Maha 2023 epitomized the heat of summer. Scorching weatherbrand fiery tunes cooked a huge audience that spanned across the AksarbenbrVillage. I, as many others, came unprepared, and was wearing long cotton pants;brnatural fibers baked my burritos with every passing hour. But the music went onbrdespite the heat, with the gracious supply of several water stations. Thebrvolunteers of the festival bore the brunt of the merciless heat, giving us thebrchance to enjoy the music.
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Crowds flocked inside to shelter inside the only airbrconditioned tent. It came at a hefty price: a local Omaha comedy group.brTent-goers even laughed at the jokes, those poor souls in their heat deludedbrstate. The comedy was actually a great highlight for me and provided an idealbrplace to cool off. Thanks to Broken Magic comedy for putting it on. For setsbrlike BIB, a local Omaha hardcore punk band, the weather made no difference tobrthe moshing crowd. But for Icky Blossoms, also from Omaha, the crowd enjoyedbrthe music from the shade. The sun was replaced by heavy rain. Severe weatherbrwarnings caused the festival to shut down for an hour while the crowd soughtbrshelter. I abandoned those with me to sprint for the inside of the MarriottbrHotel; if my cameras broke, so too would my spirit. An hour later, the festivalbrcontinued with much cooler temperatures and a clear skies.
The next day, a larger and livelier crowd filled StinsonbrPark. It was ten degrees cooler and the comedy tent was barren. The headliners ofbrthe festival were Big Thief, a fiery, eclectic, and frequently folksy groupbrwhose sound rippled through the crowd, inspiring a variety of emotions. They stole the hearts of the audience whenbrthey stopped their set twice to check on those in need of medical attention.
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I’m sure many can agree Maha was the highlight event of thebrsummer. It was a great exhibition of our local Omaha talent, along withbrincredible traveling bands. Festivals like Maha are important to our musicbrcommunity, and it was a delight to see this year a success despite the intensebrweather.
