The third annual Muirstock festival, one of the biggest, most anticipated free music festivals on campus, will happen April 25. This year, the lineup includes such big-name acts as the B-Side Players and Pinback, as well as local names such as Reeve Oliver and Skapegoat.
Muirstock was founded two years ago by the Muir College Council as a way to dispel the increasingly prominent image that college councils were good for nothing but money distribution. Last year’s festival featured Sugarcult, Convoy and local boys Straight No Chaser. Since its inception, Muirstock has become an autonomous student organization, responsible for its own funding and advertising.
The festival features eight bands, as well as a variety of pre-show activities. Seth Klonsky, the coordinator for this year’s Muirstock, expressed his excitement that “”the event has expanded its offerings”” since previous festivals. Last year, there was a massage therapist; this year, they’ve added a rock climbing wall, a henna tattoo artist, sumo wrestling suits, a fly wall and a barbeque.
“”The event is aimed at an all-campus audience,”” Klonsky said. “”We want students and staff from all over campus to come and enjoy the event. Just because it’s a rock concert doesn’t mean that only people who enjoy rock music can come.”” And the best part? “”It’s all completely free. There’s not one aspect of the event that costs money.””
Apparently, people like the idea of a free music festival. This year saw the creation of two eerily similar events – Marshallpalooza, which occurred winter quarter and Eleanor Roosevelt College’s own music festival set to take place this May. As these Muirstock clones emerge, the creators of this exciting event have chosen to use the advertising slogan “”The Original”” to distinguish it from its successors.
“”While we’re excited that people liked the idea of Muirstock so much that they wanted to do something similar,”” Klonsky said, “”we wanted people to look to Muir as the college that has the original all-campus festival. The nice part about being three years old is that we can acquire the money to put on an amazing event that has so much more than any other event.””
This year’s festival has a budget of $18,000.
Two years ago, Muirstock took place on April 20 at 4:20 p.m. — not exactly a savory image for university officials to promote.
“”Originally, April 20 was chosen simply because it was the only available Friday in April,”” Klonsky said. “”Of course, we didn’t hesitate to capitalize on it.””
This year the music still starts at 4:20 p.m. with (appropriately) a reggae band called The Big Sound.
“”For some people, Muirstock is still about 4/20, and if that includes some debauchery, the Triton Taxi is there to help. Muirstock is not supposed to be an image of the university; it’s an image of students having a good time.””
The festival starts at 1 p.m.; the music begins at 4:20 p.m.
For more information on the bands go to page 11.
