Lincoln Invasion offers two nights of shows by Lincoln bands in three Omaha venues to help bridge the cities' live-music gap.
MICAH MERTES / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, June 18, 2009 12:00 am
The Lincoln and Omaha music scenes are a lot farther apart than a 45-minute drive.
Home to Saddle Creek Records and several wildly successful acts, Omaha has emerged as one of the country's brightest musical hotspots in the past decade. Smaller Lincoln boasts a tight-knit community of solid bands and artists, some on the brink.
The scenes have the makings (and the proximity) of a sister-city relationship.
And yet …
"You have a lot of bands from each town that are scared to death of going to play in the other town," said Jeremy Buckley, booking manager for Box Awesome and Bourbon Theatre. "They're so used to playing for those 200 people in their home spot they don't want to go somewhere so close just to play for nobody."
There's an anxiety that lives in that 50-mile stretch of I-80.
"We're trying to change that a little bit," Buckley said.
This weekend, the invisible barrier betwixt Lincoln and Omaha will take a major blow.
The Lincolnites are coming.
In the first-ever Lincoln Invasion, 22 local bands are heading to Benson to play for two nights at three venues.
The event is meant to bridge the gap.
Created by Buckley and Dub Wardlaw, booking and promotion for Duffy's Tavern, Lincoln Invasion was modeled after the local yearly events Lincoln Calling and Lincoln Exposed, which spotlight the best the music scene has to offer.
The 22 bands of Lincoln Invasion are staggered throughout Friday and Saturday so anyone attending could conceivably see nearly every show. And that's kind of the point. There's no main stage or headliner for this event.
"We really stressed the idea that we wanted this to be about everybody together and not one band," Wardlaw said. "This is about one collectiveness."
As with any strategized attack, this is only going to work if all the invaders are on the same page.
"Hopefully," said Ringo Witkowski, banjo player of Triggertown, one of the invading acts, "this will be an event that advances both communities. We'll see how it goes."
And if it goes well …
"I await the Omaha Invasion," he said.
Reach Micah Mertes at 473-7395 or mmertes@journalstar.com.