This weekend, more than 5,000 music fans braved the heat to experience the newest addition to Oklahoma's festival scene,
FreeTulsa.
Organizers said the expected attendance more than met their conservative goal for the startup event, which rushed in this year to fill a void left after the popular
Dfest music festival and conference went on hiatus.
More than 120 bands performed through Saturday and Sunday on indoor and outdoor stages on the Cain's Ballroom corridor, including
Soundpony,
The Marquee,
Crystal Pistol,
Cain's Side Stage and the
Hunt Club.
Attendance came nowhere near the rival festivals annual attendance of 30-60,000 of past years' Dfest gatherings, but brought in good business with only a handful of heat-related issues and no arrests, said organizer Jeff Richardson.
Below is a slideshow from Day 1 of the event. More photos to come soon.
Flaming Lips frontman
Wayne Coyne stopped in with his wife
Michelle Martin-Coyne and family over the weekend and said he was a little let down by the heat and overall size of the turnout. But when he learned about the festival the day before they decided to drive in from Oklahoma City and pay the $10 per day entry fee to support it. They didn't perform, but caught a few of their favorites, including
the NON and
Slorder.
"This isn't Dfest, or even what Dfest tries to be," he said about the near decade-long festival that made its home in downtown but went on hiatus this year due to the economy. FreeTulsa picked up the dozens of bands that had committed to Dfest prior to Dfest's cancellation.
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