The night was starting to cool down, Arizona is finally entering the fall weather months. The parking lot was full and the line was starting to form. Everyone was super excited to get inside but at the same time there was a hint of sadness casting a shadow over everyone. The reason was because this would be Okilly Dokilly’s last show. Tourdilly Do was their farewell tour. While in line, the first group of Nedheads were analyzing everyone’s outfits, seeing how many people came dressed at Ned Flanders. As more fans came dressed as Ned, everyone greeted and complimented each other.
As fans entered the venue, they were greeted by a Okilly Dokilly and The Nile backdrop. This back drop was special for this show. Okilly Dokilly was on a mission! They were on a mission, their mission: to break the Guinness World record for the amount of people dressed as Ned Flanders! They could not get a representative there so they decided to have someone take pictures as proof! Everyone went to the back drop and had their photos taken.
People were waiting in front of the stage, ready for the first band. The first band to hit the stage was Snailmate. Snailmate is a duo band that meets EDM. They are a fun local group that is full of high energy. In between songs they interact with the crowd and the crowd is eating it up! The singer sings but most of his vocals are in a rap style. He is fast paced and hits his words enthusiastically. Their drummer not only plays the drums but he also plays a few other instruments to add more depth to their music. Towards the end of their set the singer sat on the edge of the stage and sang. He then jumped off the stage and went into the crowd and sang as connected with the audience.
The crowd slowly grew a little bigger and another local Arizona band was next to take to the stage. The next band was American Standards. American Standards came out in costume! Their singer, Brandon Kellum, was dressed as Duff Man from the Simpsons, keeping with Okilly Dokilly’s theme. Their Bassist, Steven Mandell, was dressed as Homer Simpson. Corey Skowronski, was wearing a blue jumpsuit, similar to something a mechanic would wear. Chris Daley, their drummer was wearing a Zero t-shirt. The second the band hit the stage the crowd went wild. Many fans in attendance knew the band. The band had extremely high energy. In between songs they interacted with the audience, talking to them and letting them know what songs were coming next. At one-point Kellum sat on the speakers and then jumped into the crowd. He sang while moshing in the mosh pit with the audience. Everybody was loving this moment and enjoying every moment.
While waiting for Okilly Dokilly, more fans cramdilly crammed in. The last time The Nile was this packed was for the Chaos and Carnage tour. There was a sea of Ned’s infiltrating the building. Fans could be overheard talking. One fan brought his son and they flew from Colorado. Another fan had flown in from Austin that morning and then was flying out at 5 AM. The fans are dedicated and really want to experience this final run By Okilly Dokilly. Okilly Dokilly started in Phoenix, Arizona as a joke band. They never really intended for the band to get huge but little did they know that they would become so popular. The second they came onto the stage the fans went absolutely nuts.
Head Ned came out dressed as Ned Flanders from the waist up with a cape and devilly triton. From the waist down he was wearing brown furry pants to look like demon legs. In the very front of the stage was a homemade tv box that emitted smoke. After a few songs Head Ned ditched the furry pants and came out looking like Ned Flanders to a tee. Head Ned chitty-chated with the crowd, he let fans know he had a rulilly. If someone fell, then you needed to help that person up. Everyone agreed upon said rules. They played “Vegetables” from their 2016 album Howdilly Doodilly.
They then played “Reneducation” from their album Howdilly Twodilly that came out in 2019. They then asked the crowd to something special. They asked the crowd form a circle and sit criss cross applesauce. They then played a superilly fantastic acoustic folk set. In the end it’s going to teardilly sad to see Okilly Dokilly leave the scene behind but it was howdilly awesome to be able to see this band live, wishing Okilly Dokilly a Toodily-Doo!
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