by Tim McMahan,  Lazy-i.com

So how was the inaugural One Omaha Festival this past weekend? The three-day event, which ran from June 13-15 at locations downtown, midtown and Benson, boasted bands from multiple genres playing on about a dozen stages.

One of the festival’s organizers, January Kristine, said One Omaha may return in 2025.

“We are thinking about doing it again next year!” she said via FB messenger. “I had a tremendous team of volunteers and we established great camaraderie and received some good feedback from the bands and venues. Some of the national acts were surprised how cool Benson is.”

Kristine said the fact that the festival coincided with the College World Series’ opening weekend may have impacted attendance. “It was tough to get people out to midtown and Benson,” she said. “However on the opening night (June 13) at our parking lot party and at our venue in Capitol District, we had a good amount of locals and tourists. I did hear from some people that they wished they knew more about the festival ahead of time.”

Kristine said Benson and midtown had “the usual locals” in attendance. “I think Shakedown Tavern, The Sydney and Waiting Room had the most people,” she said. “We had an outdoor open mic on (June) 14th and 15th with an artist market in Benson and we had a decent crowd.”

Kristine said organizers learned a lot from the experience. “With this being year one, there are many things to learn and take away from it,” she said. “Many performers are wanting to do it again next year. As far as ticket numbers, we are still going through all the details but overall, I think it was a success and I feel really positive about engaging the community across the city for three days. We really did have an inclusive line-up of a large variety of music….music brings people together!”

Omaha’s summer festival season continues July 19-20 with Grrrl Camp at Falconwood Park in Bellevue, which arguably has the best lineup of up-and-coming touring indie acts of any local festival. Check out the line-up here. 

In fact, since it’s Tuesday, here are the touring indie show dates on my radar. Please plan accordingly: 

• June 20 – Aquarian Blood @ Grapefruit Records
• June 25 – French Cassettes @ The Slowdown
• July 7 – X @ The Waiting Room
• July 8 – The Baseball Project @ The Waiting Room
• July 15 – Etran de L’Air @ The Waiting Room
• July 18 — Blanky at Pageturners Lounge
• July 19-20 – Grrrl Camp @ Falconwood
• July 24 – Caspian @ The Waiting Room
• July 31 – SNÕÕPER @ Reverb
• Aug. 3 – Orville Peck @ The Admiral
• Aug. 3 – Shiner @ Reverb
• Aug. 7 – Cults @ The Waiting Room
• Aug. 9-10 – Outlandia Music Festival @ Falconwood
• Aug. 15 – PACKS @ The Slowdown
• Aug. 17 — Petfest @ Petshop Gallery
• Sept. 12 – Soft Kill @ The Slowdown
• Sept. 21 – Built to Spill @ The Waiting Room
• Sept. 24 – Why? @ The Slowdown
• Sept. 25 – Descendents @ The Admiral
• Oct. 1 – Jungle @ The Astro
• Oct. 4 – Brigitte Calls Me Baby @ Reverb
• Oct. 4 – Turnover @ The Slowdown
• Oct. 5 – Fontaines D.C. @ The Slowdown
• Oct. 16 – Mdou Moctar @ The Waiting Room 
• Oct. 17 – Superchunk @ The Waiting Room
• Oct. 18-19 – Cursive @ The Waiting Room
• Oct. 22 – Psychedelic Furs/Jesus and Mary Chain @ The Astro
• Oct. 26 – Porches @ Reverb

Am I missing something? Let me know…

* * *

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.