Urge to headline Big Free festival
The Urge will headline the free concert on April 30.
Published March 4, 2005
The Urge will reunite to perform at this year's Big Free Music Festival on April 30, the Missouri Students Association Department of Student Activities announced Thursday.
The College Music Committee, a DSA subcommittee, sent a formal offer to the band Thursday afternoon after receiving an oral confirmation from the band's manager Wednesday night.
Committee members used connections with the Urge to initiate discussions about the band playing the show, junior Chairman Andrew Ledbetter said.
College Music Committee Chairman Scott Andrews said he isn't the only one excited about the show.
"It's going to be dope," he said. "The band is really excited about it. It's not like we're just paying for a band to come. We're paying for this band to play our date and get back together as a band to play in one of their favorite towns. Their agent said they wouldn't do this if it wasn't Columbia."
Big Free will take place April 30 at the Amphitheater at Mizzou, DSA Director Nick Gertsema said. Last year's event took place on the Hearnes Center east parking lot.
Gertsema said between 4,000 and 6,000 people attended the event last year. He said he expects a larger crowd this year.
The Urge, a ska-punk band from St. Louis, broke up in 2001 but reunited for a few shows in February 2004.
Gertsema said this show would be the band's only performance in Missouri.
"They will not be playing in St. Louis or Kansas City," Andrews said. "This will be the only place. We said since we're getting them back together for this show, we wanted them not to play anywhere near here."
The College Music Committee is still in the process of booking other bands for the show. Two stages will be set up and many events will be similar to last year's concert.
"We'll have the same monstrosity of a stage we had last year, the one you can see from the moon," he said. "We'll have the free food again, the inflatables and the dunk booth. It's all going to depend on the budget and who we get for the side stage."
Director of Student Communications Nick Trusty said this year's Big Free would be tough to follow.
"It's going to be the most bad-ass show," he said. "I feel sorry for whomever will be the next College Music Committee chair."