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March 2007 had a serious run of shows. March 15th at Cain’s Ballroom was Flogging Molly with Street Dogs and Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. That is a strong bill. Then five days later, March 20th, Mastodon played the Diamond Ballroom with Priestess. That was a heavy one. Mastodon at The Diamond in 2007 is already a great show to look back on. Then add Priestess, and that bill gets even better. J...

This one goes back to the early days of Tantric. The guys are looking at a show with Tantric and Dust for Life. Dust for Life does not ring many bells. But Tantric definitely does. The big connection was Days of the New. Tantric had former members of Days of the New, basically the band without Travis Meeks. This was probably right around the time Tantric first started taking off. They had the tale...

May 2007 had a strong run of shows. May 1st, Billy Joel played the Ford Center. Then Gov’t Mule came through Cain’s Ballroom. May 7th, Kings of Leon played Cain’s. That is already a wild stretch. Billy Joel in the arena. Gov’t Mule at Cain’s. Kings of Leon building bigger momentum. Then May 9th brought Flyleaf and Kill Hannah to the Diamond Ballroom. 544 people showed up. And that one came with a...

L.A. Guns came through for the Man in the Moon album release party with Blemish May 17th at The Samurai. David booked L.A. Guns with Max at The Samurai, and the band had a new record coming out. Then the record company brought Max a deal. If he bought a certain number of units and sold them at the show, the band would do an in-store appearance. So he did it. The in-store happened at Choice Music o...

This one jumps across a few different lanes of Oklahoma rock. May 21st at Bricktown Live was All American Rejects with Over It and Hellogoodbye. Tickets were $15. This was the first time the Rejects had played that room. Before that, they had been playing smaller places like Curly’s. Now they were on a major label and moving into bigger rooms. Then May 26th brought Drowning Pool and Dry Kill Logic...

March 2001 had two very different shows. First up was Willie Nelson at In-Kahootz on March 6th. The show was listed at 1,841 people. And with Willie, they probably oversold the house. Because everybody wants to see Willie. The guys joke that Willie did not mind breaking the rules a little bit. He is an outlaw. Then March 11th brought a killer pop punk show to the Diamond Ballroom. MxPx headlining....

Altamont was supposed to be another Woodstock kind of moment. A massive West Coast concert with a legendary lineup. The Rolling Stones.  Grateful Dead.  Santana.  Jefferson Airplane.  Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  The Flying Burrito Brothers. On paper, that sounds unreal. But Altamont was not Woodstock. Everything changed when the Hell’s Angels were brought in. Instead of peace and love, the...

Real wrestling stories always hit different. The conversation starts with the Iron Sheik and the news of his passing. Then it shifts to Kevin Von Erich moving back to Texas from Hawaii and doing speaking engagements. That opens the door to the Von Erichs. And if you know Texas wrestling history, you know how big that name is. Then Max takes it back to the Monsters of Rock era. Van Halen. Metallica...

Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple, & Ted Nugent 2001 July 5, 2001. The Edge of Forever Tour hit The Zoo. Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Deep Purple.  Ted Nugent. That is a serious classic rock lineup. 5,148 people showed up, but the guys both agree it should have done even better. With a bill like that, it felt like it should have sold out. Then the conversation lands on Ronnie Van Zant. On the day they were reco...

This show was pretty legendary. Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie co-headlining. Ozzy went last. Rob Zombie was on the bill. And the opener was In This Moment. At that time, In This Moment was still basically unknown to a lot of people. They had played Oklahoma City before, but mostly in the smaller club world. Then suddenly, they were opening an arena show. Low man on the totem pole, but on a massive...

Chevelle has had a lot of hits. But more than that, they earned their crowd the hard way. Max says Chevelle is tight, and they worked for years to build that fan base. Nothing but respect for those guys. The conversation jumps to Chevelle playing Choctaw in 2023. That lineup had Loathe from Liverpool, 3 Days Grace, and Chevelle. And Chevelle was headlining over 3 Days Grace. That says a lot. Then...

June 24, 2005 was a busy night in Bricktown. Loretta Lynn was playing the Coca-Cola Bricktown Event Center. Graham Colton was playing Bricktown Live. Two different rooms. Same night. Max says this was the first time he ever produced Loretta Lynn. That is where he learned. The conversation gets tangled because everyone is trying to remember who worked which show. Graham Colton had The Hero Factor f...

Ogre, ohGr & Skinny Puppy June 28th. Ogre from Skinny Puppy came through, and it landed right on Max’s birthday. The local band was Thorazine, which is about as perfect as it gets for a show like this. Only 174 people showed up. But the flyer is what really takes over the conversation. Trippy. Weird. Dark. They show it to the camera because it is that strange. A baby with no head. A visual tha...

Skrillex, Strata, & In This Moment Meet At The Radio Station This is one of those stories where the timing looks crazy years later. Sonny Moore was playing The Conservatory before he fully became Skrillex. He had just left his screamo band, had a major label background, and was starting to do his own thing. At the time, he had released an independent EP with a song called “Skrillex.” Same nigh...

June 21, 2005 at Bricktown Live.  $15 ticket. Sold out. No big advertisement. No local band. No extra package. Just Mindless Self Indulgence . At that time, MSI had a completely underground following, and that crowd showed up strong. No radio push needed. Just fans who knew exactly what it was. Underground following. Sold-out room. One band. That was Bricktown Live in 2005.  #HeresTheDealPodcast #...

Rolling Stones & Who Shows At The American Airlines Center Some concert tickets come with a story before the show even starts. Max talks about seeing The Rolling Stones at the American Airlines Center. Merle Haggard was supposed to open, but he canceled the day of, or the day before. The tickets were comps from Merle Haggard’s camp. And Max says those were not tickets you could just give to an...

Everybody has a favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd song. But picking just one is hard. The conversation starts with the question. Do you mean songs they wrote, or songs they remade? Because with Skynyrd, even the covers became their own thing. The picks come out fast. “Don’t Ask Me No Questions.” “Call Me The Breeze.” “Simple Man.” “Tuesday’s Gone.” Then the deeper cuts start flying. “Curtis Loew.” “Four Wal...

Drag Boats, Hydroplanes, Tubing, & Water Skiing Back in the day, Lake Overholser had a whole different kind of energy. Hydroplane races. Drag boats. People lining the shores. In the 80s, drag boats were a huge deal. Max says his dad and his dad’s buddies had drag boats, and that is how he learned to water-ski. But there was one important rule. Do not put your thumb up. To most people, that mig...

This one goes deep into Dio history. The conversation starts with Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, Ozzy, Dio, and Rob Halford stepping in with Sabbath. Because apparently Ozzy would not play unless Dio did not sing. Classic rock drama. Then the memories shift to those huge Dio shows. Last in Line. Sacred Heart. The glowing ball. The dragon. That full theatrical Dio stage show. Then comes the Black...

Rod Stewart is one of those artists where even the side stories are legendary. The clip starts with Rod Stewart playing Lucas Oil Theatre on February 8, 2024. And of course, Jeff hits the line. “Tonight’s the night.” Then Max brings up working a Rod Stewart show at Choctaw Durant. That night, he had to hire a wardrobe girl on the fly. The wild part? She had no idea who Rod Stewart was. Rod actuall...

The Sno Core tour in 2001 came through Wichita with a stacked lineup. Fear Factory.  Kittie.  The Union Underground.  Slaves on Dope.  Boy Hits Car. That was the scene at the time. Heavy bands, industrial metal, nu metal, and clubs full of kids ready for something loud. Jeff says this was also where he met Dr. Evil. Then the conversation shifts to The Union Underground, a band that seemed to come...

Some bands never disappoint. Reverend Horton Heat is one of them. Jay says he has probably seen the Rev more than any other band, and every time, it is great. Jimbo on the standup bass. The bass getting turned sideways. The fretboard tricks. “Liquor in the front.” That psychobilly fire every single night. One of Max’s favorite memories was seeing Reverend Horton Heat with ZZ Top at the Brady Theat...

April 2001 had a solid run of heavy shows. April 4th, Jerry Cantrell played The Other Side with Comes with the Fall. April 5th, they were at the Will Rogers Theatre. Back to back Oklahoma dates. Then April 13th brought Drowning Pool, Slaves on Dope, and No One to The Other Side. That was right in the middle of the early-2000s heavy rock wave. Then April 20th, Static-X hit Cain’s Ballroom with Godh...

Getting George Strait tickets turned into a full Oklahoma land rush. The building changed the plan, sent everybody across the street, and told them that on the count of three, they had to run to the door. Wherever you landed was your place in line. No stopping cars. No calm ticket queue. Just a sprint for George Strait tickets. Then the story jumps to January 18, 2008 at Cain’s Ballroom with Nashv...

Pantera The Real Steel Tour 2001 March 20, 2001. Pantera at The Myriad. The Real Steel Tour. This was the Reinventing the Steel record cycle, and the lineup was brutal. Pantera.  Soulfly.  Morbid Angel.  Nothingface.  Passers. 3,844 people packed into The Myriad. Damn near 4,000 people for a heavy show. Tickets were $29.50, and it was also a Virgin Crab show, tying Larry into the night. Soulfly br...