by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The line-up for the 2025 Maha Festival was announced late yesterday afternoon and it may be their best line-up ever: Pixies, Waxahatchee, Band of Horses, Magdalena Bay, Silversun Pickups and local heroes Little Brazil. 

There have been accusations that I had inside knowledge of the line-up prior to the announcement, based upon my Feb. 24 predictions, but nothing could be further from the truth. It was simply a matter of deduction. Pixies have always been a favorite of the folks who ran the now-defunct Outlandia Festival — all of whom are now involved in Maha. Pixies’ tour schedule also had a nice hole on Aug. 2, which happens to be Maha’s date. 

Formed in 1986 but active throughout most of the 2000s, many (including myself) have argued Pixies was the most important post-punk band of the ‘80s whose sound heavily influenced Nirvana and spawned the grunge era, pulling indie rock out of the underground and onto the pop charts. 

Three of the band’s original members remain: Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, with Emma Richardson taking over the bass chores from Kim Deal. The band’s latest, The Night the Zombies Came, was released last October on BMG. 

The last time Pixies was scheduled to play Omaha was an oudoor gig at The Waiting Room, Sept. 16, 2021 – a show that was cancelled along with the rest of the band’s tour that year, likely due to COVID issues. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to September 2010 when the band played The Orpheum Theatre. So, their return is a long time coming. 

My prediction that Waxahatchee could be at this’ year’s festival was more of a wish. The band – one of my favorites – has avoided Omaha since the pandemic. The last time they played Nebraska was Lincoln Calling back in 2018. Prior to that, they played The Waiting Room way back in 2014. Their latest album, Tigers Blood, came out in March 2024 on Anti- and their due for a new LP, hopefully this year. 

Band of Horses played the inaugural Outlandia Festival back in 2022. Their 2006 album, Everything All the Time (Sub Pop), contains the indie hit “The Funeral,” which has almost half a billion plays on Spotify. Their latest LP, Things Are Great (2024, BMG), continues along their dreamy, indie-jangle path. 

Electro-pop duo Magdalena Bay just played The Waiting Room last September, supporting their then just-released Imaginal Disk (Mom+Pop Records). Some folks online have commented that this year’s Maha line-up more resembles an Outlandia festival, but Magdalena Bay definitely targets the younger audience drawn to past Maha fests. 

Silversun Pickups should be very familiar to Omaha audiences. They just played here last April at The Admiral. Before that, they played at Slowdown in 2021, Stir Cove in 2013, Sumtur Amphitheater in 2012, Sokol Auditorium (now Admiral) in 2009, and Slowdown in 2007. 

Finally, it only seems right that the Omaha band that kicked off the Maha Music Festival way back in August 2009 at Lewis & Clark Landing – Little Brazil – open this year’s festival at its new RiverFront location in Heartland of America Park. 

That’s a strong line-up for a one-day festival that many feared may not return after the 2024 event was “paused.” Among the reasons given at the time: “…the worldwide festival industry has faced an unprecedented increase in costs for talent, transportation, labor, security and insurance.” There were other issues as well, including personnel changes in the Maha organization.

And now it’s back, arguably better than ever. No word yet on ticket prices, but we’ll find out when they go on sale Friday. 

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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.