More Than 100 Bands Playing During FreeTulsa! Music Festival

By Tara Vreeland, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Hitting Tulsa this weekend is the FreeTulsa! music festival. It's a big downtown event featuring lots of Tulsa area bands and vendors.

FreeTulsa! came to be after Dfest was put on hiatus. In the past two months, it's grown from a respectable 50 bands into 125 bands performing over the weekend.

"The thing is we never really had anything like this before where it's just focusing primarily on the bands," said Fiawna Forte, Indie Rock Artist.

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FreeTulsa! includes 125 bands, nine stages and thirty minute sets.

"It ballooned up. It started out much more limited in scope festival," said Jeff Richardson, FreeTulsa!

Despite the name of the event, it isn't free of cost.

"It's not free. As they like to say, it's a verb. Not an adjective. It's just about freedom, freedom of expression, doing what you want to do, making things happen," said Richardson.

But organizers say the outdoor music festival will include rock, punk, dance and hip hop in downtown Tulsa's Brady Arts District.

"It's mainly going to be independent, non-mainstream music, but it's all real friendly music. Anybody can come down and find tons of bands that they'll enjoy," said Richardson.

"They can expect a lot of different things. We have a few new songs so people who have heard us can get a little fresher taste," said Forte.

Tulsa based rock and roll musician, Fiawna Forte says music fans will be able to bounce from venue to venue, hear new songs and see new bands.

"It's great because we have so much local talent that nobody really knows about. Nobody has witnessed the scene really, and this is giving everyone the opportunity to see it in one big bunch," said Forte.

FreeTulsa! runs from 4:00 p.m. until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Main Street is closed for the festival. Tickets are $10 per day.

Also going on is the Tulsa Black Gold Music festival at the FlyTrap Music Hall.