<uds of aerosol sunscreen drifted behind the Rec Center Saturday afternoon as shirtless students chased frisbees and shotgunned cans of beer in preparation for the 33rd annual Spring Concert.
The concert’s relatively obscure lineup didn’t seem to deter a constant stream of students, clad in bro-tanks, summer dresses, and a leopard-print speedo.
The bands–Run the Jewels, St. Lucia, Sonny Knight & The Lakers, Frankie Teardrop, and Martin Anderson & The Goods–were unknown to many students before the show.
When the lineup was posted last month on the Spring Concert Facebook page, a student commented: “Someone tell me how to feel about this. I don’t know any of these people except St. Lucia.”
Junior Sam Keyes, a member of the committee that chose the bands, said: “Spring Concert Committee is always a bit of an enemy.” No matter what, he said, some students won’t be especially thrilled with the lineup.
This year, the committee posted music videos and interviews with the bands on Facebook to raise student interest in the concert. But Keyes said he should have started earlier.
Still, the concert was “probably the best one in my three years,” junior Alex Polk said. For one thing, it was a perfect day for a concert, unlike the wet, gray day last year.
Said Keyes: “As long as people can toss bean bags and throw around a frisbee, you’re always going to be ahead.”
On top of the appeal of a warm grassy field, free snow cones, and a volleyball net on the concert grounds, the bands turned out to be pretty good, students said afterward. “Saint Lucia was awesome,” Polk said of the concert’s synthpop headliner. “I had heard a couple of their songs, but not that many. They were a pleasant surprise.”
Keyes said he was happy with the concert, but admitted that the day had been hectic. For one thing, members of the Spring Concert Committee had to take care of each band’s rider–a set of requests that comes with the band’s contract–that morning. This meant stocking each band’s back-stage tent with towels, mirrors, fruits and vegetables, chips, and drinks.
“Saint Lucia wanted Sierra Nevada,” Keyes said, referring to the brand of beer. “Run the Jewels was more into hard liquor.”
