The sun goes down on Petfest 2025.

By Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

By the time we arrived at Petfest this past Saturday, the sun was setting, casting shadows over the entire festival compound located behind Petshop Gallery in Benson. Despite that, the heat and humidity remained torturous, but you’d never know it by the 60 or so festival-goers standing on the crushed-rock parking lot having a great time. 

I had hoped to catch the festival’s last three acts, but at 8:30, Specter Poetics was still in the middle of his one-man electronic performance, meaning the festival was more than an hour behind schedule. There was no way we would last until Thirst Things First, which was a bummer because Mikey Elfers had let me know the band had a number of new musicians.

Puffs at Petfest, Aug. 16, 2025.

The good news is we did get to see Puffs, the new project from Derek Pressnall, whose past bands include Tilly and the Wall, Flowers Forever, and Icky Blossoms. Last year Pressnall played a Petfest set with his then-current band, Flamboyant Gods. Saturday’s gig was the first I’d heard of Puffs.

Joining Pressnall in Puffs was a guy on synths and guitar who also sang, including lead vocals on one song. Pressnall played bass and sang leads on the rest of the set, which varied stylistically between upbeat electronic rock similar to Icky/Gods, and slower, moodier set pieces that showcased his voice. 

Puffs played about five or six songs during their 20-minute set, leaving me wanting more. Hopefully this wasn’t a one-off by Pressnall and Co.

After a lengthy switchover, on came Sean Pratt. The gig was sort of a release show for Prairie Whistle Call, their new album released last month. Pratt was joined by violinist/vocalist Megan Siebe and multi-instrumentalist Colin Duckworth on guitar and banjo. 

Whether or not it’s formally recognized, there is a sub-scene in Omaha centered around Grapefruit Records and Pageturners Lounge that includes arguably the area’s most talented singer/songwriters. Among them are Simon Joyner, David Nance, Noah Sterba, Dan McCarthy, Jim Schroeder, Jake Bellows and Pratt, non-Omahans like Rosali Middleman (Rosali) and Noah Kohll (Color Green), along with musicians who they all often perform with, including Duckworth, James Maakestad, Kevin Donahue, Jeff Sedrel, Nathan Ma, Pearl LoveJoy Boyd and many more whom I’m forgetting. 

They’re a humble group of musicians who don’t often get the credit they deserve for producing some of the area’s best music and performing it throughout the country and the world. I doubt that they care. As true artists, they do what they do because it’s who they are, though it would be nice if more people around here noticed. 

Anyway, Pratt, Siebe and Duckworth performed a quiet set of haunting, sometimes droning folk music that left the Petfest crowd near the stage enthralled. The interplay between all three musicians created a cradle of warm sound reminiscent of the Nebraska prairies that surely inspired it. 

While the instruments were well balanced, Pratt’s voice was mostly lost in the mix, which meant the lyrics were lost as well, giving me a good reason to seek out the album for further listening. 

We high-tailed it out of Petfest after Pratt’s set, sweaty and mosquito-bitten, though it appeared the party was just getting started. I don’t know how many people endured the festival during the hottest moments of the day, but I have to believe judging by those on hand that night, Petfest was a success. 

Among the festival’s improvements this year was construction of a pergola over the outdoor stage area that was so new you could still smell the lumber. With the permanent structure, my hope is that the Benson First Friday (BFF) and Petshop teams will host more outdoor concerts, hopefully in the spring and fall when the weather is less abysmal. Until then, here’s to Petfest 2026.

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Singer/songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov returns to Omaha tonight, this time for a gig at The Astro Theater in La Vista. Isakov played a sold-out Admiral show in ’23 followed by an appearance that year at Outlandia Festival. The Boulder-by-way-of-South Africa musician’s last full-length was 2023’s Appaloosa Bones (Dualtone Music Group), though he’s released a number of singles since then, including the track “Flowers” with Nathaniel Rateliff. Tickets start at $46, 8 p.m. showtime.

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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.