by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Julien Baker & Torres concert, slated for May 12 at The Admiral, was cancelled over the weekend. The reason: “Due to recent events, Julien Baker is prioritizing her well-being and taking time to focus on her health.” Refunds are being issued. 

We’re just entering the spring tour season but most of the summer tours have been announced, and the schedule is looking kinda light indie-music-wise. However, last-minute touring shows pop up now and then. 

Below is the updated list of touring indie bands on my radar. Let me know what I’m missing. The standouts (for me, anyway) are Florist, Built to Spill, Maha Festival, Rilo Kiley, Samia, Father John Misty and Elvis Costello. 

• – Future Islands, May 7 at The Admiral
• – Julien Baker & Torres, May 12 CANCELED
• – Being Dead, May 13 at Reverb
• – Black Country, New Road, May 14 at Slowdown
• – Spellling, May 15 at The Waiting Room
• – Anna McClellan, May 17 at Slowdown
• – Friko, May 20 at Reverb
• – Florist, May 24 at Reverb
• – Southern Culture on the Skids, May 27 at Waiting Room
• – Panchiko, June 8 at The Slowdown
• – Samantha Crain, June 17 at Reverb
• – Har Mar Superstar, June 20 at Reverb
• – Michael Cera Palen, June 24 at Reverb
• – The English Beat, June 24 at The Waiting Room
• – Holy Fawn, June 25 at Reverb
• – Tripping Daisy, June 27 at The Waiting Room
• – Hurray for the Riff Raff, July 15 CANCELED
• – The Avett Brothers, July 17 at The Astro Amphitheater
• – Built to Spill, July 20 at The Waiting Room
• – Maha Festival, Aug. 2 at RiverFront Park
• – Laura Jane Grace & Band, Aug. 2 at The Slowdown
• – The Head and the Heart, Aug. 10 at Astro Amphitheater
• – Gregory Alan Isakov, Aug. 18 at The Astro
• – Brooks Nielsen (of Growlers), Sept. 8 at The Waiting Room
• – Rilo Kiley, Sept. 17 at The Astro Amphitheater 
• – The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sept. 23 at Slowdown
• – Swans, Sept 28 at The Waiting Room
• – Samia, Sept. 29 at The Waiting Room
• – Father John Misty, Sept. 30 at Astro Theater
• – Franz Ferdinand, Oct. 7 at The Admiral
• – Elvis Costello & The Imposter, Oct. 22 at Steelhouse Omaha

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Omaha-based alt-country act Clarence Tilton has been working the release of their latest album, Queen of the Brawl,  since the first single, “Fred’s Colt,” dropped last October. The song featured contributions by country music legend Marty Stuart.

A second single from the album, “Flyaway Cafe,” featuring Tanya Tucker’s daughter, Presley, dropped a month later. It wouldn’t be until April 4 before the full album was released, and now, tonight, we get the album release show for Queen of the Brawl at Reverb Lounge. 

Homer’s Music’s MarQ Manner interviewed the band for The Reader (yes, The Reader is back, but only online), wherein they talk about the new album. You can read that interview here. What I’d love to know is how much the Tiltons have invested in this record, from talent to production to promotion, and if it’s all paying off beyond self-releasing a quality collection of country-flavored story-songs. 

There’s a worn-leather ease to Queen that reflects a band so comfortable playing together it seems like they’ve always been here and will be around long after we’re gone, not unlike the Midwestern plains that spawned them. While the Weber brothers, Corey and Chris, continue to be the band’s center-point thanks to their stellar guitar-pickin’ skills, don’t forget Paul Novak, who also sings on a number of tracks (He wrote the second Tucker-contributed song, “Pretty Things”). In fact, glance the liner notes and you’ll see all three Tiltons have songwriting credits throughout.

Stylistically, the album vacillates between traditional country and ‘90s alt-country, with songs like “Sorrow and Sail,” and “Fred’s Colt” recalling my favorite alt-country act, The Silos. But more traditional C&W ultimately wins out. If the band really wanted to pressure-test this album with a die-hard country crowd they’d play a dance hall like Bushwacker’s, where two-steppin’ is required (at least when they’re not hosting hair-metal bands). Is there any better compliment for country music than a dance-floor full of scootin’?

Anyway, opening for Clarence Tilton tonight at Reverb is Turn Turn Turn. $10, 8 p.m. 

BTW, it’s also the first Friday of the month and that means Benson First Friday. Galleries and other businesses throughout Benson will be displaying art from some of the area’s finest talent. That includes at Ming Toy Gallery, 6066 Maple Street (right next to Legend Comics and Coffee), where we’re celebrating the opening of Nolan Tredway’s Alternate Plains. Come on by, check out this eye-popping art, have a drink and say hello. We’ll be there from 6 to 9 p.m. 

The rest of the weekend is pretty light, at least when it comes to indie music. 

Tomorrow night (Saturday) our old Kansas City friends Season to Risk plays at The Sydney in Benson. The band has been on the road in support of 1-800-MELTDOWN. Released last month on INIT Records, the record picks up right where they left off in the ‘90s. Latin-punk act Las Cruxes also is on the bill. The synth-and-drum duo Pagan Athletes opens the show at 9 p.m. $18.

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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Politics sucked 20 years ago when George W. Bush was president. 

In his first term, Bush invaded Iraq as a reaction to 9/11. The Iraq War’s death toll ranged from 151,000 to over a million Iraqis, depending on which study you point to. The numbers are still disputed to this day.

Ultimately, the war helped propel Bush to a narrow victory over democrat John Kerry in November 2004. And I can say from personal experience, a lot of people were pretty bummed about the prospect of the next four years. 

Among them was Conor Oberst. Bright Eyes was about to reach the zenith of its popularity with the ambitious release of both I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn on Jan. 25, 2005. As part of the promotional tour for those albums, Bright Eyes appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 2, 2005 – a big deal for a band from Omaha. A year earlier, Bright Eyes had its network debut on Late Night With David Letterman, so national TV was nothing new, but this time, Oberst had something special up his sleeve. 

Leno apparently had seen the rehearsal. During the opening monologue, when introducing the night’s guests, including Bright Eyes, Leno turned to bandleader Kevin Eubanks and said: “You hear the song he’s doing Kevin? I haven’t heard a protest song like this… you know I grew up in the sixties. I used to do a Jesse Winchester, a Jerry Jeff Walker, and Kris Kristofferson doing these anti-Nixon… This is a song that’s right up there. This will galvanize the audience. You’ll go one way or the other but you will have an opinion when he’s done.”

The performance took place at the tail-end of the show. Out walked Oberst with his acoustic guitar, dressed like a country singer, complete with a black cowboy hat. What happened next was pure TV Gold. 

The song, “When the President Talks to God,” was released as a free iTunes download and was the B-side of a promotional 7-inch, with A-side “First Day of My Life.” It would go on to win Song of the Year at the 2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards and would help fuel the Dylan comparisons which Oberst never understood. 

We thought we had it bad back then; we had no idea how bad things could become. Maybe it’s time for Bright Eyes to record the sequel…

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Show-wise tonight, Oklahoma City band Husbands plays at Reverb with JW Francis. $20, 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, local rockers Cinema Stereo plays at The Sydney in Benson with Public Figure and the mighty Las Cruxes. $13, 9 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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.