Last Updated on April 30, 2024, 5:15 PM | Published: April 30, 2024
It was supposed to be the biggest day ever for the Norman Music Festival.
The stages were built, the city was hungry, and headliners Alvvays were set to blast into the night’s closing slot as one of the most buzzed-about bands an NMF lineup had ever seen.
Instead, Saturday, April 27th became an indelible part of the festival’s history for entirely different reasons, as an increasingly concerning and potentially dangerous severe weather forecast forced the cancellation of the day’s events for the first time in NMF’s seventeen years.
It was, of course, the right call. Severe storms blew through Norman just as the night’s crowds would have reached their peak and just as deadly tornadoes were ripping through towns in southern Oklahoma.
But just as the gratitude and respect began to flow for NMF having made the tough decision, the unavoidable disappointment was also immediate. Performers – some from out of state – were missing their shot at festival glory, venues were missing the promise of a majorly lucrative day, and audiences were missing the capstone block party of Norman’s wildest weekend.
So without missing a beat, the co-op owners and managers of Norman’s micro venue institution Opolis popped into gear and set about planning, booking, and organizing a make-up mini-fest for the very next day, with the whole event going from brainstorming to public announcement in a matter of hours.
The result was the first-ever Tomorrowfest on Sunday, April 28th at Opolis.
“We’re just here trying to make lemonade,” said co-owner Laine Bergeron. “It all came together so quickly that we just didn’t have time to second-guess anything.”
Of course, it’s not the first time this team has rallied to save a Norman institution.
When the original owners and founders of Opolis announced in 2022 that they’d be stepping down and shuttering the beloved indie venue, this same team of artists and performers came together to collectively buy the space and keep it going as a co-op.
Since then, Opolis has had a renewed and refreshed lease in the OK music scene, maintaining its place as a destination for indie and experimental styles and even expanding the kitchen and leading a new double life as perhaps Norman’s best vegan restaurant.
“It’s just a community of people that really love music,” said Julius, one of Opolis’ worker-owners who uses the single-name moniker for all operations and performances. “We really just want to be a positive part of that and to help bridge the gap between NMF and Norman venues.”
With indoor stages like Opolis tasked with booking and organizing their own lineups for NMF, it was up to Opolis management themselves to reach all of their scheduled artists and break the bad news about the cancellation but also to see how many were willing to roll their plans into the following day.
“We reached out to all of our bands on Saturday, but obviously some of them were reaching out to us first, just saying ‘Hey, we’re not going to be able to make it because of this weather,’” Julius said. “So we just started asking, ‘Well, what about tomorrow?’”
Of course, not every scheduled act could make the next day work on such short notice, so once Opolis had their originally slated artists informed and taken care of, they began reaching out to other bands that’d had their Saturday sets canceled.
“The Opolis crew messaged us just a little while after we were told about the cancellation, and they asked if we’d be interested in hopping on the next day,” said Bee Pichardo, singer and leader of would-be NMF Main Stage performers Bee & The Hive.
“We honestly never quickly plan or quickly do anything,” Pichardo said, “but this time we all just immediately were like ‘yes, let’s do it tomorrow night.’”
It was likewise an easy decision for touring Denver-based psych-poppers Tarantula Bill, who were originally scheduled for the Opolis stage on Saturday.
“We’re on tour through Kansas and Oklahoma and Texas right now, but after Norman Music Fest, our next show isn’t until we play Houston on Friday,” said Tarantula Bill singer/guitarist Kendon McGehee. “So it was easy for us. We just said ‘Obviously we’d love to play the day it’s scheduled, but if the next day is available, we’re still here.’”
It wasn’t so immediately easy for every Tomorrowfest performer to say yes, though.
“They told me Saturday was canceled and asked if we’d be able to play the next day instead and I was like ‘no, actually, I have to work,’” said Michael Todd of Edmond-based folk-rockers Michael Todd & Kiara Day. “But I kept thinking about it and just felt like we’ve got to play. So I just called and canceled work and reached back out and said ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”
Even Beau Jennings, who was scheduled to headline the outdoor Gray Street Stage with his backing band The Tigers for NMF on Saturday, got in on Tomorrowfest, albeit sans-Tigers, and with a big last-minute change to his set that turned Tomorrowfest into a massive southern rock singalong.
“Thanks, everyone for coming together to try to salvage what we can,” Jennings said from the Opolis stage on Sunday. “I decided I’d just get up here today and play all the Tom Petty songs I know.”
That impromptu covers set actually became an unexpectedly poignant example of how the first-ever Tomorrowfest felt: less like the mammoth, organized undertaking that NMF would have been, and more like one big community party to celebrate how quickly and fully Oklahoma’s music scene can come together in love and support.
It was unquestionably a success. Hundreds flooded in and out of the Opolis doors throughout the day, with the buzziest acts like Bee & The Hive and Lincka packing the place to capacity with Main Stage-level crowds and headline-level sets.
“I’m just overwhelmed in my heart at how much the community has responded to us putting on Tomorrowfest,” Julius told me right outside the Opolis doors and just before sundown on that most unexpected of Sundays. “As we progress into the night and more and more people come out, I’m probably just going to cry.”
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
