by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday, the fine folks who run the Maha Music Festival said they will announce the headliner for their Aug. 2 one-day event next Wednesday, March 19, with tickets on sale the following Friday, March 21. 

Make your guess at the headliner. I ran down my list of guesses – topped by The Pixies, followed by St. Vincent, Black Key and Spoon – in this write-up that also discusses who won’t be headlining. 

In addition the new RiverFront location, another change to this year’s festival appears to be a shift in how Maha approaches volunteers. In year’s past, the Maha Festival was buoyed by an army of volunteers – 800 volunteers helped put on the last festival in 2023. 

However, a couple days ago, someone shared an email they said was mailed to past volunteers saying day-to-day operations for this year’s festival will be outsourced to a professional production company.  The question, of course, is how far the message traveled down the volunteer food chain. 

Maha volunteers did things as simple as answer questions, direct people to vendors and bathrooms, even help them understand how to recycle their garbage. I’d be surprised if Maha didn’t ask for at least some volunteers. Then again, were there volunteers at last year’s Outlandia Festival, which was run by the same folks running this year’s Maha Festival?

Volunteer networks do more than just provide helpful hands. They also get the word out about the festival itself, perhaps convincing friends and relatives to buy tickets. That brings up the whole question of how they’ll market this year’s Maha Festival. They’ll have to do more than rely on social media marketing, whose use and affectiveness appear to be on the decline…

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.