Rocklahoma Preparations Underway

Country Fever is apparently contagious. It's spread to rock-n-roll. The same group that's put on the Country Fever event in Pryor the past few years is kicking off Rocklahoma, a four-day rock-n-roll

Wednesday, July 11th 2007, 10:34 am

By: News On 6

Country Fever is apparently contagious. It's spread to rock-n-roll. The same group that's put on the Country Fever event in Pryor the past few years is kicking off Rocklahoma, a four-day rock-n-roll festival that starts Thursday. The News On 6â€™s Steve Berg reports they've made a lot of changes just in the few weeks since Country Fever, and now they're ready to rock the house.

The fever is spreading. Promoter Mark Nuessle says they've expanded the grounds about 300 feet further back.

"We can put about 65,000 people in here now,â€ said Nuessle. â€œWe're expecting a big crowd."

Permanent seating has grown too. Just a month after Country Fever, they doubled the size of that area. Nuessle says the permanent seating is already close to selling out. Pre-sold tickets are already four times more than what they had for Country Fever.

"We've sold in all 50 states, about 32 countries, so people coming from everywhere,â€ said Nuessle.

And bands, more than two dozen, are coming from everywhere. Many are from the 80's, like Ratt, Twisted Sister, and Queensryche, when the hair bands reigned supreme.

Nuessle says it's like a class reunion for many of them, and they're planning an extra effort.

"They're putting it on, all the war paint and everything, they put it on,â€ Nuessle said. â€œThey're not leaving anything at home."

Organizers are putting out the extra effort too, putting in fresh sod, which should help prevent the infamous mud pit from the first year of Country Fever. And even if it does rain, they've improved the contour of the site.

"Great big drain area is right here, so anything gets wet on the concert area, drains right off, and it goes in the big lagoon and out in the wash,â€ said Nuessle.

Even before the first band takes the stage for Rocklahoma, they're feverishly working on more festivals with other kinds of music.

"We've already pre-sold for country. We're going to work on Red Dirt Days, and a lot of things in the mill,â€ Nuessle said.

Watch the video: Rocklahoma Preps

For more information about Rocklahoma, click here.