How a Small Oklahoma Town Became a Rock Mecca

Triumph has sold more than 135 thousand tickets this year for their 50th anniversary tour. But the band's first two reunion shows actually happened nearly 20 years ago -- both in locations that fans might not have guessed.

The Canadian hard rockers played their first concert with Rik Emmett since 1988 at the Sweden Rock Festival, a seasoned annual gathering that's been happening since 1992, in June of 2008.

They did one more gig together that summer at Rocklahoma, on July 11, 2008, a festival that had launched successfully the previous year and is now celebrating its 20th anniversary here in 2026 with a fresh slate of events this weekend.

The location is one that still might make you get out your map: Pryor, Oklahoma. The town registered just 9,444 residents in the 2020 census, with Tulsa being the closest (and best-known) city somewhat nearby, located 44 miles northeast of Pryor.

To make a reference to the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come."

The Birth of Rocklahoma

Things so often begin with a good idea, but what happened in Pryor required a lot more horsepower than that. The seeds took root with founders Mark Nuessle and Dave Giencke (and their wives) stepping forward to take a shot at making a music festival a reality in the area. They needed to put a basic infrastructure in place, but the reality is that they had to create the entire universe for what they held as their vision for Rocklahoma.

"These two guys from construction backgrounds come together with this crazy idea to put together a music festival," longtime radio personality Johnny Dare tells UCR. "Well, goddamn if they didn't do it! They built the amphitheater, bought the land, put the lineup together and they did this on their own."

"They did it so well that Rocklahoma, that first version, made international headlines," he adds. "It was in Rolling Stone -- you saw it in all of the music outlets and it was an incredible success."

Those who know Dare, are well aware that he's a hardcore music fan -- and even through decades of having to wake up early to host a morning radio show, he was still out at night, seeing his favorite bands play live and when required, traveling to see some of those same groups and artists.

Get Out of Jail, Buy Concert Tickets Immediately

That fits the mold of the people who were coming out for the inaugural year of Rocklahoma in July of 2007, which featured Twisted Sister, playing their only gig of the summer, alongside Queensryche on the final day of that year's festival. Friday night's heavyweights included Poison and Ratt.

The Saturday lineup was a stacked group of bookings that basically brought your '80s cassette collection back to life, featuring Motley Crue's Vince Neil, Dokken, Winger, Skid Row and Warrant topping the day.

Adam Messana was sitting in jail on Long Island when he first received word about Rocklahoma and bought tickets immediately once he got out. He took off with a friend and flew to Tulsa where they met up with a woman he'd first come to know via the Internet, who drove them the rest of the way to Pryor.

Bud Bricker came from Ohio with his girlfriend -- they were both big Twisted Sister fans and wanted to see the resurrected rockers play live. There was just one issue: Bricker and his girl had broken up. So they found a way to mend fences. "We put aside our differences to get here, he told The Daily Oklahoman. "I lived the '80s, I loved the '80s and that's why I'm here; for the '80s."

Slayer at Rocklahoma 2015 — Jason Squires, Getty Images

Slayer Will Also Celebrate 40 Years of 'Reign in Blood' at Rocklahoma

With Rocklahoma marking 20 years in 2026, Slayer (who previously performed at the fest in 2015) are also taking note of an important milestone, the pending 40th anniversary of their landmark LP, Reign in Blood. They'll perform the album in its entirety at the festival on Sunday evening (Sept. 6), something that the otherwise allegedly retired metal legends are only doing a total of three times this year.

More and more, that's part of the appeal of going to festivals like Rocklahoma -- the chance to see rare reunions and full album performances. But as Dare points out, what keeps fans coming back is the bands, yes, but it's also the experience and being able to take a journey with the music they're seeing.

"I've watched bands go from rookie first tours to double platinum and they have their own great stories," he explains. "The campground has their great stories. The people who come to Rocklahoma have their great stories."

"It's worth saying this is not the location you should build a music festival," he adds. "If you were just picking music festivals anywhere in the world, it's Oklahoma. It's a rough, rough climate, and it can give you anything [when it comes to the weather]."

"It can be 105 degrees. It can be hailing. It can be whipping your ass with a storm. It can rip a tornado, and has, right through the middle of the festival grounds," he says. "And yet, it becomes a point of pride with all these Rocklahomians that love this festival, that camp out every year, that come from all points unknown, and converge on Pryor, Oklahoma."

10 Years Ago: Rocklahoma News Reports

When Triumph Came to Rocklahoma

It had been 20 years since Gil Moore and Mike Levine had performed with Rik Emmett as Triumph near the end of the '80s. After the inaugural voyage in Sweden, they came to Oklahoma to do it one more time.

The Sweden gig had odds stacked against it that fans didn't even know about -- Emmett was battling a severe migraine before the show that almost forced the trio to pull the plug on their gig. But they pressed onward and the performance was eventually released officially.

Their trek to Rocklahoma also had some unexpected curveballs, as bassist Mike Levine shared during a press conference. "We'd just turned the corner up the highway to the site and there was this flashing blue and red light behind us," he said, in video you can watch below from DefKennyT. "Apparently, the limo driver was going in excess of the statutory speed in Oklahoma."

The driver, Levine added, had expired plates, an expired license and had also, perhaps, had a few drinks. "Details, details," Moore quipped.

It was, to say, at the very least, a unique day that thankfully, ended with a major, uh, triumph when the band finally made it onto the Rocklahoma stage. The troubles getting there had been more than worth it.

"I remember traveling into this field in the middle of nowhere with a massive stage on it and the incredible energy surrounding that very special performance," the band's longtime publicist, Chip Ruggieri, tells UCR.

He got to witness one of the very first reunion concerts, something fans are now seeing at long last nearly 20 years later, with this year's Rock and Roll Machine Reloaded outing.

"It was as if the band had never taken a break," he recalls now," noting that the atmosphere of the day drew him into the whole experience. "I really enjoyed the eclectic combo of the newer acts of the day and the iconic artists, which continues to be a successful theme today with the festival. I am glad to be able to say, 'I was there!'"

Who Hasn't Played Rocklahoma Yet?

Fans can probably make their own wish list of band's they'd still like to see play at Rocklahoma. Industry veteran Gary Spivack has booked the fest for the past four years and has one name on his mind: Rage Against the Machine. "That's the Kobe Bryant. That's the Roger Federer of what I haven't been able to score yet," he tells UCR. "If and when I do, I could ride off into the sunset." He names Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as another name that Rocklahoma attempted to book in previous years, that "didn't work out."

Still, they've booked their share of good scores. "There was a year we had both Avenged Sevenfold and Slipknot as as headliners on each day," he says. They also landed one of Pantera's first festival performances after they decided to reunite.

"We got lucky -- that was sandwiched in between Metallica [tour dates] that Pantera was doing," he explains. "So we were able to score that, you know. I also love just seeing friends like Halestorm and Tom Morello grace the Rocklahoma stage over the years too."

"I'm looking forward to this year, with friends like Stone Temple Pilots," Spivack muses, looking at the weekend's entertainment. "And seeing Andrew [Stockdale] of Wolfmother, who I haven't seen in a handful of years, Fletcher [Dragge] of Pennywise, Jacoby [Shaddix] of Papa Roach, Zakk [Wylde] of Black Label Society. These have become dear friends to me in the rock community."

Four Seasons of Rock and Roll

The first year drew an estimated 100 thousand people. 20 years later, organizers expect that about 80 thousand will be in attendance. Though the fest eventually shifted away from the hair metal focus of the early years to a broader rock spectrum, Slaughter played Friday evening (Sept 4), representing the initial focus.

(Is this the first time Slaughter and Slayer have shared the bill? Perhaps that's another first. Just another random question for us all to ponder as music fans.)

Godsmack was also on hand as one of the headliners on Friday night and scanning the rest of the bill reveals that there's literally something for everyone. From Cypress Hill to Buckcherry, Insane Clown Posse, Molly Hatchet, Living Colour, Suicidal Tendencies and Jet, just to name a few.

In these schizophrenic times as listeners, just looking at the lineup, the festival looks well-equipped to survive for another 20 years -- and Johnny Dare agrees, thanks to one key component, of course. "It's about the fan, the festival goer, the ticket buyer, the person who's willing to go out there and sweat it out," he says.

"Sunburnt, freeze to death, get wiped out, end up in a mudstorm, being in a hat being beat with hail and rain," he adds. "And at the end of the day, you walk away going, goddamn, I can't wait for next year. That's Rocklahoma."