September 13, 2003 — Curly’s. Dropkick Murphys with Last Target and The Unseen. DCF and AEG. One of those Curly’s nights that proved you didn’t need a polished venue to have a legendary show. Curly’s was raw back then. Vacant-lot energy. Dirt and torn-down buildings nearby. But the shows hit.

Then the next night, September 14, 2003 — Diamond Ballroom.

All hell broke loose.

Superjoint Ritual headlining with Strapping Young Lad and Spooky Fruit on the bill. 459 people in the room, but the energy was bigger than the number. This was Superjoint Ritual in their early, unfiltered era.

And yes — that was the show where Hank Williams III (Shelton) was on bass.

Phil Anselmo up front. Heavy support. Tight room. Loud crowd. A night that stuck.

Two nights like that are why 2003 was such a blur.

Punk mayhem at Curly’s one night.
 Metal chaos at the Diamond the next.

That’s Oklahoma show business in real time.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #DropkickMurphys #TheUnseen #SuperjointRitual #StrappingYoungLad #DiamondBallroom #Curlys #PunkShows #MetalShows #OKCMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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The dates matter here. Not July 24th. It was July 29th and 30th.

One of those nights was at Cain's Ballroom and it was a Mad Max style build. Two stages, constant changeovers, and a lineup that felt like a roster sheet of that era.

Udora headlining the mix with Midnight to 12, Wither, Makeshift, Rook, Cynical Theory, All Too Familiar, Vent, Waiting on Juliet, Oversold, Trip C, and Fighting Tomorrow.

This wasn’t random booking. Udora mattered. David’s band. They’d been on the road with Jerry Cantrell. They finally had a record out under the Eudora name, and this was the home-market push.

And here’s the other layer.

A commercial got made for it. Those old-school local promos that actually moved people. That was part of the grind too. If you weren’t touring, you were promoting. If you weren’t promoting, you were building a stage. If you weren’t building, you were selling tickets.

Two nights like that weren’t just shows.

They were a snapshot of a scene trying to break out, one packed weekend at a time.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #udora #CainsBallroom #TulsaMusic #TwoStageShow #Wither #JerryCantrell #LocalMusicScene #2000sRock #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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The Flaming Lips. Liz Phair. Starlight Mints.

That night wasn’t just a great bill. It was work.

Assistant promoter rep. Managing runners. Checking in merch. Counting money. Keeping the machine moving while the crowd kept coming. And it was a big merch night.

Because the Flaming Lips don’t do average merch.

They’re known for those killer tour posters. Unique designs that feel like art prints, not souvenirs. I had one. Got it signed. One of those pieces you don’t just toss in a box.

Years later, after a fire, that poster showed up again in the rubble. Still there. Still mine. Not mint anymore, but surviving a fire gives it a different kind of value.

That’s live music.

You remember the show.
 You remember the job.
 And sometimes you find the proof of it years later, burned around the edges but still standing.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #FlamingLips #LizPhair #StarlightMints #BricktownEventCenter #ConcertMerch #TourPoster #LiveMusicStories #OKCMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen  #oklahomacity

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That’s the kind of date that tells you everything about momentum.

Not long before, The Killers were playing Bricktown Live, a 400-cap room on a weekend. Tight stage. Close crowd. The kind of show where you can feel the whole room breathe together.

Fast forward.

Now it’s a Monday night, and The Killers are sold out at the Coca-Cola Bricktown Event Center.

Bigger venue. Bigger stakes. Bigger footprint.

That’s the jump every band wants, and most never make.

And it didn’t stop there.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #TheKillers #SoldOutShow #BricktownEventCenter #BricktownLive #Throwdown #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen  #oklahomacity

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June 20th, River Parks in Tulsa — Third Eye Blind. Great setting, perfect summer venue energy, one of those nights that feels easy and fun.

Then June 24th, 2003 — Queensrÿche and Dream Theater at the Brady Theater. If you’re a prog-metal nerd, that’s the dream bill. Both bands played full headlining sets. Not a “co-headline” in name only. Real sets. Real time. Hours of music. Queensrÿche hits tight and sharp, Dream Theater takes you way out into the deep end.

The next night, June 25th — Tulsa’s Other Side goes full throttle. Shadows Fall, Sworn Enemy, Grade 8, and Disjointed. This was peak circle pit era. Sworn Enemy’s set wasn’t just heavy — it was brutal, hardcore the way people remember it.

That’s the contrast that made that time special.

One week you’re on the river with Third Eye Blind.
 Next you’re five hours deep into prog-metal mastery.
 Then you’re in a Tulsa club watching the pit turn into a storm.

Different rooms. Different crowds. Same month.

That was 2003.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Queensryche #DreamTheater #ThirdEyeBlind #BradyTheater #RiverParks #TulsaMusic #ShadowsFall #SwornEnemy #ConcertStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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Tulsa is talking about a new amphitheater on the river, with River Parks being one of the locations in the mix. Oklahoma City is also planning a brand-new amphitheater, and the same development group is tied to both projects.

That’s a big deal.

Early renderings have people talking for a different reason too. A 12,000-seat outdoor venue concept with open fire features built into the layout. From a live-event standpoint, that triggers real questions about insurance, fire marshal approvals, licensing, crowd flow, and what happens when the energy spikes in a packed amphitheater.

If these builds happen, routing changes. Tour economics change. Casino competition changes. The entire Oklahoma market gets a new map.

And it all circles back to what we’ve always said. The venue matters as much as the band.

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 #HeresTheDealPodcast #OklahomaConcerts #OKCMusic #TulsaMusic #Amphitheater #LiveMusicBusiness #ConcertProduction #RiverParks #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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And if you’ve never worked a Weird Al merch table, you haven’t seen true efficiency.

This was the Poodle Hat Tour era. Goofy poodles everywhere. Wild graphics. Deep catalog items. UHF DVDs. Tour books. Shirts numbered like a menu.

But here’s what made it different.

Weird Al fans are the nicest fans in the business.

No exaggeration.

They walk up like they’re ordering at a restaurant:

“I’ll take number one, extra large.”
 “Number two, large.”
 “Number three, medium.”
 “Tour book.”
 “DVD.”

They already have their cash out. Exact change. No chaos. No attitude. No digging for wallets. Just smooth, polite, rapid-fire transactions.

And they buy more per person than almost anyone.

Not one shirt.
 Three shirts.
 DVD.
 Poster.
 Tour book.

You’re counting stacks of items and they’re smiling the whole time.

Then there was the weather situation.

Storm rolls through. Merch gets soaked. After count-out, the rep basically says, “Do whatever you want with it.”

So we loaded up boxes of wet Weird Al merch.

For years, I was giving away Poodle Hat Tour gear as Christmas gifts.

That’s the kind of weird, random win that only happens in this business.

Weird Al might parody rock stars.

But his merch game?

Elite.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #WeirdAl #PoodleHatTour #DiamondBallroom #ConcertMerch #MerchLife #LiveMusicBusiness #TourStories #OKCMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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They don’t talk merch.

Here’s a number for you.

ZZ Top — two casinos — two days — almost $200,000 in merch.

One merch table.

Let that sink in.

That wasn’t arena-level production. That was casino routing. Durant and Miami. Markets that had never seen ZZ Top up close like that. And when those towns see their name on the shirt?

They buy.

Hard.

I ran the merch in Miami and then turned right around and ran it again in Durant. Broke records. Big numbers. Real money. Those weren’t casual buyers. That was hometown pride meeting legendary band status.

And yes, you better have the right sellers.

If you don’t move people through the line, you leave money sitting on the table.

Compare that to the Ryman Auditorium situation — one merch table, 45-minute wait. You cap your own ceiling with poor setup. Fans will wait, but you’re throttling revenue.

And here’s the kicker.

The first time people saw this kind of merch performance at a casino was when we started doing it in Durant.

It wasn’t just selling shirts.

It was strategy.

City-specific prints. Limited runs. Hometown recognition. Price structure dialed in.

Same model worked for KISS in Durant too. Cleaned house.

Merch isn’t an afterthought.

It’s a second box office.

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 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ZZTop #KISS #ConcertMerch #CasinoShows #DurantOK #MiamiOK #LiveMusicBusiness #MerchLife #RockAndRollStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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July 8th, 2004 — 7Mary3 at Bricktown Live with Headroom and Pulltoy. That was the era where some names were still moving tickets, even if they were past their radio peak. Bricktown Live was still pulling solid $15–$16 nights in a tight room. Those were great prices for real lineups.

Then July 9th — Rooney, Straylight Run, and Ozma. That was a strong indie bill. Ozma had a cult following. Straylight Run had crossover appeal. Small room, real energy.

July 10th — split cities. In Springfield, Missouri:

Candiria
 36 Crazyfists
 Twelve Tribes

Seventeen bucks. Tight room. Springfield always had a cool rock vibe. College town. Built-in audience. Four colleges in town. Rock bands always did well there.

And in the middle of that stretch? The Kottonmouth Kings era.

Hip-hop meets punk. Weed culture meets touring grind. Packed merch tables. Fan bases that traveled.

Different genres. Same hustle.

Small rooms. Good ticket prices. Real crowds.

That was 2004.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #KottonmouthKings #7Mary3 #Ozma #36Crazyfists #BricktownLive #SpringfieldMO #2004Concerts #LiveMusicHistory #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Not the other downtown outdoor Evanescence show — this was the real Edgefest lineup:

Evanescence
 Mudvayne
 Cold
 Blue October
 Smile Empty Soul
 Revis
 Fanzeen (Tulsa band with a British lead singer)

Stacked bill. Outdoor. Packed. Wall-to-wall people.

Merch was flying.

Jeff and Sean were selling. I was responsible for checking in merch and counting money. It was nonstop. No breaks. No breathing room. Just rush after rush.

Finally, there’s a tiny window.

We grab corn dogs.

Mustard in a cup. Standing there inhaling food for the first time all day while the crowd is still buzzing.

And that’s when the manager from Fanzeen storms up wanting to check out and settle.

No pause. No grace. No awareness that we’d been running full speed since load-in.

And that’s when it happened.

“Look, lady, I’m eating my corn dog.”

Not aggressive. Not dramatic. Just honest.

You get these moments in live music where you’re juggling thousands of dollars in merch, multiple bands, packed crowds — and the only thing standing between you and collapse is a five-minute corn dog break.

Edgefest was chaos in the best way.

Huge lineup. Big personalities. Even bigger tempers.

And sometimes the most memorable moment of the day isn’t the headliner.

It’s defending your right to finish your corn dog.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Edgefest #Evanescence #Mudvayne #BlueOctober #SmileEmptySoul #MerchLife #ConcertStories #LiveMusicBusiness #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Talking to Mom.

Trying to explain:

“Look… it’s not what you think.”
 “It was acting.”
 “It was a performance.”

And honestly, once you start explaining a church-set rock video involving Jesse Jane, you realize pretty quickly there’s only so far that conversation can go.

At some point you just accept it.

Still, the whole experience was surreal in the best possible way.

Getting asked out of nowhere to be part of a music video. Walking into it without fully knowing what was going to happen. Seeing it all come together at the church shoot.

Josh and Jay were there sitting in the pews during the performance scenes. The actual lap dance footage had been filmed separately the day before and edited together later. What everyone witnessed live at the church was the performance portion of the shoot.

Classic mid-2000s rock video production.

And when you look back at that era, it’s even crazier realizing Jesse Jane was already tied into the Oklahoma music scene enough that she appeared on backstage passes and venue laminates around the same time.

One minute you’re working concerts.
 Next minute you’re explaining to your mom why you’re in a rock video called Devil’s Daughter.

That’s rock and roll.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ShotgunRebellion #DevilsDaughter #JesseJane #RockVideo #BehindTheScenes #MyspaceEra #OKCMusic #RockAndRollStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Santana
 Chicago
 Foghat

Or:

Aerosmith
 The J. Geils Band
 Ten Years After
 New Riders of the Purple Sage

Those bills were wild. Rock. Blues. Psychedelic. Country-rock. All on one stage. Promoters like Bill Graham were known for mixing it up.

Genre purity wasn’t the point.

Energy was.

Fast forward to now.

You’ve got:

Anthrax
 Black Label Society
 Exodus

Still crossing lanes within subgenres. Thrash. Groove. Classic heavy metal. Same night. Same room.

But here’s the bigger question:

Can those kinds of bills survive in casinos?

It comes down to risk.

Band risk.
 Management risk.
 Casino risk.

Would a casino take a full-blown Exodus show? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on the market. On the appetite. On whether 1,300 metalheads on a Tuesday night is considered a win or a warning sign.

And let’s be honest.

Anthrax has played the Diamond Ballroom to far less than that. Sometimes metal crowds fluctuate. Timing matters. Holidays matter. Valentine’s Day matters.

The question isn’t whether the genres can cross.

They always have.

The question is how much appetite the venue has for it.

Rock bills in the ‘70s didn’t care about clean marketing categories.

Modern venues do.

But the fans?

They still just want the show.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Anthrax #BlackLabelSociety #Exodus #ConcertHistory #GenreCrossing #MetalShows #RockBills #LiveMusicBusiness #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Mid-September was a wild swing in genres.

September 15th at Bricktown Live — Twiztid and Anybody Killa. Different crowd. Different energy. Juggalo scene. Paint. Chaos outside the venue before doors.

That was the night Lisa was running. Instructions were simple: clean it up or you’re not coming in. Trash on the lot wasn’t flying. You couldn’t leave that kind of mess sitting out front. That was also one of those nights where tempers ran high and you ended up planted outside dealing with it.

One night later, total pivot.

September 16th and 17th — ZZ Top outdoors at the Zoo Amphitheatre, then at Buffalo Run Casino, and then down to Durant.

Multiple ZZ Top shows stacked back-to-back in different markets.

Steel stage build in Miami. Outdoor production. Casino routing. Different crowd, different expectations, same tight turnaround. You go from Twiztid’s fan base one night to ZZ Top’s blues-rock faithful the next.

Zoo. Miami. Durant.

That’s the life.

Genre doesn’t matter. Production still has to hit. The crowd still expects the show. And when you’re bouncing between hip-hop horrorcore and Texas boogie in a 48-hour window, you better stay sharp.

That stretch sums up the era perfectly.

No lane.
 No limits.
 Just show after show.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Twiztid #ZZTop #BricktownLive #ZooAmphitheatre #BuffaloRunCasino #MiamiOK #DurantOK #LiveMusicBusiness #ConcertLife #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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June 2003 was a blur.

June 10th, 2003 — Staind and Cold at the Bricktown Event Center. That was peak momentum. One show ends, the next one loads in. Chef catering. Mark Lemon. Production dialed in. Bricktown Event Center was firing on all cylinders.

Cold was strong then. Still are. Staind? Aaron Lewis has always been polarizing, but at that moment they were moving serious tickets. Post-grunge radio was massive. That room was rocking.

Then eight days later.

June 18th, 2003 — Red Hot Chili Peppers with Snoop Dogg at the Ford Center.

Different scale entirely.

This was the Californication era for the Chili Peppers. Global-level band. Arena production. Massive draw. And Snoop opening with a full band, not just a DJ set.

Snoop didn’t headline that night.

He opened.

And yes, that was the tour where you could smell the bus before you saw it. Someone had to bring the “medicine,” and Snoop handled that lane.

2003 felt like show business at its finest.

Rock one night. Hip-hop the next. Arena scale. Theater scale. Promoters hustling nonstop.

Staind.
 Cold.
 Chili Peppers.
 Snoop Dogg.

That stretch right there was when things were clicking.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Staind #ColdBand #RedHotChiliPeppers #SnoopDogg #FordCenter #BricktownEventCenter #2003Concerts #LiveMusicHistory #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Going back through old laminates and backstage passes will bring back some wild memories.

One of them?

Drowning Pool backstage. Cain’s Ballroom date. Bricktown date. And printed right there among Oklahoma’s “finest” was Jesse Jane.

And this wasn’t random.

Because at that same time, there was the Devil’s Daughter video with Shotgun Rebellion.

3130 Studios. Clark Dealcast shooting. Same space where other projects had happened before. Different energy this time.

And suddenly the question pops up:

“Max Baker, you wanna be in a music video?”

With Jesse Jane.

Not only was Max in it. So were Josh and Jay in the crowd. Lisa was there. Carrie was there. Whole crew embedded in what turned into one of those “you can’t make this up” Oklahoma rock stories.

It all overlaps.

Drowning Pool backstage passes. Jesse Jane appearances. Devil’s Daughter video shoot. Local studio. Same circle of musicians, promoters, and personalities crossing paths.

That era was small enough that everybody touched the same moments.

And weird enough that twenty years later, you’re still connecting the dots.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #DrowningPool #JesseJane #ShotgunRebellion #DevilsDaughter #CainBallroom #OKCMusic #BackstageStories #RockAndRollEra #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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They were one of the biggest country bands in America.

Arena-level draw. Major production. Real money on the line.

And here’s the situation.

We’re in Oklahoma. No long résumé of massive shows behind us. No built-in credibility. When that contract comes in for a band that size, it’s not automatic.

You don’t just get handed that show.

You have to talk. You have to explain the vision. You have to convince them you can actually produce it. Because they’re not giving that kind of act to just anyone.

And the numbers?

High.

Production rider? Serious.
 Stage specs? Real.
 Expectations? No room for error.

If a band that big believes in you enough to send the contract and say, “Produce it,” you better be ready.

There are no second chances at that level.

You’re either one and done.

Or you’re one… and the door opens for many more.

So what do you do?

You surround yourself with the best crew you trust. You build the stage. You meet the rider. You execute.

Because when you land a show like Rascal Flatts at their peak, it’s not just a concert.

It’s a test.

And if you pass it, your credibility changes overnight.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #RascalFlatts #CountryMusicHistory #ConcertProduction #LiveMusicBusiness #OklahomaShows #ArenaLevel #BehindTheScenes #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen 

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Bile
 Nocturne
 Blunt Force Trauma
 Lowlife

On paper, it looked aggressive. Underground. Heavy.

In reality?

It had loss written all over it.

Twenty years later you can laugh about it. Back then, it wasn’t funny. It was one of those nights where you could hear your dad’s voice in your head saying, “I told you so. Don’t do it.”

And there goes the savings.

The only reason Bile got booked was history. They were the band blowing fire at Foundation Forum when we were first crossing paths with GWAR and hanging around James and Forte. There was nostalgia. There was belief. There was loyalty.

But belief doesn’t always equal ticket sales.

The local bands were solid. Blunt Force Trauma. Lowlife. The scene was there.

The crowd wasn’t.

If you had to guess? Maybe under 250 people. And in a room like the Diamond Ballroom, when it’s that light, you feel every empty square foot.

That’s part of the business nobody glamorizes.

You win big.
 You lose bigger.
 And if you stay in long enough, you collect both stories.

Some shows build your name.

Some shows cost you.

This one cost. 

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ConcertLoss #DiamondBallroom #Bile #IndustrialMetal #LiveMusicBusiness #PromoterLife #RockStories #OKCMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Superjoint Ritual headlining Madd Maxx’s Metal Bash. Not the shortened Superjoint era. This was early. First album. Raw. Violent. Loud.

Lineup stacked.

Strapping Young Lad
 Spooky Fruit
 Superjoint Ritual

About 459 people in the building, but it felt like triple that once the floor started moving.

And yes — that was the show where Hank Williams III was on bass.

Phil Anselmo fronting it. Kevin Bond on guitar. Hank III holding down the low end. That lineup doesn’t happen every year.

It was one of the last Metal Bash events in that run. The 14th or 15th edition. Hard to remember the exact number. When you’ve built that many heavy shows, they start to blur together.

But this one didn’t.

Superjoint Ritual in that era was pure hostility. No polish. No radio ambitions. Just aggression and chaos in a packed room at the Diamond.

That’s what Metal Bash was built for.

No arena safety net. No corporate sponsorship glow. Just bodies on a concrete floor and riffs hitting like a hammer.

Those were the nights you felt in your bones.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #SuperjointRitual #PhilAnselmo #HankWilliamsIII #StrappingYoungLad #MetalBash #DiamondBallroom #OKCMetal #LiveMusicHistory #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Let that sink in.

Thirteen years old.
 Lloyd Noble Center.
 Mothership era.

That wasn’t just a concert. That was a cultural experience.

Lights. Funk. Basslines you could feel in your ribs. Costumes. Energy. Controlled chaos. Parliament-Funkadelic in that era wasn’t a band. It was a movement.

Bootsy with the star glasses. The grooves. The theatrics. The whole arena felt like it was levitating.

And yeah, it was the first time being exposed to things I probably wasn’t ready for. Parking lot culture. Crowd culture. Being the only white kid rolling with older black guys who knew exactly what they were walking into.

I thought I was gonna die that night.

But I also learned something.

Music isn’t just sound. It’s environment. It’s tribe. It’s stepping into someone else’s world and realizing it’s bigger than yours.

Parliament-Funkadelic on the Mothership tour was one of those life-marker shows. The kind that rewires how you see live music forever.

I’ve still got Bootsy records. Even some autographed Funkadelic vinyl from original members.

Some shows entertain you.

Some shows initiate you.

That was one of them.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ParliamentFunkadelic #BootsyCollins #MothershipTour #FunkHistory #ConcertMemories #LloydNoble #LiveMusicStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Before the permanent venues. Before the easy load-ins.

We built it from the ground up.

On the backside of a parking lot in Miami, Oklahoma. Facing east toward what everyone jokingly called “the mushroom field.” No existing infrastructure. No pre-hung rigging. Just open space and a plan.

And it wasn’t a small setup.

It was a massive steel stage.

First time ever building a full steel stage system from scratch. Labor crews. Long days. Layout adjustments. Wind considerations. Electrical runs. Everything had to be calculated. Everything had to hold.

That stage hosted some heavy hitters.

Rascal Flatts
 ZZ Top
 Lynyrd Skynyrd

Rascal Flatts out there in the open air.
 ZZ Top on a custom-built platform in the middle of a parking lot.
 Skynyrd came through after that run.

The first Skynyrd show held. The second one, a year later, had its own story.

That’s the thing about building your own stage.

You control it.
 You risk it.
 You own it.

No permanent amphitheater. No arena walls. Just steel, decking, truss, and trust that you did the math right.

And when the lights came on and the crowd filled in?

It didn’t feel like a parking lot anymore.

It felt like a festival ground.

#HeresTheDealPodcast #RascalFlatts #ZZTop #LynyrdSkynyrd #StageBuild #ConcertProduction #MiamiOK #LiveMusicIndustry #RockAndRollStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Country first set.
 Assjack second set.
 Two completely different worlds in one room.

We had done Hank before at the Will Rogers in Oklahoma City, but we kept telling him about Cain’s. Telling him about the history. The ghosts in the walls. The legends on the stage.

That night it happened.

DCF, Doc Rock, and Choice presents. Packed house. Full circle moment.

The part that sticks the most wasn’t even during the show.

It was earlier in the day.

Hank walking the venue quietly, studying the photos on the walls. Looking at the history. And at one point standing under the image of his grandfather, Hank Williams.

That’s lineage. That’s weight.

You could feel the gravity of that room when he was in it.

Yes, there are bootleg videos floating around from the Will Rogers show in Oklahoma City. Some from Cain’s too. Raw. Loud. Unfiltered. That era wasn’t about polished livestreams. It was about word of mouth and shaky handheld footage that people still hunt down today.

Hank III at Cain’s was different.

Honky-tonk roots. Metal fury. Full throttle.

And whenever he decides to tour again, you already know the call gets answered.

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 #HeresTheDealPodcast #HankWilliamsIII #Assjack #CainsBallroom #TulsaMusic #HankIII #OutlawCountry #MetalAndCountry #LiveMusicHistory #DCFConcerts #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Now they’re headlining with a different kind of conversation happening around them.

Godsmack has publicly hinted that this may be the final major run. Fewer tours. More one-offs. Possibly no more records. That’s a shift.

So what’s next?

The casino model.

We’ve seen it before.

Aerosmith
 Mötley Crüe
 Def Leppard
 Poison
 Joan Jett

Residencies. Multi-night casino runs. Destination weekends. It’s not a downgrade. It’s a pivot.

The real question is this:

Can Godsmack hit that tier?

Could they do three nights in a row at a major casino property? A week-long residency? A rotating run across the country?

There’s also a philosophical layer.

A lot of 90s and early-2000s hard rock and post-grunge bands came up with an anti-corporate, anti-establishment identity. Casinos can feel corporate. Branded. Structured.

Does that mindset stop them?

Maybe early in their career.

But lifestyle doesn’t pay for itself.

If you want to maintain production value, crew, homes, families, and legacy — you either tour, stream, or find a model that works.

And casinos work.

The real metric isn’t attitude. It’s relevance.

Can you still draw?
 Can you sell rooms?
 Can you move tickets in a destination market or a regional one?

If the answer is yes, the stage doesn’t matter.

The building just changes.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Godsmack #CasinoResidency #RockBusiness #Aerosmith #MotleyCrue #DefLeppard #LiveMusicIndustry #RockLegacy #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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This one definitely did.

Shotgun Rebellion filmed the video for Devil’s Daughter inside a church. Dark setting. Controversial concept. And somehow Max ends up co-starring alongside Jesse Jane.

That’s when the realization hit.

“Wait… I’m filming a music video in a church with a porn star?”

And not just any adult star. Jesse Jane was one of the biggest names in the industry at that time. The whole thing felt surreal from the start.

The video leaned all the way into the shock factor. Baptismal scenes. Lap dance moments. Full late-2000s edgy rock-video energy. Exactly the kind of thing that would spread around MySpace and early YouTube instantly.

And yes, according to Max, “what she did to me, people paid thousands for.”

That’s rock and roll storytelling right there.

One minute you’re helping put together concerts. Next minute you’re inside a church filming Devil’s Daughter with Jesse Jane while Shotgun Rebellion blasts in the background.

Only in that era.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #JesseJane #ShotgunRebellion #DevilsDaughter #RockVideo #MyspaceEra #BehindTheScenes #RockAndRollStories #OKCMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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It wasn’t just stacked.

Every band on that stage was booked by the same agent — Tim Borror.

One agent. One package. Multiple subgenres. Total domination.

When that happens, everything runs smoother. Routing makes sense. Negotiations are streamlined. Relationships are tight. It’s strategic.

And look at what that package covered:

Lamb of God – modern American metal powerhouse
 Clutch – groove-heavy hard rock
 Opeth – progressive extreme metal
 Unearth – Massachusetts metalcore
 From Autumn to Ashes – emo/post-hardcore
 Norma Jean – chaotic metalcore
 Poison the Well – hardcore-influenced metal
 Every Time I Die – Southern-fried hardcore chaos
 Madball – New York hardcore
 Throwdown – crossover hardcore
 High on Fire – stoner metal
 GWAR – theatrical metal insanity
 DevilDriver – groove-driven metal assault

That’s every branch of metal represented in one day.

Hardcore. Metalcore. Progressive. Stoner. Groove. Theatrical shock metal.

And yes — that was the first wall of death some of us ever saw in person.

From a business perspective, this is why it worked. When one agent controls the roster, you can build a traveling ecosystem. Shared routing. Shared marketing push. Shared audience overlap.

You could still put that bill together today and move serious tickets.

That’s smart packaging.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #TimBorror #MetalHistory #SoundsOfTheUnderground #LambOfGod #Clutch #Opeth #DevilDriver #WallOfDeath #ConcertBusiness #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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This was the Killswitch show that never happened.

Somewhere along the way they got hung up — Wichita Falls, Texas, if memory serves. Didn’t make it. No show.

And the kids?

They were furious.

You’d brought that band through four or five times. Built a real fan base. Sold tickets. Packed the room. So when the cancellation hit, the blame didn’t go to weather or logistics or routing.

It landed on you.

Tensions were high. People yelling. Accusations flying. And sometimes in this business, you hit a point where you’re just done absorbing it.

So what happened next?

Pulled the tour manager’s cell number off the contract.

Wrote it on the venue door.

Show canceled.
 Have questions? Call this number.

Chaos.

Phones blew up. Tempers flared. And yes, the tour manager was not thrilled. The booking agent called asking if you’d completely lost it.

Was it diplomatic? No.
 Was it legendary? Absolutely.

That’s the side of live music nobody talks about. When a show falls apart, someone has to stand in front of the crowd. Sometimes you handle it clean. Sometimes you handle it human.

And sometimes you put the number on the door and let the phones ring.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #KillswitchEngage #ConcertChaos #TourLife #MetalcoreEra #LiveMusicStories #BricktownLive #ConcertPromoterLife #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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And one night at Cain’s stands out more than most.

Before the doors ever opened, he was just walking the room. No crowd. No noise. Just him studying the walls. If you’ve ever been inside Cain’s, you know it’s a museum of American music history. Photos everywhere. Legends in frames.

The moment that stuck?

Him standing under the painting of his grandfather, Hank Williams.

That wasn’t just a cool photo op. That was legacy. Bloodline. Weight.

Shelton Hank Williams carrying that name, standing in one of the most historic rooms in the country, under the eyes of his grandfather. That’s country music history layered on top of itself.

And the love for Hank III has never faded.

Country first set. Then the heavy stuff. Then the chaos. Nobody bridges honky-tonk and hell-raising like he does.

Wherever you are, Shelton, hope you’re doing alright.

And when you’re ready to work again, make the call.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #HankWilliamsIII #CainsBallroom #TulsaMusic #CountryOutlaw #HankWilliams #RedDirtMusic #LiveMusicHistory #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Lamb of God
 Clutch
 Opeth
 Unearth
 From Autumn to Ashes
 Norma Jean
 Poison the Well
 Every Time I Die
 Chimaira
 Throwdown
 Madball
 High on Fire
 All That Remains
 Strapping Young Lad
 DevilDriver
 GWAR

All on the same bill.

Under twenty bucks.

That lineup today would cost you a mortgage payment in festival passes.

This was the era right after Ozzfest started slowing down. Before Mayhem Festival became the next monster touring package. Sounds of the Underground filled that lane. Pure metal. No filler.

And a lot of those bands are still relevant.

You could rebuild that lineup right now and still move serious tickets in the right markets.

This was also the first time witnessing a full-scale wall of death in person. Crowd splits down the middle. Silence for a second. Then absolute collision.

No phones. No TikTok clips. Just chaos and adrenaline.

2005 was different.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #SoundsOfTheUnderground #LambOfGod #Clutch #Opeth #MetalFest #2005Concerts #WallOfDeath #MetalHistory #LiveMusicBusiness #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Pearl Jam
 Alice in Chains
 Foo Fighters

Those bands aren’t playing casinos. They’re still arena and festival headliners.

The real casino conversation starts with the second tier.

Soul Asylum
 Everclear
 Sponge
 Gin Blossoms
 The Nixons

These are the bands that can absolutely sell out the right casino room.

The 90s audience is older now. They’ve got disposable income. They want nostalgia. They want to hear the hits they grew up on without fighting a 20,000-seat arena crowd. A 2,000 to 3,000 seat casino venue is perfect.

It’s the same cycle that happened in classic country.

Loretta Lynn
 George Jones

When that generation passed, the next wave stepped in.

Mark Chesnutt
 Tracy Lawrence
 Clay Walker

Same model. Different genre.

Top tier stays in arenas.
 Second tier owns casinos and regional theaters.
 And the real question is always this:

Who becomes the nostalgia act 20 years from now?

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #90sGrunge #CasinoConcerts #PearlJam #AliceInChains #FooFighters #Everclear #GinBlossoms #SoulAsylum #RockBusiness #LiveMusicIndustry #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #Oklahoma #LiveMusicCulture

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Because before that hill became a park… it was a grass parking lot.

And that parking lot?

It was a massive tailgate party before the gates ever opened.

Back then, fans didn’t line up down the road with wristbands and phones out. They stayed at their cars. Trucks backed in. Tailgates down. Coolers open. Music blasting. Grills going. It was the concert before the concert.

It felt like a college football Saturday, except it was rock and roll.

Now you’ll see lines stretching all the way down the road for a big show. Different era. More structured. More organized.

But when that space was a parking lot, nobody rushed the gates. They built a party first.

And if you didn’t have much money but managed to hustle a ticket? Chances were someone fed you. Someone handed you a beer. Someone gave you water. It was its own little community outside the venue.

The Zoo wasn’t just what happened inside the gates.

It was what happened on that hill.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ZooAmphitheatre #OKCMusicHistory #ConcertLife #TailgateParty #BackInMyDay #LiveMusicCulture #OklahomaCity #RockAndRollStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Smart move.

When you bring a legacy act like KISS into a smaller market and print that city name on the shirt, it changes everything. Miami. Durant. Towns that had never seen their name on an official tour tee before.

That’s not just merchandise.

That’s validation.

And in those markets, people buy heavy.

KISS down in Durant? Cleaned house. Lines stacked. Credit cards flying. When your town is printed under that iconic logo, you’re not walking out empty-handed.

That was personal pride too. Running the stand. Watching it move. Seeing the numbers climb. Those are the quiet wins in this business.

Same thing when The Black Crowes rolled through.

Not just shirts. Posters.

Custom prints with boxcars — one for Durant, one for Miami. Hyper-local artwork tied directly to the stop. That’s how you make a one-night show feel historic.

Back then, those cities weren’t on national tour merch. Now they show up on official posters and limited prints.

That evolution matters.

Arena cities always sell.

Smaller markets sell harder when they feel seen.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #KISS #BlackCrowes #ConcertMerch #TourMerch #CasinoShows #DurantOK #MiamiOK #LiveMusicBusiness #RockAndRollStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Hilary Duff rolled through on the Most Wanted Tour at the Lloyd Noble Center. AEG Live and DCF Concerts. No cameras. No recording. Tight security. At that moment, she was a massive pop act. That was peak teen-tour era. Big production. Big rules. Big money.

Same stretch of dates, totally different vibe.

August 27th at the Diamond Ballroom
 Headroom.
 414 people.
 $10 ticket.

That’s grassroots rock promotion. DCF and Choice pushing local and regional talent. Packed enough to matter. Cheap enough for everybody to get in.

Two days later, August 29th at the Bricktown Events Center
 Tech N9ne on the Hostile Takeover Tour ‘04.

Different crowd. Different energy. Tech was already building that independent empire. Heavy merch. Loyal fanbase. Controlled chaos in the pit.

Then September 2nd at Bricktown Live
 Tantric and Falling High.
 1,850 people.

This was the first Tantric run without Travis Meeks of Days of the New. That second-wave version of the sound. Post-grunge still had gas in the tank. Big hooks. Big radio presence. Solid ticket mover.

Look at that range in one run:

Pop arena tour.
 Local $10 rock show.
 Independent hip-hop powerhouse.
 Post-grunge radio rock.

All within days of each other.

That’s what made that era legendary. You could go from teen pop to underground rap to hard rock in the same week and never leave Oklahoma.

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That’s why that space mattered.

Safety meetings were daily. OSHA approved. Hard hats, steel toes, paperwork, radio checks. Everyone likes to talk about the party, but the show doesn’t happen without structure.

Still, sometimes a “safety meeting” meant cooling off and catching your breath.

Back when it was a parking lot, fans didn’t line up down the road before gates. They stayed at their cars.

Coolers open. Grills going. Music blasting.

Tailgate culture.

Some of the best pre-show moments never happened inside the venue. They happened between bumpers and folding chairs. And if you were broke but managed to hustle a ticket off the street?

You weren’t going hungry.

Somebody handed you a burger. Somebody handed you a beer. Water if you needed it. Concert parking lots were their own economy. Their own community.

Different time.

Now you see lines wrapping down the street hours before doors. Phones out. Wristbands ready.

Back then it was trucks, coolers, and strangers becoming friends before the first note hit the stage.

That was part of the show too.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ConcertLife #Stagehands #OSHAApproved #TailgateParty #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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By 2022, they were playing clubs.

And it didn’t matter to Blackie Lawless. His rider didn’t care what size the room was. You filled it. Or you had a problem.

Some shows you book to win.

Some shows you book because you love rock and roll.

W.A.S.P. at Amplified Live was one of those.

And it ended up being the one that shut the place down.

After that run, Amplified Live was done.

But that’s how it works in Texas. One room closes. Another opens. You trade Amplified Live for Longhorn Ballroom. Same city. Different address. The cycle keeps moving.

It’s the same pattern everywhere, just not always as dramatic.

And the very next night back in Oklahoma?

Papa Roach, Instruction, and Dead Poetic at Bricktown Live.

Rooms close. Rooms reopen. Bands cycle through. You keep booking. You keep loading in.

That’s the business.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #WASP #BlackieLawless #AmplifiedLive #LonghornBallroom #PapaRoach #BricktownLive #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #dallastexas  

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Different eras. Same idea.

Neil Young went through that stretch where he’d split the show in half. First set mellow. Deep cuts. Acoustic tones. Then he’d flip the switch. Hard, noisy, almost industrial energy. Think Trans. Think Ark and Weld. Think Crazy Horse pushing it into heavier territory.

That was him testing the crowd. Changing lanes mid-show.

Then you jump forward.

Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, and Relient K rolling through Expo Square Pavilion in Tulsa and State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City.

Pop-punk wave at full speed.

Different demographic. Different merch tables. Same hustle.

Capacity mattered too. Cain’s versus Bricktown Live wasn’t a minor jump. You’re talking about hundreds, sometimes over a thousand people difference depending on the configuration. Ticket price might be close, but scale changes everything.

From Neil Young experimenting with sound to Good Charlotte leading a youth movement in arenas.

Sixteen bucks could get you a legend reinventing himself.

Or a pop-punk takeover.

Different crowds.

Same city.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #NeilYoung #GoodCharlotte #SimplePlan #RelientK #CrazyHorse #PopPunkEra #LiveMusicStories #OKCMusic #TulsaMusic #ConcertHistory #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Ten-dollar ticket.

Los Tigres del Norte headlining with four or five other regional Mexican acts traveling together. Caravan-style lineup. Full cultural event.

And it sold out.

Ten thousand people.

Carnival set up in the back. Food vendors. Families everywhere. The Zoo right next door offering free admission with a concert ticket.

So what happened?

Half the crowd would drift into the Zoo between sets. Then the amphitheater would fill back up when the next act hit. Then they’d leave again. It was a revolving door of 10,000 people.

True crossover promotion.

Here’s the kicker.

The tickets said no readmission.

Didn’t matter.

At $10, people would just buy another one.

Cheap entry. Massive turnout. Smart buy. Smart sell.

That show proved something simple.

Price it right. Make it family friendly. Respect the culture.

You’ll pack the park.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #LosTigresDelNorte #ZooAmphitheatre #FamilyDay #ConcertPromotion #OKCMusic #LatinMusic #LiveEvents #SellOutShow #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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First up, ZZ Top at the Zoo. The opener? Cardboard Vampires, a project fronted by Jerry Cantrell. That wasn’t a long-running act. Limited appearances. That night, they opened for ZZ Top and that was the band assigned to work with. Not a bad shift.

Then August 19.

Soulfly and El Niño at Diamond Ballroom.

486 tickets.

$23.

Heavy package. Solid bill. But 486 in that room feels light. That’s the gamble with metal tours. Some nights explode. Some nights grind.

The very next day, August 20, Robert Earl Keen rolls into Bricktown Events Center. Different crowd. Different vibe.

August 26, Soulfly and El Niño run it back at The Rockwell.

August 27, Headroom at the Diamond Ballroom.

That stretch shows the contrast.

Blues legends. Cantrell side project. Brazilian metal. Latin metal. Texas singer-songwriter. Local hard rock.

Four completely different audiences in eight days.

That’s the booking life.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ZZTop #JerryCantrell #Soulfly #elNino #DiamondBallroom #ZooAmphitheatre #OKCMusic #MetalShows #ConcertLife #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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One week. Four major artists. Zero downtime.

It starts with Robert Plant at Southside Education Center in Tulsa. Friday, March 11. From there, drive him down Route 66 to Oklahoma City for March 13 at Bricktown Events Center. Full escort mode. Shopping stops. Meals. Hosting duties. Rock royalty riding shotgun on Route 66.

Three days off.

Then back at it.

Wednesday at Cain's Ballroom with The Wallflowers.

That night, straight back to Oklahoma City to step into Billy Idol at the Red Cocoanut Events Center. No rest. Drop Billy at the airport Friday morning.

Then immediately roll into Ryan Cabrera at Bricktown Events Center.

That’s the swing.

Legendary frontman from Led Zeppelin. Alt-rock staple Wallflowers. Punk icon Billy Idol. Pop-radio Ryan Cabrera.

Different genres. Different crews. Same driver. Same week.

That’s not a tour.

That’s survival mode.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #RobertPlant #BillyIdol #TheWallflowers #RyanCabrera #Route66 #CainsBallroom #BricktownEventsCenter #TulsaMusic #OKCMusic #ConcertLife #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Canadian rock rolling through town. Finger Eleven. Thornley, fronted by Ian Thornley, who previously led Big Wreck. Multiple rooms. Cain’s. Bricktown Live. The Rockwell.

Then August 11.

Zoo Amphitheatre.

Evanescence. Seether. Three Days Grace.

That was a strong bill. Post–“Bring Me to Life” era. Radio heavy. Big turnout.

Three days later, August 14.

ZZ Top at the Zoo.

But behind the scenes is where the real shift happened.

After getting in trouble and not being welcomed on some of the bigger shows, the phone rings. Howard Pollack from Innervisions. Opportunity instead of exile.

“You want to work?”

Runner position at the Zoo.

Not headline status. Not promoter seat. Runner. Drive. Fetch. Handle details. Keep it moving.

That’s how you stay in the game.

From not being welcome to loading in for Evanescence at the Zoo.

You take the job. You prove your value. You rebuild.

That’s the part people don’t see.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Evanescence #Seether #ThreeDaysGrace #ZZTop #ZooAmphitheatre #Innervisions #ConcertRunner #BehindTheScenes #OKCMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Back in Oklahoma City.

Local H at Bricktown Live. Ten bucks. Short and Sweet, Andy, and Ballista on the bill. Ballista was local. Tight scene. Downtown Bricktown energy. That room was loud, sweaty, and perfect for a band like Local H.

And yes, being thanked in the liner notes hits different. That’s a permanent receipt.

Two days later?

Sum 41, Unwritten Law, and Hawthorne Heights at Bricktown Event Center.

Twenty-five bucks.

That lineup was stacked.

Sum 41 in their prime. Unwritten Law steady as ever. Hawthorne Heights pulling that emotional crowd. That was a moment in the mid-2000s alt-rock run.

Fast forward and Sum 41 announces retirement from touring. End of an era. Deryck Whibley’s name always tied to Avril Lavigne. Then her move to Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. Music circles stay small.

And Nickelback? Say what you want. They’re still moving tickets. Still touring. One of the mentors in this story runs that tour.

That’s the thread.

Ten-dollar club nights. Twenty-five-dollar stacked tours. Liner note thank-yous. Retirements years later.

It all connects.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #LocalH #Sum41 #UnwrittenLaw #HawthorneHeights #BricktownLive #BricktownEventCenter #2000sAltRock #OKCMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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That was the ticket.

Radio show. The Buzz Presents. No mystery fees stacking up at checkout. If you bought it at the door, you paid $9.47. Box office counted clean at the end of the night. No service charge surprise hiding in the drawer.

That’s how it worked back then.

And this wasn’t some random booking.

The Killers ran through Oklahoma rooms on their way up. Bricktown Events Center. Diamond Ballroom. The Zoo. Cain's Ballroom. Possibly The Brady. Before arenas. Before headlining major centers.

Bricktown Live. July 22, 2004.

Same flyer had W.A.S.P., The Kill, and A Horse Called War.

That’s the contrast of that era. Future arena band on a $9.47 radio ticket. Packed club. 300 to 500 people shoulder to shoulder. No one thinking they’re watching a band that will headline festivals worldwide.

You can’t predict that moment when it’s happening.

Sometimes it costs $9.47.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #TheKillers #BricktownLive #DiamondBallroom #CainsBallroom #OKCMusic #TulsaMusic #2004Concerts #RadioShow #LiveMusicHistory #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Bricktown Live.

2004.

A band that once opened for KISS. Shared bills with Iron Maiden. Played Donington. Headlined arenas.

Now standing in a 300-cap room in Oklahoma City.

That’s the reality of rock cycles.

W.A.S.P. came through more than once. Still touring hard. Still carrying that massive mic stand. Still performing like it was 1986. The stage presence didn’t shrink just because the room did.

And that was the strange part.

In 2004, it wasn’t easy to find younger bands that even knew who W.A.S.P. was, let alone wanted to open for them. You’re talking about a band that once moved arena numbers now headlining a 300-seater trying to relaunch momentum.

Local bands filled those slots. The Kill. A Horse Called War. Names that were part of that scene at that moment in time.

Nineteen years later, it hits different.

An arena act in a club-sized room.

Up close. No barricade gap. No upper deck. Just volume, lights, and history packed into 300 tickets.

That’s a rare show.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #WASP #BlackieLawless #BricktownLive #MetalHistory #KISS #IronMaiden #RockAndRollCycles #ClubShows #OKCMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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That stretch of 2005 had everything.

Same night at Bricktown Live you had God Forbid, Caliban, It Dies Today, and Full Blown Chaos. Pure heavy lineup. No radio singles. No crossover push. Just straight metal. Years later, Doc Coyle from God Forbid ends up in Bad Wolves, but back then they were grinding it out.

Then April 14, 2005.

Ford Center.

Mötley Crüe – Red, White & Crüe Tour.

Bought a ticket. Took Dylan. Fan mode. Arena packed. Full production. Flames, risers, spectacle. Different scale from the club shows happening the same week.

And the opener?

That’s the mystery. Not Methods of Mayhem. Not 6AM. Not The Nixons. One of those “I was there but can’t remember” moments that only happen when you’ve been to too many shows.

That’s what that era was. One night 500-cap metal chaos. Next night arena rock with your kid.

Two completely different worlds. Same week.

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August 5. Funk Junkies at The Rockwell.
 August 7. Rasputina at Bricktown Live. Three women, stand-up bass, cello-driven chaos. Twelve-dollar ticket.

Two days later it explodes.

August 9, 2004. Lamb of God, Atreyu, Every Time I Die, and Unearth at Cain's Ballroom.

Sixteen bucks.

That was a violent lineup for $16.

Packed floor. No bad sightlines. Hard tickets sold at Starship, Jam Shack, The Bag in Broken Arrow, VCF, Choice. Real outlets. Real paper tickets. No service fees stacking up.

Same night at Bricktown Live?
 Finger Eleven, Thornley, Strata, and Moments in Grace.

Ticket was $18.75. Might’ve even lost money on it.

But that’s the era.

Two stacked shows. Same night. Different crowds. Different energy. One city choosing where to be.

That was 2004.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Rasputina #LambOfGod #FingerEleven #CainsBallroom #BricktownLive #2004Concerts #MetalcoreEra #OKCMusic #TulsaMusic #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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Sometimes it’s normal. Towels. Drinks. Snacks.

Sometimes it’s Sammy Kershaw wanting an 8x10 framed photo of Bugs Bunny in his dressing room. Not a joke. In a frame.

Then came the monkey requests.

One band kicked off the legendary M&M era of rider stories, but the “monkey in the dressing room” request had everyone scrambling. No idea what to do. So Max grabbed his kid’s Curious George and set it up backstage. Problem solved.

Hank needed a monkey too. Stuffed one brought from home.

And yes, there was even a request for a Satanic Bible. That one wasn’t a prank. That was about proving you actually read the rider.

That’s the key.

Advance the show. Get on the phone. Ask the right questions. “What do you need?” If you don’t ask, you don’t know. Riders aren’t just about weird items. They’re about professionalism.

For years Oklahoma City was a gas stop. If you wanted artists to respect the market, you handled the details. Every detail.

Even if that meant finding Bugs Bunny at the last minute.

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One night you’ve got Spooky Fruit, Mark of the Sage, Falling High, Far From Nothing, 80 Proof, and Scions at the Diamond Ballroom. Tulsa bands mixed in. Local scenes colliding. Packed rooms. No filler.

Same night across town? Static-X and Soil at The Rockwell.

Then August 3, 2004 hits.

Shadows Fall.
 As I Lay Dying.
 Himsa.
 Remembering Never.

Bricktown Live. About 500 capacity.

Fifteen bucks.

That was one of the baddest $15 shows you could see.

As I Lay Dying tore through their set. But Shadows Fall? Two guitars locked in. One minute sounding like classic dual-lead harmony. Next minute straight aggression. In a 500-cap room, there isn’t a bad seat. You feel every note. No barricade distance. No arena gap.

Just sweat, amps, and volume.

That era hit different.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #DiamondBallroom #BricktownLive #ShadowsFall #AsILayDying #StaticX #Soil #MetalShows #OKCMusic #TulsaMusic #2000sMetal #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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You could bring your own ice chest inside. As long as it wasn’t in bottles or cans, security let it slide. The 7-Elevens near the entrance would stack coolers to the ceiling on show days. They knew the drill.

That’s where “trash can punch” came in.

Everclear. Mixers. Gallon milk jugs. Everything poured together and passed around the crowd. Ice chests doubled as seats or step stools when the lawn filled up. It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t subtle. It was part of the ritual.

By the end of the night, the ground told the story. Crushed jugs. Scattered containers. People moving a little slower than when they arrived.

And the soundtrack?
 Blackfoot.
 Molly Hatchet.
 Grateful Dead.
 The John Butcher Axis.

Different era. Different rules. Everybody brought something. Everybody shared something.

No phones in the air. No posts going live.

Just music, lawn chairs, coolers, and stories that stuck.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ZooConcerts #TrashCanPunch #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen  #oklahomacity

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Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

First show ever built on that turf.

No prefab. No shortcuts. Built with labor. Hands-on. Long days rolling into longer nights. That was the kickoff for the ballpark era.

Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson touring baseball stadiums across the country. Jam Productions behind it. Promoters getting commemorative bats and gloves like it was Little League for rock and roll. David still has his.

For Max, this one hit different. Huge Dylan fan. Named his kid after him. Hero status. So he’s out there doing labor on a show that means something personal, trying not to geek out while working.

And then there was the groundskeeper.

First show on fresh turf. You’d think we were driving tanks across the infield. Groundskeepers guard grass like it’s gold. That’s their field. Their reputation. Their livelihood.

High stakes. Heavy equipment. Legendary artists.

That’s how the Ballpark run started.

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After an acoustic show the night before and then Black Label Society at Cain's Ballroom, Max was running for the band. Fifteen-passenger van. Long nights. Zero sleep. That’s all he’ll admit to.

At some point, he takes Zakk Wylde to see something most rock stars hadn’t seen in years.

The Admiral Twin Drive-In.

Back in 2005, drive-ins were almost extinct. Two screens back-to-back. Old-school Americana. The kind of place you don’t expect a global metal icon to be standing in front of on a random Saturday night.

They didn’t even go in. Just pulled up so Zakk could see it. “I just wanna look at it.”

That’s the part people don’t see. Being a runner isn’t just airport pickups and backstage passes. It’s late-night detours. Random landmarks. Stories that start in Tulsa and somehow turn into a drive-in movie memory with one of the biggest guitar players in the world.

Rock and roll doesn’t always happen on stage.

Sometimes it’s in a parking lot.

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It happened in a hospital hallway.

Before the injury, a deal was worked out for Texas Hippie Coalition to appear live on The Jerry Springer Show. Two versions of the performance. A TV edit and an R-rated cut. Full chaos. Classic Springer energy.

Max was supposed to be there.

Then life shifted.

Instead of standing backstage at a TV taping, he’s being pushed down a hallway at St. Anthony Hospital for wound care. Big Dad is the one pushing the wheelchair.

On the TVs mounted along the wall?

Jerry Springer.

And the episode playing is Texas Hippie Coalition.

Two guys walk past. Do a double take. Whisper. Run back to their cars. Come back holding CD jackets.

“Are you Big Dad?”

Autographs signed right there in the hospital.

One giant pushing another giant in a wheelchair. Hard to miss. Like spotting you, me, and Jelly Roll standing in a room together.

That’s the reality of it.

From national TV to wound care in the same week.

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Back-to-back nights. State Fair Arena. Kansas Coliseum.

Slipknot. Lamb of God. Shadows Fall. DevilDriver.

Massive bills. Pure heavy energy.

And somehow… Max didn’t get in.

“No Max allowed.”

Didn’t buy a ticket. Couldn’t get through the door. While Lamb of God was leveling the building and Slipknot was in full machine mode.

That era was stacked. Metal was peaking. LOG shirts everywhere. DevilDriver crushing it. Shadows Fall holding their lane strong.

Then a week later, April 3, 2005, Sparta plays Bricktown Live with Siva and Thieves of Always. Former At the Drive-In members carving out a new chapter.

Fast forward years later, Sparta reunites and plays Beer City Music Hall, performing the record in full.

Time moves. Bands break up. Bands come back.

But those 2005 lineups?

Different level.

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Everything has to be covered in plywood. Every inch protected. Because once you’re on grass, you’re on borrowed time.

Somewhere in the middle of it, a security guard drags a chair out to center field. Plants it. Sits there. Leaves indentations in the grass.

Enter the grounds police.

Not security. Not the guard.

The Baker Boys.

That’s who got blamed.

When you’re building stages that size, the days bleed together. Day rolls into night. Night into the next morning. You’re laying plywood down as fast as you can, and the venue wants it off just as fast once the show’s over.

You’re juggling turf, steel, load-in, load-out.

And somehow… a folding chair in center field becomes your fault.

That’s production life.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ProductionLife #LiveEventStories #BehindTheScenes #ConcertBuild #StageCrew #OutdoorShows #thebakerboys #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahomacity

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Big table. Big spending.

Max leans over and says, “You know you’re paying for all this, right?”

The band laughs it off.

“No, man. It’s the record company.”

Meanwhile the label reps are ordering everything. Expensive wine. Full menu. No hesitation. Just stacking receipts like it’s free money.

Max and Brad are in the corner splitting a sandwich, watching it unfold.

Every bottle. Every entrée. Every round.

Recoupable.

The band had no idea. They thought the label was treating them. Thought it was part of the deal. Free night out. Celebration energy.

Later that night?

The show happens. The big spenders are gone. The label crew disappears. The only ones who show up are Max and Brad.

That’s the part nobody explains when you sign.

Nothing is free.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #MusicBusiness #RecordLabelLife #Recoupable #ArtistLessons #BehindTheScenes #ConcertStories #MusicIndustryTruth #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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Hank III gives you a warning.

First set? Pure country. You’re in heaven. Steel guitar. Honky-tonk energy. The kind of set you don’t want to end.

Then he grabs the mic.

“For those of you that came for the country… it’s over.”

He tells the crowd straight up. Take a break. Leave if you need to. When he comes back, it’s his music.

And that second set?

Loud. Heavy. Thrash. Speed metal. By the time he shifts into Assjack territory, it’s punk-driven chaos. A full alter ego.

You’d watch it happen in real time. Packed house for the country set. Then the slow trickle toward the exits.

No bait and switch. No apology.

Just a public service announcement before he kicks your teeth in.

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No traffic control. No blocked streets. Gear being pushed up a ramp into open traffic in Bricktown. Cars flying by while you’re loading out.

That was the setup.

Then after the show, the forklift starts backing out of the hole.

Crunch.

Straight into the sheriff’s daughter’s car.

Wrong car. Wrong night. Wrong timing.

For a debut show at that venue, it came with stress, tension, and a very uncomfortable conversation.

But the bill?

Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.

Baptism by fire.

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In this business, there are problems, there are issues, and then there are showstoppers.
Problems can be handled.
Issues can be fixed.
Showstoppers change everything.

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Chainsaw Kittens take the stage. Norman band. Cult following. Built their name the hard way.

Tyson Meade was never typical frontman energy. He had his own lane. Art-driven. Different. The band carved out a reputation far beyond just local buzz.

Years later, word was Tyson had been overseas in Asia teaching English as a second language. Then he made his way back to Oklahoma City around the time cannabis became legal.

That’s the thing about scenes.

Bands evolve. Artists disappear for a while. Then they resurface in a completely different chapter.

Chainsaw Kittens were part of that era when Norman bands weren’t just local acts. They were movement pieces.

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Jeff, Max, and Sean McGillicuddy weren’t just attending. They were running merch. Tables set up in a full circle around the field. Shirts, CDs, boxes stacked high.

And then it got weird.

The band drops off all these merch boxes… and never picks them back up.

Now you’ve got stacks of inventory that don’t belong to you. Running around the festival trying to track someone down to return it. Carrying it. Protecting it. Trying to do the right thing.

That’s the side of festivals nobody sees.

Not just the stage lights. Not just the headliners.

It’s the hustle behind the tables.

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David was working with Headroom, trying to break the band. Social Burn had major label heat. It felt like another club show on paper.

It wasn’t.

Ichiro ran The Samurai differently. If you told him a national act was in town, he made space. Weeknight, weekend, didn’t matter. He understood traffic before social media existed.

Bands would come in. He’d cook for them. They’d hang out. A local band would be playing. Someone makes a phone call.

“Hey. Guns N’ Roses is at The Samurai.”

No Instagram story. No group text. Just a phone and word spreading fast. If you were smart, you got in your car immediately.

Next thing you know, the place is packed.

That was Ichiro. That was The Samurai.

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The promise behind Mad Dogs & Englishmen wasn’t just music. It was survival. The project, the record, the tour — it helped Joe Cocker stay in the United States. Financially. Professionally. It reset the board for him.

At that moment, you could argue Leon Russell was bigger. Leon had played with The Stones. He was jamming with JJ Cale. He was already respected as one of the greatest sidemen in rock history. He had his own records moving. His name carried weight.

The Mad Dogs & Englishmen record landed on A&M, not Shelter. Different chapter. Different phase.

And when they reunited later? It had been years since they had shared a stage together like that.

Some tours are promotion.

Some tours are rescue missions.

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A can of Campbell’s soup gets dumped into a crockpot instead of making it from scratch. She sees it. She snaps. Full meltdown over respect, effort, and doing things the right way. That was lesson one.

Later that night, another scene unfolds.

A girl is crying in the back of the house. The bus is gone.

Max doesn’t sugarcoat it. “You were on the bus? You never go on the bus.”

No rescue mission. No dramatic reunion. Just taillights fading into the night.

Some rules in the music business aren’t written anywhere. You learn them in real time.

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That same season, Stone Sour rolled through with Powerman 5000, Raw, Systematic, and Outspoken. Back-to-back nights. Diamond Ballroom one night. The Other Side the next. No breaks. Just load in, execute, load out, repeat.

Meanwhile in Tulsa at Cain's Ballroom, Bob Weir and RatDog were doing their thing. That was the night the mayor handed Bob Weir a key to the city. Deadheads lined the sidewalks. Grilled cheese in the air. Full scene energy.

Different crowds. Different cultures. Same crew working the calendar.

Arena legends. Metal double-headers. Jam band history.

That stretch of 2003 was nonstop.

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May 16, 2003.

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at the Diamond. And back then, it wasn’t a partial lineup. It was pretty much all of them.

644 people in the room. Packed energy. That era when “First of the Month” still hit different live.

Fast forward to 2023 and Bone Thugs is booked at Choctaw in Grant, Oklahoma around 4/20. Different venue. Different stage. Same name.

Some acts cycle through trends.

Bone Thugs keeps showing up.

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Deana answers the door and has no idea who they are. Dad just sees “Max and some friends.”

Van keys handed over. Chaos era Crüe standing in a conservative Oklahoma driveway.

That’s how normal and insane collided in one afternoon.

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Malevolent Creation was pulling in Oklahoma City crowds. The joke was that people might see the name on the flyer and think it was a church group. It wasn’t. It was heavy. And it worked.

This was the period when everything started accelerating. The groundwork in the venues was paying off. Systems were forming. Max and Jeff became road dogs.

The same night, at the Bricktown Event Center, Henry Rollins was likely doing one of his first spoken word tours. A different kind of show. Different energy. Same hustle.

Then over at Cain's Ballroom, Chevelle and 30 Seconds to Mars were on a lineup with Pulse Ultra and Headroom. Pulse Ultra was nearing the end of their run.

Metal. Spoken word. Alt rock. Same week. Same crew.

That’s when it all started moving fast.

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One night you’re at the Diamond with The Cramps. The same night you’re across town at The Other Side going full Texas with Pissing Razors, 40 Grit, and Society 1. Back-to-back shows. Highway miles stacking up. The road felt like home.

Three days later, April 29, Evanescence hits the Bricktown Event Center with Revis, Die Trying, and more. Momentum building. Alternative breaking wide open.

Then April 30, back at The Other Side: Slaves on Dope, Hotwire, Skindred, and Lock n’ Load. Different crowd. Same intensity.

Those weeks weren’t organized. They were lived.

When the schedule gets that packed, the venues start blending together and the highway becomes your constant.

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#HeresTheDealPodcast #TheCramps #Evanescence #SlavesOnDope #PissingRazors #Skindred #BricktownEventCenter #MetalShows #ConcertStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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The fans are rolling in. Balloons. Confetti. Hip hop air horn on standby. Maybe even a circus clown before it’s over.

And then the special guest to the right.

Deana Baker.

Max’s sister. The one who lived through the Baker household years. Growing up with him?

“It was crazy. He kind of did his own thing. He was the one who always got in trouble… so we just watched him to know what not to do.”

Sixty-four years later and not much has changed.

Same energy. Same stories. Still here.

Happy Birthday, Max.

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 #HeresTheDealPodcast #HappyBirthdayMax #BeatlesBirthday #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #DeanaBaker  #oklahomacity

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April 8 brought Chevelle, Disturbed, Taproot, and Un Loco to what had just transitioned from the Myriad to the Cox Convention Center. Heavy lineup. National names. That era when nu-metal and hard rock were packing rooms.

Three days later, April 11, another one.

Atreyu. 18 Visions. Fail Safe. Ground Zero. Special Edgar.

Atreyu was on fire at that time. 18 Visions had a serious following. And Fail Safe was pulling crowds, getting played on The Edge, and building momentum before later becoming Violence to Vegas.

Tulsa had a strong pipeline for emerging bands back then. Radio support mattered. Local followings translated into real ticket sales.

It was a moment when heavy music in Oklahoma felt alive and climbing.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Chevelle #Disturbed #Atreyu #18Visions #FailSafe #ViolenceToVegas #TulsaMusic #OKCMusic #MetalShows #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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It was Cross Canadian Ragweed. It was Foghat. It was over-the-top production.

And it was Evel Knievel.

Dennis Rodman.

Brian Bosworth.

For anyone outside Oklahoma, that lineup sounds unreal. Rodman made sense in the biker world. Bosworth showing up before being fully embraced again by the Sooner crowd? That raised eyebrows. But he was still part of that culture.

Even Lorenzo Lamas made an appearance.

This was happening in Miami, Oklahoma — and if you’re local, you know it’s pronounced “Miama.” Say it wrong and you’ll get corrected immediately.

Big payouts. Big personalities. No blueprint for the paperwork side of it. Just ambition and a crash course in learning as you go.

That’s how legends — and chaos — get built.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #EvelKnievel #DennisRodman #BrianBosworth #BuffaloBikeRun #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahomacity

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It was the Buffalo Bike Run. Marketed as the largest payout in Oklahoma bike run history. Over $100,000 paid out. Vendors. Music. A full production. Even a circus element.

Max and his partner at CEU, Brad White, built it big.

And then it got bigger.

The response was overwhelming. Riders. Participants. Moving parts everywhere. At some point, it wasn’t about pride. It was about survival.

So Max did something unexpected.

He called his mom.

She didn’t hesitate. She called Deana and said, “Your brother needs help. Go.”

That’s how it works sometimes. You build something massive, and when it starts to tip, family shows up.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #BuffaloBikeRun #EventLife #ShowBusiness #BehindTheScenes #OklahomaEvents #FamilyBusiness #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity 

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Mudvayne. In Flames. Grade 8. A heavy lineup at the Bricktown Event Center during a time when alternative and metal were surging in Oklahoma.

This was one of those days where everything clicked. When Jeff and the crew worked those Event Center shows, they were dialed in. Sean McGillikelly was in the mix. Choice Music had skin in the game. It wasn’t just attendance. It was partnership.

Being a partner means you’re not just there for the backstage pass. You’re there if it loses money too. You’re there to fix it.

In Flames brought the intensity. Mudvayne brought the spectacle. The room felt electric.

Some shows are just dates on a calendar. Others remind you why you’re in the business.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Mudvayne #InFlames #BricktownEventCenter  #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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And Deana walks into the middle of it.

“They look at me and say, ‘Who are you?’
 I said, ‘I’m Deana Baker. I’m Max’s sister. I’m here to help.’”

They ask what she’s going to do.

“Uh… whatever. I don’t know.”

Then comes the assignment.

A box. Full of pre-registration paperwork. Hundreds of packets that people are supposed to pick up the next day at noon.

Not alphabetized.
 Not organized.
 Not on a laptop.
 Not even on a legal pad.

Just a box.

That’s how it starts. Chaos. No system. Big expectations.

And sometimes the only thing standing between disaster and showtime is someone saying, “I’m here to help.”

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #BehindTheScenes #EventLife #ShowBusiness #ConcertStories #PromoterLife #FamilyBusiness #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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Here’s the test.

It’s almost 1:00 AM. Bus call is set. The band wants six pizzas. You’re in a town where everything shuts down by 11. You forgot to place the order.

Money won’t fix it. They want pizza.

What do you do?

There’s always a solution.

You go to 7-Eleven. You buy frozen cheese pizzas. You heat them up. You slide them into pizza boxes.

That’s the trick of the trade.

Nobody teaches you that in a book. At the end of the night, the goal is simple. When they wake up in the next city, they remember your town as a good one.

That’s the job.

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Big summer show. Big production. Tight camps.

And then the mistake.

Before the show, stagehands went into Nugent’s dressing room and smoked weed. The tour manager walked in, caught the smell, and lost it. Ted is famously anti-weed. It wasn’t just a bad look. It was disrespectful.

They almost got fired.

Different dressing rooms, different rules. The Skynyrd camp had their own traditions. The urn placed on Billy Powell’s white piano. That piano was treated like royalty. First off the truck. Last back on. Tuned carefully, protected from the summer heat, never touched once it was set.

Outdoor shows with a grand piano in Oklahoma heat? That’s its own battle.

One dressing room mistake. One furious tour manager. One heavy summer show that could’ve gone sideways fast.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #TedNugent #LynyrdSkynyrd #ZooAmphitheatre #ConcertStories #TourLife #RockHistory #BehindTheScenes #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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Everyone knows The Romantics. Solid catalog. Radio songs. Name recognition.

But the band worth spotlighting that night was The Dirt Poets.

If you were around the Oklahoma scene in the 90s, you know that name. Alongside bands like Wakeland, they were part of a strong Norman movement that built real followings without major label hype. They put out CDs, played rooms like the Samurai, and earned their reputation the hard way.

#TheRomantics #TheDirtPoets #BricktownBrewery #HeresTheDealPodcast #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen

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 February 28 at the Diamond Ballroom.
 March 1 at Cain's Ballroom.
 March 3 at The Cotillion.

That run wasn’t just about ticket sales. It was about learning how Psychopathic Records operated.

ICP’s show was precision chaos. Around 100 liters of Faygo per night. When the soda ran out, the show was done. That’s how rehearsed it was.

931 at the Diamond. Packed. Capacity.

Three days on the road builds relationships fast. By the end of that run, friendships were forming. Tour manager Bill Dall. Time spent with the crew. Seeing firsthand how a band freshly dropped by Disney turned controversy into loyalty and movement.

And then there were the moments only a promoter remembers. Flags hanging in the venue. Decisions that had to be made. Adjustments on the fly.

Three shows.
 Three nights.
 A front-row education in controlled mayhem.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #InsaneClownPosse #2LiveCrew #PsychopathicRecords #DiamondBallroom #CainsBallroom #TheCotillion #ConcertStories #TourLife #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen  #oklahomacity

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Life of Agony already had a strong following here. That show packed the place out and brought real energy back into the building. For the first time, there were cars filling the parking lot, a circle pit on the floor, and stage diving off the front. It was chaos in the best way.

Security had to work that night. Keith Graham was running it, and it wasn’t a quiet shift. That was the River Runs Red era, and the intensity was real.

Earlier tours with Type O Negative had already shown how tight that Roadrunner package was. Life of Agony and Type O weren’t just labelmates, they were family.

And the connections didn’t stop at the stage. One day, Keith Caputo was sitting in the record store like he worked there, talking music and checking people out at the counter. If you knew, you knew.

Some shows are just gigs. Others start something.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Carcass #LifeOfAgony #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen  #oklahomacity

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Two nights. Two cities. Both sold out.

First at the Bricktown Event Center in Oklahoma City. Then at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa.

In OKC, he was Jeff’s assistant. In Tulsa, he was the runner.

One of those Tulsa runs meant driving the band to Jamil's Steakhouse for dinner.

If you’re a runner, you know the rules. You don’t invite yourself in. You don’t insert yourself into the moment. You drive. You wait.

But when the band turns around and says, “Come join us,” that’s different.

Two sold-out shows. One dinner invitation.

Sometimes the smallest moments are the ones you remember the most.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #QueensOfTheStoneAge #CainsBallroom #BricktownEventCenter   #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahomacity

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Long before it was Cowboys, the place was called The Beaver Pond. In the 70s, it was a strip club where dancers floated on lily pads in a real swimming pool.

That pool never left.

The stage at Cowboys was built directly over it. Dead center stood a pole that bands constantly crashed into. When asked why it stayed, the answer was simple. Structural support. Stomp on that stage and you could hear the hollow echo underneath.

George Cunningham, who owned Fritzy’s, saw what was possible. Once he realized heavier shows could work there, the focus shifted. Cowboys faded. The Roxy took over. Rock and metal found a new home.

One address. Three identities. Strip club. Country bar. Rock venue.

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When Leon stepped into his Hank Wilson persona, he wasn’t just covering country standards. He was honoring them. Recording under the name Hank Wilson, cutting classic covers, bringing that Oklahoma edge to traditional songs.

And when you really dig into the catalog, it’s not even close.

Leon was prolific. Across genres. Across decades. Studio work. Producing. Writing. Building bands.

He knew how to pick talent too. He signed Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers early on.

That show? Both bands were firing on all cylinders. From the outside it looked effortless. Behind the scenes, if you were a hired gun in those lineups, you knew you were standing inside something serious.

That’s Leon. Vision, volume, and range.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #LeonRussell #HankWilson #TomPettyAndTheHeartbreakers #RockHistory #CountryRock #OklahomaMusic #MusicLegends #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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This was the Bigger Bang era with The Rolling Stones — and the backstage setup was on another level.

Snooker tables. Game areas. Full liquor bar. Food everywhere. The most elaborate backstage environment he’d ever seen.

And then the seat assignment.

At Keith Richards’ table.

Keith comes out with his buddy, same scarf, same energy. Quiet moment. Timing something. Synchronizing medicine. Intense. That’s all that needs to be said.

Earlier at the The Waterford Marriott, there was a meeting. Comped front-row tickets. Same row. Same seats. No downgrade.

Rock and roll at its highest level.
 Front row. Backstage. Observing legends in their own rhythm.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #KeithRichards #TheRollingStones #BiggerBangTour #RockHistory #BackstageStories #ConcertLife #LiveMusicCulture #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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It was their first sell-out show, and tickets were just $8. Same artwork. Same early-era vibe. No hype machine yet. Just a band catching fire at exactly the right moment.

 #CollectiveSoul #BricktownBrewery #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #HeresTheDealPodcast #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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Promoter TNA International invited media to preview the massive stage at the south end of 
the stadium. Production holds were released once sightlines were confirmed, turning 
previously held seats into some of the best in the house. $65.25 tickets went on sale at the 
Lloyd Noble Center. Cash only.

After the OU vs Kansas State football game, the Stones’ crew took control of the field and 
worked around the clock. The stage was built to resemble the top of a bridge, complete 
with a massive oval video screen and a secondary stage out in the middle of the stadium.

This wasn’t a small setup. The tour traveled with 32 semi-trucks and 10 crew buses.
Rock and roll at stadium scale.

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