Music is everything to Yezikiel “Zeke” Benoit and Stelen Covel.
For the founders of Nostalgic Nights, a concert booking company, music has been integral to their lives, teaching them about life and the music industry for the past 21 years.
Best friends since sixth grade, Benoit and Covel’s love of music evolved into a need to share music, and their passion, with large groups of people.
“You can listen to a song and it can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can make you happy. It just gives you all kinds of emotions,” Covel said. “It embodies everything of what you want to be. If you want something, you can listen to a song and it’ll make you feel a certain way.”
Covel, entrepreneurship senior, is the son of country music artist Toby Keith and has witnessed the music industry firsthand. Covel watched as shows and music were produced behind the scenes.
“I’ve seen it all up-close and personal for my entire life,” Covel said. “I’ve seen from agencies to backstage to production to production of an actual song to actual performance.”
With this knowledge and their families’ ties to the music industry, Covel and Benoit decided to start a business together.
“It’s time for us to take over what we know how to do and kind of be our own company,” Covel said.
Benoit grew up in Oklahoma and said his father and mother weren’t major figures in his life, so he relied on his grandfather. However, his grandfather was a busy man, and although he was a role model and influence, he relied heavily on music to teach him.
“I felt like at times music taught me some stepping stones,” Benoit said. “(Rappers and artists) taught me lessons in life that I might … have learned the hard way as opposed to not learning the hard way.”
Benoit’s grandfather, Howard Pollack, helped start the Zoo Amphitheatre in Oklahoma City in the late 1970s. Pollack began as a high-profile rock music photographer in New York. He is now known for large venue rock and popular music concerts, according to his bio page on Zoo Amp.
After an EF5 tornado devastated Moore in 2013, Benoit’s grandfather put together a tornado relief concert at the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Covel’s father, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks and many other Oklahoma artists performed.
This was the first sign for Benoit and Covel that they could handle the demands of putting on concerts.
“It was massive. … That was the first time we actually thought about (joining the industry),” Covel said. “We felt like inherently it was our show.”
Covel started college at Arizona State University and later decided to transfer to OU his sophomore year. Benoit, however, began at OU, but left in 2017. Instead, he went all in for Nostalgic Nights, or NXN.
“I trust in the plan of life, I believe everything was written in advance. All I can do is just follow my footsteps and be the best person I can be tomorrow,” Benoit said.“Right now I feel confident going full into my business — our business — and growing this into something huge.”
Benoit eventually pitched NXN to his best friend, and the two have been co-founders ever since.
“I looked over it and thought it was a really good business opportunity and something I’m really passionate about,” Covel said. “I know Zeke is really passionate about it, so it was a perfect fit.”
In 2017, Nostalgic Nights launched its first public concert at OU’s Bid Day, greek life’s celebration of new members. The two brought artists Metro Boomin and Juicy J to campus. They said about 3,300 people attended the concert.
“When we locked up university bid day, our grandfathers didn’t make any calls, (Covel’s) dad didn’t make any calls,” Benoit said. “(The organizations) came to us knowing what our positions were, where our families are in life and they came to us and said do you think you can throw a better show than what was thrown last year. We said, ‘Yeah, we feel very confident we can do so,’ and we did that year.”
The company booked six concerts just for OU and greek life after that, and was booked again for Bid Day 2018.
OU’s chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, or PIKE, had their first fall rush this year. For Bid Day, they paired with some of the bigger names on campus in order to get their name in front of the incoming students. However, the performer for the concert canceled their show.
PIKE then partnered with Kappa Sigma and a few other fraternities for a concert put on by Nostalgic Nights. When that artist canceled their appearance the night before the show, NXN found a new artist, set and opener, and paid out of their own pocket, said Cael Staton, new member educator and treasurer for PIKE.
“They were very generous, worked very hard, tirelessly, for about 24 hours to make sure that they can get the new artist, get their team flown in, put them in hotel rooms, (and) make sure they’re comfortable here,” Staton said. “They did a really great job and made us very proud and happy to work with them, for all the work and adjusting that they had to do.”
However, NXN’s audience expands past Oklahoma’s borders — it hosted a show at the University of Arkansas, which featured artist Slander, and in Las Vegas.
NXN hosts a combination of public and private events, and hopes to expand more into the public sphere. However, both Benoit and Covel said the company isn’t about making a profit.
“We’ve actually gone in the red on multiple occasions just for these shows for these kids,” Covel said. “It’s just great to have the joy of music bringing people together. That’s kind of what we’re about, that’s our mantra.”
Benoit and Covel said they’re in it for the long haul and understand the business is an investment, but they think it’s worth it, especially if it’s in the name of music.
“It’s all about the experience,” Benoit said. “We were never in it just for the money. We want a great show, a great experience, a nostalgic night, hence the name.”
NXN will host Trippie Redd, in conjunction with Unruly Citizens, Nov. 2 at The Criterion in Oklahoma City. Tickets are still available for the show and range between $35 and $125.
