The possibility of heavy rain has spurred a change in plans for the organizers of Saturday’s Spring Fever, the semester’s outdoor music event sponsored by Music Makers, the Campus Activities Board and the Student Association. Despite potential setbacks from the weather, the show will go on, being held instead at the Humphrey Coliseum.Former SA President J.R. Love said he met with Music Makers director Brad Burton, CAB director Bobbie Lee Daniel and current SA President Jeremy Johnson Thursday to make the final decision on the location of the event.
“We made the decision out of concern for the people coming to the concert and for the artists that would be performing,” Love said. “We thought it would be best if it were inside.”
Opening acts by Chase McGinnis and Foxchase Drive have been cancelled unless weather permits, but Steve Azar, Ingram Hill, Yung Joc and Blues Traveler will still take the stage at the free concert.
Spring Fever was originally planned to take place on the Junction and is a combination of the former Old Main and Down in the District music festivals.
Daniel said the sponsors did not want to move the event into the Hump, but had no choice because of the severe weather expected for Saturday.
“Obviously the event has not turned out as we had originally planned because of the weather, so we are trying to be as accommodating as possible,” she said. “The chances of severe weather were just too high. I got a lot of feedback from students saying they would love to just jam out in the rain, but the chances of having lightning and things like that were just too high and we had to make the decision for public safety.”
Despite the change of venue, organizers are remaining optimistic.
Burton said that with such a diverse group of bands playing on two stages, the concert should have something for everyone.
“I don’t think we could have gotten a much more diverse line up than this,” Burton said.
Fever will kick off at 5 p.m. with county artist Steve Azar. Following Azar will be Mississippi natives Ingram Hill starting at 6:30 p.m., Hip-hop superstar Yung Joc will take the stage at 8 p.m. and Headliner Blues Traveler will begin performing at 9:30 p.m.
Lee said an outdoor stage will be set up if the weather does not get severe for Chase McGinnis to perform at 5:30 p.m. and Foxchase Drive to take the stage at 7 p.m.
“We couldn’t have two stages in the coliseum based on space reasons,” she said.
The event will still be open to the public, and the coliseum floor and seating bowl will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Concession stands will be closed, and a limited number of vendors will be set-up in the concourse area, including Cappe’s, Domino’s and Barnes & Noble. Vendors will not sell alcoholic beverages.
Daniel said the public is welcome to bring food and beverages into the event.
Burton said he hopes the concert will draw a large crowd since it is on campus.
“Our reason for doing it on campus was so we’d make it more accessible for students,” he said.
Daniel said this is a trial year for combining the festivals and holding the concert on campus.
Freshman undeclared major Lee Conner said he is anticipating the music festival.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Yung Joc and hanging with my friends,” he said. “It’s really convenient with it being on campus because I live on campus, and I can just walk to the concert. There’s no need to worry about parking that way.”
Tyler Stewart contributed to this article.