Spring Break
Springfest in bloom at last night's 'Rock the Quad' show
Hillary Brady
Issue date: 4/14/09 Section: Campus
04/14/09 - Kicking off the festivities for the University of Rhode Island's Springfest was an evening-long outdoor concert on the Quadrangle.
The "Rock the Quad" event, hosted by the Student Entertainment Committee, featured a Missouri-based headlining band, "Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin," and four URI student bands.
A fifth band, Starting Over Tuesday, was unable to attend.
Acting as host for the night was comedian Shane Mauss, who entertained the crowd with short stand-up routines between music sets.
More than 75 students gathered on the Quad in front of a large stage to see the show. Many laid out beach towels and lawn chairs on the grass, eating take-out. As the evening grew colder, the students huddled in blankets as they watched the performances.
Others, taking advantage of the warmer weather early on, played Frisbee, soccer and catch with the inflatable beach balls on sale at the SEC booth.
Also on sale were Springfest t-shirts, key-chains, towels and neon-colored sunglasses, which students enthusiastically purchased during the sunny start of the show.
The event itself was free to all students, an important part of the event, said the SEC.
"I think that, especially since it's a free show, it's good because people can sit, watch and come and go as they please without having to buy tickets," senior Sarah Shields, the SEC concert president, said.
The outdoor concert was inspired by the success of October's Battle of the Bands.
"We specifically picked bands not at Battle of the Bands, so everyone would get a chance to showcase," Shields said. "We wanted anyone who is a musician at URI to have a chance to play on a big stage."
The search for bands started about a month ago as a Facebook group that requested tapes of any type of music. The SEC received 15 entries and a committee chose which acts to invite to the Quad.
"We wanted it to be something all people would want to go out and see," Shields said.
The "Rock the Quad" event, hosted by the Student Entertainment Committee, featured a Missouri-based headlining band, "Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin," and four URI student bands.
A fifth band, Starting Over Tuesday, was unable to attend.
Acting as host for the night was comedian Shane Mauss, who entertained the crowd with short stand-up routines between music sets.
More than 75 students gathered on the Quad in front of a large stage to see the show. Many laid out beach towels and lawn chairs on the grass, eating take-out. As the evening grew colder, the students huddled in blankets as they watched the performances.
Others, taking advantage of the warmer weather early on, played Frisbee, soccer and catch with the inflatable beach balls on sale at the SEC booth.
Also on sale were Springfest t-shirts, key-chains, towels and neon-colored sunglasses, which students enthusiastically purchased during the sunny start of the show.
The event itself was free to all students, an important part of the event, said the SEC.
"I think that, especially since it's a free show, it's good because people can sit, watch and come and go as they please without having to buy tickets," senior Sarah Shields, the SEC concert president, said.
The outdoor concert was inspired by the success of October's Battle of the Bands.
"We specifically picked bands not at Battle of the Bands, so everyone would get a chance to showcase," Shields said. "We wanted anyone who is a musician at URI to have a chance to play on a big stage."
The search for bands started about a month ago as a Facebook group that requested tapes of any type of music. The SEC received 15 entries and a committee chose which acts to invite to the Quad.
"We wanted it to be something all people would want to go out and see," Shields said.
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