Thomas Rhett and playoff baseball

The one thing

Thomas Rhett plays the BOK Center on Saturday, September 19 at 7:30 pm, with Zach John King and Emily Ann Roberts opening. This is the Soundtrack to Life tour, 24 dates that started in Nashville in July and finish in Omaha in late October. The setlist pulls from the deluxe version of About a Woman, which grew to 25 songs and carries "Ain't a Bad Life" with Jordan Davis.

Two things worth knowing before you go. The BOK Center is cashless and runs a clear bag policy, so one clear bag no bigger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, plus a small personal item that does not have to be clear. And Rhett donates fifty cents from every ticket to Love One International, which he has done across this whole run.

Saturday is the busiest night of the week by a wide margin. Gabriel Iglesias is at The Cove and Ann Wilson is at Hard Rock Live at the same hour, so downtown parking will fill early and the Riverside side of town will too. Leave yourself more time than you think you need.

Live music and comedy

Thursday, Friday and Saturday are all loaded, and they are loaded in different rooms across three cities. Pick a night and commit.

• •Hail the Sun plays The Vanguard on Monday, September 14 at 7 pm, with A Lot Like Birds, Blight Town and Murals on the bill.
• •Heather Shaw opens a run at Loony Bin Comedy Club on Wednesday, September 16 at 7 pm and plays again Thursday, September 17.
• •Patti LaBelle plays The Cove on Thursday, September 17 at 8 pm. This show was supposed to happen back on March 7 and got pushed by weather, so if you have been sitting on a ticket since the spring, that ticket is still good. The room is 21 and up.
• •Anne Wilson plays the Mabee Center on Thursday, September 17 at 7 pm.
• •WASP plays Tulsa Theater on Thursday, September 17 at 8 pm with KK's Priest opening. Blackie Lawless is running the 1984 to Headless tour, which works through the band's first four albums with staging built to match those album covers. He has said they have never tried anything like it.
• •Buddy Guy plays Tulsa Theater on Friday, September 18 at 7:30 pm. He turned 90 on July 30 and won his ninth Grammy this year for Ain't Done with the Blues. He announced a farewell three years ago and then kept going, and this run is called the BG90 tour. If you have never seen one of the men who actually built electric blues guitar, this is the time.
• •Nelly plays Hard Rock Live in Catoosa on Friday, September 18 at 8 pm. Twenty five years of hits, three Grammys, and a casino theater that is a good deal smaller than the rooms he plays in the summer.
• •Goodfellas plays The Vanguard on Friday, September 18 at 8 pm.
• •Gabriel Iglesias plays The Cove on Saturday, September 19 at 8 pm. The current run is billed as The 1976 Tour, a birthday year victory lap with more than 40 dates on it.
• •Ann Wilson plays Hard Rock Live on Saturday, September 19 at 8 pm with her band Tripsitter. Heart cut its 2024 dates short so she could have cancer treatment, and she spent part of 2025 singing from a chair. She is back on her feet and back out on her own. Yes, this is a different person from the Anne Wilson at the Mabee Center on Thursday. Check which ticket you bought.
• •Born Of Osiris plays The Shrine on Saturday, September 19 at 7 pm. This one is 21 and up.
• •The Bad Plus plays LowDown on Sunday, September 20 at 6:30 pm.
• •Bad Indian takes Bricktown Comedy Club on Sunday, September 20 at 7 pm.
• •Daniel Donato brings Cosmic Country to Cain's Ballroom on Sunday, September 20 at 7:30 pm. A Sunday night at Cain's is one of the better ways to end a weekend in this town.

See the full concert calendar for everything on sale.

Festivals and free stuff

• •Born and Raised runs Thursday, September 17 through Saturday, September 19 at the festival grounds in Pryor, with gates around noon each day. More than 30 acts, headlined by Justin Moore, Gavin Adcock and The Red Clay Strays, with Shane Smith and The Saints, Paul Cauthen, Josh Abbott Band, Cody Canada and the Departed, Tracy Lawrence, Randall King, William Clark Green, Muscadine Bloodline, Kat Hasty and Jamie Lin Wilson all on the bill. Three day passes and single day passes are both on sale. Pryor is about 45 minutes northeast.
• •The Tulsa Greek Festival turns 66 this year and runs Thursday, September 17 through Saturday, September 19 at Holy Trinity on South Guthrie. Thursday is 5 pm to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday run 11 am to 10 pm. Admission is $5 and kids 12 and under get in free. This year's theme ties into the 100th anniversary of Route 66.
• •La Fiesta de Tulsa brings its parade and festival to east Tulsa on Saturday, September 19. The parade steps off at 3 pm and runs from 1808 South 123rd East Avenue to 1801 South Garnett, and the festival follows from 4 pm to 9 pm.
• •Record Club is at Guthrie Green on Friday, September 18, with DJ Doc Free spinning music from the musicals. Guthrie Green programming is free and the lawn is open to anyone who shows up with a blanket.
• •The Tulsa Farmers' Market is at 1 South Lewis on Saturday, September 19 from 7 to 11 am. This is the changeover weekend, so expect the last good tomatoes next to the first winter squash.

Sports

Playoff baseball comes back to ONEOK Field this week, and it might be brief. The Tulsa Drillers open the Texas League North Division series at Springfield on Tuesday, September 15, then host Game 2 on Thursday, September 17 at 6:30 pm and Game 3, if the series needs one, on Friday, September 18 at 7 pm. The round is short. Two wins take it. This is Tulsa's second straight postseason under Eric Wedge, and Thursday could be the last home game of the year or the night that sends them to the Texas League Championship Series. Tickets are cheap, downtown is right there, and it is the only game in town on a Thursday that already has three concerts on it.

FC Tulsa is on the road again, at Brooklyn FC on Saturday, September 19 at 6 pm Tulsa time. That is a long way from home and it is their fourth straight away match. They sit fifth in the Western Conference on 36 points, comfortably inside the playoff line, and they return to ONEOK Field on Wednesday, September 30.

On the horizon

Next week keeps the pace up. Billy Idol plays the BOK Center on Tuesday, September 22 with VILLANELLE opening. The Expendables are at The Vanguard on Wednesday, September 23. Then Cain's runs three strong nights in a row, with The Toadies and Local H on Thursday, September 24, Judah & The Lion on Friday, September 25, and The Midnight on Saturday, September 26. Sara Evans is at Hard Rock Live on Friday, September 25, and Josh Blue runs the weekend at Bricktown Comedy Club.

The free pick of next week is Digable Planets headlining Hip Hop 918 at Guthrie Green on Saturday, September 26. No ticket, no cover, just show up. Full rundown next Monday.