The University Programs Council officially announced yesterday that national recording artist Guster will headline Springfest, a free event for University students to take place Saturday, April 13 in the Mad Bowl.
Guster will be one of six bands performing at Springfest, said Jbeau Lewis, programs coordinator for PK German, the committee that organizes on-Grounds concerts within UPC.
The daylong Springfest, which starts at noon, also will feature Texas country star Pat Green, Northern Virginia's Virginia Coalition and local acts Benny Dodd, Dogger and Vandyke Brown.
In addition, the festival will include its annual Gusburger competition to see how many of the White Spot's signature hamburgers students can eat. Free Big Jim's barbecue and a compact disc recording booth will round out the event, Lewis said.
The event also is slated to take place in conjunction with the University's Founder's Day commemoration, marking the 259th anniversary of Mr. Jefferson's birthday.
Though Springfest has been conducted in past years, this is the first year it will include musical acts, UPC Special Programs Chairwoman Jennifer Habicht said.
"Basically, we wanted to take it in a completely different direction," Habicht said.
The bands were very receptive to the idea of the festival being a free show, she added.
Guster, a three-piece band that formed at Tufts University in 1992, recently signed on with Warner Brothers Studio through an affiliate, Palm Records, said Jim Baltutis, Warner Brothers' vice president of media relations.
"The band is in the midst of working on a new album," Baltutis said.
Their visit to the University is part of a spring tour consisting primarily of college venues.
"The perfect setting for them is doing these college dates," Baltutis said.
Guster hopes to use the tour to debut new material and gain feedback as well as "to keep up their musical chops," he added.
College venues provide the band an ideal forum for performing in front of a young, diverse crowd, he said.
"The bottom line is that's where it's at," he said.
The band has developed a broad base of college-aged fans from past college tours.
"I saw them two years ago when they played Newcomb Hall," third-year College student Dave Henning said.
Though Henning said he enjoyed Guster's recorded music, it was the band's live performances that made them stand out.
"They're kind of like a very acoustic Dave Matthews Band with different instruments," he said.
If this year's Springfest proves a success, UPC may continue to expand the festival and perhaps involve other on-Grounds organizations in the future, Habicht said.
The council hopes "to throw one of the biggest events that's gone on in the Mad Bowl," Lewis said.
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