Oaktopia Adds Polyphonic Spree, Eisley, Kim & Kevin Drew and More To Already Impressive Lineup.
If the local music festival booking industry was as over-the-top as, say, professional boxing, we'd all have spent the last few weeks circling September 25 and 26 on our calendars and calling it something along the lines of The Flex in the 'Plex or, more likely, some less cheesy name like The Showdown of The Century.
Alas, the local music festival booking industry isn't quite so rabid a spectator sport. But it's a pay-per-view deal in its own right, to be sure. And, in turn, the fourth weekend in September has looked mighty interesting on paper these last few weeks given its promise of two area music festivals with individual designs on being the biggest fest around — Spune Productions' Index Festival in Dallas and the upstart Monocle, Inc's Oaktopia Festival in Denton — competing within the same calendar space.
Just think of the juicy storylines! Will these two fest completely undermine one another? Or will they prove against all odds that Dallas can not only support one such deal on a single weekend but, in fact, two such simultaneous offerings?
Making this all the more interesting: As Oaktopia has made impressive advances in preparation for its own upcoming dates — already announcing Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Minus The Bear, Thundercat, Father and more for its latest go — things have been dead quiet on the Index Fest front. Aside from an early-bird ticket-purchasing link hosted through local ticketing company Prekindle— which has long been up and served until now to confirm the fest's dates — the fest has yet to announce any further details of note about its offering. In fact, aside from a few posts promoting last month's JMBLYA Fest from ScoreMore Shows, Index's Facebook page has been wholly quiet since February. Even more concerning? At this very moment, the festival's own website appears to be down.
This morning, the Spune team promises it'll have something to say on the matter real soon. Whether that's its own lineup announce or, perhaps more likely, a change of date — well, that's still unknown as of now.
And, though it's tough to say how much Oaktopia's own moves have played a part in Spune's decision-making (or lack thereof), it's easy to see how Index might be scared — especially in light of some more reveals out of the Oaktopia camp this morning.
Today, Oaktopia announces that it's adding The Polyphonic Spree, Eisley, Bright Light Social Hour, Mineral, Ruby Amanfu, Desert Noises, Will Johnson (formerly of Centro-matic), Roger Sellers, Kim & Kevin Drew (of Broken Social Scene) and the promise of "a surprise guest" to its offerings. This is on top of a still-coming extended lineup of locals that should number more than 50 when all is said and done.
Come to think of it, maybe this world is more interesting than boxing. Here's looking forward to continued developments.
In the meantime, tickets for Oaktopia are currently on sale right here, starting at $57 for a three-day pass or $99 for three-day VIP access. Ticket prices are still expected to rise as the event nears.
Cover photo of The Polyphonic Spree by Karlo X. Ramos.