Local Man Finds Calling Through Music Festival

Visit Lincoln Calling on Facebook

Every movement begins with an idea; an innate feeling that something is lacking in the community. This feeling isn’t readily noticeable to many people, but those with whom it resides in can’t ignore it. It’s a passion they’ve shouldered their whole life that radiates in everything they do and say. It’s a love of something that cocoons itself within these people until they have an outlet through which it can be set free.

For Jeremy Buckley, this outlet was Lincoln Calling.

The five-day music festival that lasts from Tuesday (October 11th) to Saturday (October 15th) spawned from the event founder’s passion for live music. Now in its 8th year, Lincoln Calling will feature over 100 bands and 20 DJs at ten venues this week throughout downtown Lincoln.

As a student at UNL in 2004, Buckley had written a column for the Daily Nebraskan requesting that the University Program Council allocate more student funds for live music. After reading the article, the entertainment chair asked Buckley what he’d do if he had money for the event.

“My idea was to have a multi-day festival with area and regional bands at several venues in the downtown area,” he says.

It would be through this exchange that Buckley would go on to create Lincoln Calling, one of the largest and most anticipated music festivals in the region.

Photos I and II by Johnathan Egan

Buckley had no experience coordinating live music events prior to the first Lincoln Calling, but that didn’t deter him. The young music enthusiast took it upon himself to research the bands that might be interested in playing and eventually put together a bill that included established acts from cities all across the Midwest.

“I’ve booked a lot of shows since then, but I was as green as they come for that first go around. I remember emailing the Arts & Entertainment editors at Big 12 schools to ask what bands were popular with the college kids in their respective towns.”

The first Lincoln Calling in 2004 consisted of 25 bands at five venues downtown. It was considerably successful with about 900 people attending over three days. Since that first year, the music festival has grown significantly in both the number of bands and attendance as Buckley began to work at the now-defunct music venue Box Awesome as well as the Bourbon Theatre.

The music festival has given Buckley a lot of great memories over the years, among them, the look on musician Manny Coon’s face when Buckley asked him to play in a show that was going to be at the Rococo Theatre. The artist then told Buckley that it had been one of his life’s goals to play in that hallowed room.

Photo by Timothy Scahill

Buckley also remembers a tornado warning during the festival a few years back.

“I was walking by Duffy’s. They had locked the front door and put up a sign basically saying they were all in the basement. Meanwhile, The Killigans were still tearing the roof off of the ZOO Bar; seems no one there got the memo.”

Since the inception of Lincoln Calling, Buckley has had the good fortune of making a number of lifelong friends with people who work at music venues, fans who attend the shows and band members; a number of whom have become immediate inspirations to him.

“Dan Jenkins, Jon Taylor, Heidi Ore, Josh Hoyer all come to mind immediately. Mark Wolberg and the entire McGinn family, this list could go on forever. The people that are quick to give advice if you ask for it, but content to sit back and let you figure it out yourself if that will help you learn the quickest. Anyone who plays music that’s always been eager to share a smile, that’s who inspires me.”

And while there are certain challenges that come with organizing an event like this, Buckley says it’s rewarding knowing that the passion he’s had for music his whole life has now turned into his profession and has culminated into an event that can be enjoyed by thousands of people.

“Live music is my number one hobby. Anytime I want to get out of the house, I look at the local live music calendar to see if there’s a good show going on. Helping create an atmosphere where anywhere from a handful to hundreds of people are going nuts over music is a privilege that I feel very lucky to be a part of.”

Photo by Matt Hames

The majority of bands playing at this year’s Lincoln Calling are from Lincoln and Omaha, but there are a number of others that are coming from cities like Chicago, Redmond, OR, Silver Springs, MD, Denver, Lawrence, Stillwater, Nashville, Raleigh, Kansas City, Madison and Fort Collins.

“I think it’s just a great chance for people that go to shows all the time and people who only go to a few a year to intermingle and see a bunch of great bands in a small space of time. We’ve tried to vary the genres enough that there is something for everyone, and I always feel like band’s have a good enough opinion of the festival that they always bring their A-game.”

Nearly 5,000 people came out to last year’s festival, and Buckley expects similar numbers for this year.

While the event bolsters a diverse sampling of artists playing music of all genres, it boasts something much greater: the notion that a person passionate about something can begin a movement; all they have to do is have the courage to try.

To Buckley, the music festival is more than just another event.

It’s a calling.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

For more information on Lincoln Calling and to see a list of acts, visit their website or Facebook page.

Click here for a day by day, performance schedule breakdown.

One-day ($10-$12) and individual show passes (no cover-$8)
will be available during the festival.