THE LINEUP
MAIN STAGE
Diversion Sound
Crash Kings
B.o.B
Michelle Branch
The Parson Redheads
Thrice
Relient K
Drake
DANCE TENT
DVC
Shark Attack
Robbed by Robots
DJ Battle winner
Skeet Skeet
Designer Drugs
Z-Trip
After teasing students a week ago with bookmarks listing a partial lineup of this year’s Sun God Festival, Associate Vice President of Concerts & Events Alex Bramwell has named B.o.B., Crash Kings and The Parson Redheads as the remaining Sun God acts.
They will join Drake, Relient K, Thrice and Michelle Branch on the main stage. Deejay acts Designer Drugs, Skeet Skeet, Robbed By Robots and Shark Attack will perform in the festival’s dance tent, leading up to a set by headlininger DJ Z-Trip.
The idway stage will host performance by student organizations Donald Glover, Joe Mande and Dan Mintz. Cirque Berzerk, a troupe of gothic trapeze artists from Los Angeles, will take to the stage periodically throughout the day.
Bramwell said students’ reactions to the lineup released a week ago have been mixed.
“The general reaction has been very positive,” Bramwell said. “Of course, there are going to be complaints and some people are upset. … We definitely don’t just choose whoever we feel like booking. Any name you could throw out as a suggestion for a headliner, we’ve likely checked [to see] if they are available or not, and if they’re an option.”
The festival’s total budget, which is drawn from student fees guest ticket sales, is roughly $690,000. Bramwell said security for the festival — including UC police officers and Staff Pro personnel — is approximately $50,000.
“We spend less than half of our budget on booking acts, because of production and security costs that limit the money that we can spend on artists,” Bramwell said.
Last year, according to 2008-09 AVP Concerts & Events Garret Berg, ASCE spent about $550,000 on Sun God Festival, $40,000 of which went to security and about $120,000 of which went toward the talent budget.
Twenty thousand wristbands will be created for the event. Of these, 3,500 will be set aside for guests and sold for $40 each. This year, wristbands will be available on the Thursday before the festival, in addition to the day of the event. They can be retrieved from Marshall Field on Thursday, May 13 from noon to 6 p.m., and on Friday, May 14 starting at 9 a.m.
“If students have class on Thursday and Friday, they can decide which classes are more important and pick up their wristbands on the best day,” Bramwell said.
Last year, student wristbands could only be picked up on the day of the festival. Many concertgoers — worried by the fact that Sun God 2008 had run out of student tickets — crowded the lines Friday morning and spent up to four hours waiting to pick up their wristbands. According to Bramwell, there were roughly 1,000 wristbands left over after the 2009 festival.
“Last year, we didn’t sell out,” he said. “I’m not concerned [about running out of tickets], and I would advise students that they don’t necessarily need to be concerned and they can come on Friday to pick it up. Of course, no promises can be made.”
Bramwell said he hoped that moving the distribution to Marshall Field will help keep the line more contained and easier to regulate by campus police.
Following the annual Battle of the Bands and the first-ever DJ Battle Dance Party — which took place over the weekend at the Loft — student act Diversion Sound and deejays J-Sharp and Barons of Bass will also perform at the festival.
Readers can contact Janani Sridharan at [email protected].
