Last Updated on April 2, 2024, 10:23 AM | Published: April 2, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY — Storms are raging, the nights are heating up, and here we are once again in Spring, that wonderfully festival-heavy time when local bands and performers overload bills and pop-up stages all over the state, offering audiences the best chances to catch leading locals alongside unexpected upstarts.
But before Downtown, the Paseo, and Norman each burst to life with their massive arts and music fests this season – shining a spotlight on which Oklahoman acts will be the talk of the year – this month is set to see a host of can’t-miss tours swinging through stages across OKC.
Sure, everyone has their eyes on the giant arena tours set to light up the Paycom Center this summer with the likes of Nicki Minaj and Zach Bryan, but April’s lineup of smaller-scale tours is bringing some of the wildest names in folk, rock, blues, and metal to local stages.
Neko Case – Tower Theatre – Wednesday, April 3rd
A legitimate contender for the world’s best living songwriter, Neko Case has blended everything from country-tinged folk, compositional jazz, and dark, junkyard rock into a singular and inimitable sound defined solely by her own attitude and her monumental talents as a lyricist.
In an already legendary, three-decade career, Case has seen acclaim as a driving force of alt-country and art-folk as well as indie-rock with her breakout band The New Pornographers, who graced the Tower stage less than one short year ago.
Though Case hasn’t dropped a new solo effort since 2018’s “Hell-On,” she’s still riding high on recent career retrospective “Wild Creatures,” so expect her Tower spot to include a handful of tracks looking back over her entire body of work.
For times, tickets, and more, visit towertheatreokc.com.
The Bright Light Social Hour – Resonant Head – Friday, April 5th
One of the most relentlessly touring, inexhaustibly energetic acts in modern rock, Austin-based quintet The Bright Light Social Hour have already made a few lasting marks on Oklahoma.
2014 saw them headline Norman Music Festival with a major main-stage show so full of life and love that they immediately became one of the city’s favorite recurring acts, coming back through Norman shortly after to pack the Opolis to the limits of its standing room.
It’s big guitar, big chorus rock music that somehow avoids “arena rock” pretension and instead holds on with both hands to the infectious, wild-eyed energy of an Austin bar band.
Whether or not you know their songs is irrelevant. Even if you’ve never heard a note from them before, they’ll have you clapping, chanting, and singing along by the end of practically every single song in their set, and when they finally leave the stage, you’ll be a fan.
For times, tickets, and more, visit resonanthead.com.
Dethklok – The Criterion – Wednesday, April 17th
Okay, yes, Dethklok is a fictional band from a cartoon. That’s true. But that doesn’t mean for one second that they’re fake or failing.
As the fictional focus of Cartoon Network’s “Metalocalypse,” Dethklok are the world’s most massive, brutal, world-conquering metal band (successful enough that they constitute one of the world’s top ten economies.)
In the real world, however, Dethklok is a collective of death-metal virtuosos led by mastermind creator/singer/songwriter/voice actor/face-melting guitar god Brendan Small.
Small took the task of creating earth-moving, guitar-blasting metal for the series so seriously that his fictional band has become one of the most lauded modern forces of death-metal culture. The “real” Dethklok has pulled in fans that would normally avoid such musical brutality and amassed a fanbase almost as cultish as the band’s loyal worshippers in the cartoon.
When performing live, the real, human band (led by Small) remains mostly in darkness beside a stage-sized video screen portraying the cartoon band members, scene-stealing side characters, and insane comedy of the series, so expect a full multimedia experience at The Criterion.
For times, tickets, and more, visit criterionokc.com.
Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel – Beer City Music Hall – Tuesday, April 23rd
Continuing with the month’s impressive showcase of masterful guitarists, Beer City is bringing the torch bearer of one of the most important legacies in blues-rock to OKC this month with Duane Betts and Palmetto Motel.
Duane is the son of Dickey Betts, co-founder, guitarist, and songwriter of the American national landmark that is the Allman Brothers Band.
Duane not only carries his father’s unmatched love and knowledge of blues guitar and classic rock intensity, but also carries the name of Dickey’s friend, bandmate, and lead-guitar sparring partner, the tragically departed (yet immortal) Duane Allman.
The younger Betts tends to blast through a setlist of originals from his own career with his backing band Palmetto Motel as well as extended jams on some of the Allman Brothers’ most beloved blues-rock classics like “Blue Sky” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”
If you’re a fan of blues guitar and rock-n-roll legacy, you’ll need to be at Beer City on the 23rd.
For times, tickets, and more, visit beercitymusichall.com.
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.
