New Festival Springs Up For University Students

Indie rock band MuteMath will headline the Friday night card at the Springtime of Youth festival, which takes place this weekend in the parking lot east of Baum Stadium in south Fayetteville. Rapper Wiz Khalifa will headline Saturday’s events.
Indie rock band MuteMath will headline the Friday night card at the Springtime of Youth festival, which takes place this weekend in the parking lot east of Baum Stadium in south Fayetteville. Rapper Wiz Khalifa will headline Saturday’s events.

Booking a major live music act is never easy. And it's even more difficult when only a few dates are available.

Garrett Skrovina, a senior finance and international business double major, is chairman of the student-run Headliner Concerts Committee, which in its more than five years of existence has drawn acts such as the Foo Fighters, The Roots and John Mayer to Fayetteville. All of those shows took place in Barnhill Arena, a venue already busy with volleyball, gymnastics and, sometimes, classes. Those bookings took priority, meaning the student-fee supported Headliner Committee never had many days to work with, and they were often less-desirable dates.

FAQ

Springtime of Youth

Music Festival

WHEN — Today & Saturday

WHERE — University of Arkansas Lot 56, east of Baum Stadium

COST — $30 for a one-day pass or $50 for the weekend, available through tickets.waltonartsc…

INFO — osa.uark.edu

In his three years on the committee, "we never got more than fives dates," Skrovina says -- as in five dates in an entire semester -- and that limited opportunities.

It led the committee members to seek a better option for 2015: the creation of the Springtime of Youth music festival, named after a line in the University of Arkansas' alma mater. It takes place this weekend with a series of shows in the parking lot just to the east of Baum Stadium. Like previous Headliner concerts, the event is designed for students first and the public a distant second. Students were able to book free tickets starting April 1. Passes went on sale to the general public later the same day. Skrovina expects the event to be a complete sellout, with more than 6,000 tickets claimed by students and just more than 500 taken by the general public.

A student poll issued earlier this spring helped determine which bands were booked. Leading student preferences were a rap or hip-hop act, with 30 percent making that genre their first choice, Skrovina says. Rock or alternative followed behind at 24 percent. And it's those two genres that lead the festival, with modern rockers Mutemath headlining tonight and rapper Wiz Khalifa with the top spot on Saturday. Other acts include Misterwives, Viceroy, Moon Taxi and Wet.

Skrovina says the festival arrangement, and not one-off events in Barnhill Arena, is the committee's plan going forward.

-- Kevin Kinder

[email protected]

NAN What's Up on 04/17/2015

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