OKC music genres break out, venues rise and fall in 2023

Last Updated on December 26, 2023, 11:11 PM | Published: December 26, 2023

OKLAHOMA CITY — 2023 was a volatile year for local music in Oklahoma City, seeing venues come and go and scene stars stepping out of their comfort zones and crossing sounds to fantastic effect.

The year began with some serious promise, filled to the brim with an unprecedented wealth of great venues and music spaces, and with the city still riding high on the unexpected breakout success of a few local favorites.

A year later, most OKC music conversations are shrouded in concerns for what remains of our local venue scene, worries of state policies and politics driving acts away, and questions surrounding the controversial new arena plans and its potential to put a bigger focus on the music world’s biggest draws.

Some of the scene’s mainstays remained mercifully stable this year, with 89th Street holding down their hub for the punk and protest communities (when they needed it most), and The Sanctuary successfully moving into a new location with plenty of help from the hardcore scene faithful.

Many other once-vital spaces weren’t so lucky.

But through it all, 2023 continued to prove what so many of those active in the scene have known for years:

The most exciting music is made when the community comes together.

From artists uniting to save a safe haven of expression to the blending of styles, sounds, and creative minds, this year was defined by partnerships, parties, pairings, and persistence.

Here’s a look at just some of the ways that 2023 will be remembered in OKC music.

Venues going

Last year was all about the excitement around the long-awaited explosion of great music venues around Oklahoma City and the Metro. This year, a lot of that excitement got turned on its head.

In January 2023, the city was still riding the high from Beer City Music Hall’s opening, the new mid-sized, pro-level venue from the operators of the larger Tower Theatre and the smaller, upstart-focused Ponyboy. Together, they’d planted their flag on the music scene and enjoyed a run as the ruling triumvirate of OKC venues, with near-constant great shows, covering everything from the best touring acts to showcases for the brightest locals.

But just as restaurants and bars began rapidly dropping away this year, so too did the economy rock the venue industry. By just a few short months into 2023, management and staff had been significantly shaken up in the Tower/Ponyboy/BCMH group, Ponyboy shifted away from concerts altogether, and Tower and Beer City both saw their bills lean predominantly toward guaranteed moneymakers like dance parties and tribute acts.

That meant that for the next few months, the most stacked, most diverse, and most exciting stage in town was surely the Blue Note, all recently remodeled and near-nightly spotlighting the very best in rock, country, jazz, and some truly unbeatable hip-hop showcases.

But once again, cost concerns and economic woes meant staffing shakeups and scaling down, resulting in the loss of a dedicated booker and a massive slowdown of great shows at the Note.

Which isn’t to say all is lost.

Blue Note still has some solid shows peppering the calendar (and a great partnership with Eastside Pizza,) Tower and Beer City are starting to roll out some more exciting upcoming slates, and I’m told that Ponyboy will soon begin working some live concerts back into its schedule.

But even as those spaces work to turn themselves back around, there’s another couple of stages that are lighting the way for the scene.

Venues coming

Ask anyone in the local music community what the best venue in OKC is right now and there’s a shockingly high chance they’ll say Resonant Head.

The colorful, creatively designed venue and event space inside Capitol Hill’s old Oklahoma Opry building likely takes the award for 2023’s biggest surprise, owing to the tight-knit team behind the scenes, many of whom are musicians and creatives themselves.

It’s become the stage for the city’s indie-rock and dream-pop scenes, and has hosted some of the most memorable shows of the entire year, from Plain Speak’s album release (featuring one of the year’s many fantastic Labrys sets) to the mighty Lincka leading a night of groundbreaking Hispanic artists.

But no venue has had a stronger tale of partnership in 2023 than Norman’s legendary Opolis.

After spending much of 2022 sadly shuttered, it was announced late last year that the doors would be reopened by a co-op of young musicians that had banded together to save the space, a move that’s resulted in Opolis once again placing among the very best venues in the state.

Though that news came last year, 2023 was the real test for the new “co-Opolis,” and the year saw a consistent and evolving slate of experimental sets, songwriter showcases, jazz brunches, and genuinely one of the best vegan menus anywhere.

Opolis has been an integral part of the Metro’s musical identity, and a vital refuge for the best weirdos and left-field artists, for decades, and the team behind its new life (most of whom are weirdos and left-field artists themselves) deserve some true praise for extending that legacy.

Indie-Rock reigns

There was definitely no shortage of great releases across every imaginable style, sound, or genre in 2023, but so many of the year’s heaviest hitters fell into the chiming, driving, effect-laden, heart-on-the-sleeve indie-rock category.

It felt obvious all the way back in March that Plain Speak’s fantastic “Calamity” would likely remain the album to beat all year, and here all these months later, it still tops the list, though it’s had plenty of fierce competition from within the same sound.

Mad Honey’s “Satellite Aphrodite” nailed their evolution toward the edgier side of shoegaze. Brotherboy’s “All My Friends are Breaking Up” placed them atop the city’s dream-pop roster. Big Weather’s “A Nice Try” packed in some of the most powerful, catchy choruses of the year. And “Songs to Sing Along To” from terrible thieves proved the sheer spirit and intensity of the rising young emo scene.

And of course, there was Labrys, continuing an insatiable run of practically perfect bleeding-heart, inner-demon anthems, each as chest-swelling and as deeply felt as the next. The full collection is set to drop as a complete album next year, meaning that it’s already a contender for the crown.

Hip-Hop breaking boundaries

Some of the year’s most rousing, undeniable offerings came from a number of the city’s best rappers casting off the confines of genre and collaborating across scenes, creating some remarkable groupings and dropping some of the hottest tracks and performances of 2023.

Eastside rap royalty Jabee joined forces with Brandon Birdwell, Ethan Neel, and Michael Trepagnier to form City Cinema, a cross-genre supergroup that dropped three singles in rapid succession, each wrestling with modern anxieties and existential hangups, and each a rock-solid reminder of how badly we need a full album.

Alt-rapper (and one of the city’s biggest underground names) S. Reidy not only tied the knot this year with longtime love (and equally bright star artist) Kelley Queen by throwing their own multi-genre mini-fest, he also teamed with punk pals Limp Wizurdz to drop the slamming “Plastic Moan.”

But I can honestly say the most unforgettable and beautiful night of music in 2023 came late in the year with December’s live album recording from the force of hip-hop nature that is Original Flow and his matchless new band the Wavvez, culled from across genres, communities, and scenes.

The band was on fire, laying down funk, heavy rock, soulful R&B, and jazz all in turn, commanded effortlessly by Flow and his boundless humor, energy, and thoughtful passion, and the admiration and straight-up love coursing through the audience at Factory Obscura felt life-affirming.

I’m told that the album they cut that night, the rapturous “Words for the Mindfull,” will drop as soon as it’s mixed, mastered, and ready to go. 

So keep your ears peeled and your minds open. 2024 is already shaping up to be an important year for OKC music.

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