Percent Productions website. The Kros Strain Outlandia Beer Launch with The Eye and 3BX also is listed as happening tonight at Reverb Lounge. 

As mentioned, Saturday’s Orville Peck concert at The Admiral has been moved to The Astro. Jaime Wyatt and Gold Star open at 8 p.m. This show is long sold out. Tickets are now available for what was a sold-out show.

Back in Benson Saturday night, KC post-punk band Shiner headlines a show at Reverb Lounge with Healer and Violenteer (which shares a frontman with Shiner). 8 p.m., $20, that is if they have power, right?

It appears they have power at fabulous O’Leaver’s, and as such, The Wrinkles in Time w/ Sgt. Leisure and Bare Bear are playing Saturday night. 8 p.m., $10.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Try to have a great weekend…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.