Koe Wetzel brings Bixby home

The one thing

Koe Wetzel plays the BOK Center on Friday, October 2 at 6:45 pm, and the bill is the reason to get there early. This is The Night Champion World Tour, behind his sixth album, The Night Champion, which came out on June 12. It is 45 dates long and wraps up in Lubbock on October 30, so Tulsa gets a band that has had all summer to tighten up.

Wetzel came up playing Texas roadhouses and then Oklahoma bars, and red dirt crowds here were on him early. "High Road," his duet with Jessie Murph, was the most played song on country radio in 2025. Expect that one, and expect the whole arena to sing it.

The local story is the opener. Corey Kent is from Bixby, and his new album, Heartland Rock and Roll, came out on September 25, one week before this show. It opens with a song about leaving Bixby and closes with one called "Bixby," and Wetzel sings on the single "Rocky Mountain Low." A hometown kid playing that record for the first time in the biggest room in town is worth being in your seat for. Bayker Blankenship and Logan Jahnke open the night.

The BOK Center is cashless everywhere except the box office, and the clear bag policy is strict. Friday downtown with the fair running across town means traffic, so leave early.

Live music and comedy

Monday is quiet, and then the week fills up fast. Wednesday and Thursday both give you two good shows on the same night, so choose carefully.

• •Shawn James plays The Vanguard on Tuesday, September 29 at 8 pm. This is the Flew Too Close To The Sun Tour, with songs from Passage, his eighth album, out since June.
• •Cameron Whitcomb plays Cain's Ballroom on Wednesday, September 30 at 7 pm, with Nep and Liam St John. The Kingdom of Fear Tour is sold out, so check resale if you still want in.
• •Built To Spill play The Vanguard on Wednesday, September 30 at 8 pm, with Paul Schalda. Doug Martsch and his guitars, in a room small enough to hear every layer.
• •Brit Floyd plays Tulsa Theater on Thursday, October 1 at 7:30 pm. The Moon, The Wall and Beyond covers Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, and the light show is a big part of it.
• •Foreigner plays The Cove at River Spirit on Thursday, October 1 at 8 pm. It is the fiftieth anniversary tour, with Luis Maldonado now singing lead. This one is 21 and over.
• •Hayefield play The Vanguard on Friday, October 2 at 8 pm. The Arkansas trio just put out the DREADMILL EP, and the show is sold out.
• •Lawrence Rothman plays Mercury Lounge on Friday, October 2 at 8 pm.
• •Max McNown plays Hard Rock Live in Catoosa on Saturday, October 3 at 8 pm. His third album, Leave On A Light, came out on September 25, so the new songs arrive with him.
• •The Bobby Lees play The Vanguard on Saturday, October 3 at 8 pm. Wild garage punk, touring New Self on Epitaph.
• •My So Called Band plays Cain's Ballroom on Saturday, October 3 at 9 pm. An Oklahoma band that covers the 90s and early 2000s, grunge to R&B to country, and gets the whole floor singing.

See the full concert calendar for everything on sale.

Festivals and free stuff

• •The Tulsa State Fair opens Thursday, October 1 and runs through October 11 at Expo Square. Oklahoma Stage concerts are free with gate admission, and this week brings Drake White on Thursday, 49 Winchester on Friday, Blake Whiten on Saturday with fireworks after, and Jay Sean on Sunday. All start at 7:30 pm. Gate admission is $12 in advance or $17 at the gate, and on opening night Ford Family Fun Night gets you in for $7 with a coupon from a Ford dealer, with $2 rides.
• •The Final Encore is a free block party at Cameron and Boulder, Thursday, October 1 through Saturday, October 3, as the Mayo family says goodbye to Tulsa Theater after almost fifty years. It is free but you need a ticket from mayofinalencore.com, and supply is limited. Friday night has the Brady Orchestra with John Elefante at 8 pm, and Saturday starts at 3 pm with a karaoke contest.
• •The First Friday Art Crawl fills the Tulsa Arts District on Friday, October 2 from 6 to 9 pm, with free gallery and museum admission.
• •The Tulsa Farmers' Market switches to October hours this Saturday, October 3, from 8 am to noon at 1 South Lewis in Kendall Whittier.
• •Autumn in the Botanic Garden runs all week at Tulsa Botanic Garden, with a hay maze and a pumpkin patch.
• •Heads up for later. Garth Brooks tickets for his October 23 to 25 shows at the BOK Center go on sale Friday, October 2 at 10 am.

Sports

Tulsa Golden Hurricane football is 3 and 1 after a 34 to 6 loss at Arkansas on September 26. The conference season starts right away. North Texas comes to H.A. Chapman Stadium on Thursday, October 1 at 8 pm, on ESPN, for the American Conference opener. After that the team is at Navy on October 10.

FC Tulsa finally comes home after five straight matches on the road, the last one a 1 to 1 draw at El Paso. They host New Mexico United at ONEOK Field on Wednesday, September 30 at 7 pm and Sacramento Republic on Saturday, October 3 at 7 pm. Two home matches in four days this late in the season matter for the Western Conference playoff race.

The Tulsa Oilers are nearly back. Their 75th season opens at the BOK Center on October 17 against Allen.

On the horizon

Next week is a big one at the BOK Center. Journey plays there on Thursday, October 8, on the Final Frontier Tour, billed as their last, with two sets and no opener. Ella Langley brings the Dandelion Tour on Friday, October 9, with Kameron Marlowe and Laci Kaye Booth, and CeCe Winans follows on Saturday, October 10.

The fair keeps going too, with Colt Ford on October 6, Gin Blossoms on October 8 and Waka Flocka Flame on October 9, all free with gate admission.

Full rundown next Monday.