Close your eyes. Imagine yourself standing in the large field at World’s Fair Park. It’s April 24 and you’re surrounded by thousands of other students and Knoxvillians. It’s a warm spring night and you just saw Cold War Kids play, and now you’re waiting for Lupe to take the stage.
This is going to be the setting of this year’s Volapalooza, which has moved from its location in Thompson-Boling Arena to World’s Fair Park. The students who serve on Volapalooza Event Planners, a part of the Central Program Council, wanted to make this year’s Volapalooza the best one yet, while also making it into a more festival-type atmosphere. This year’s lineup, which comprises Lupe Fiasco, Cold War Kids, Bad Suns, will have multiple stages and vendors lining the edges of the park.
This is big folks. While last year’s lineup really had one big name, Fitz And The Tantrums, and a well-known local band, The Dirty Guv’nahs, the show was outstanding, but it failed to draw the large crowds that Volapaloozas of old have enjoyed, like when the concert featured artists including Passion Pit, Three 6 Mafia and Ziggy Marley. Now, with the location change and two established names and a promising new band from Los Angeles, Volapalooza is poised to offer one of the best programs it has seen in a few years.
Bad Suns are the young guys out of LA, having only formed in 2012. Their sound has a straightforward alternative/indie rock vibe with a clear ’80s influence from bands like The Police, The Clash, The Cure and even Elvis Costello. Their songs are not complex or weighed down by obscure notions, but instead offer light and easy-to-dance-to vibes.
Hailing from Long Beach, California, Cold War Kids is a well-established name in the alternative/indie rock scene nationally and worldwide. The band has put out five studio albums since its formation in 2004. The group has seen widespread popularity and performed on “Letterman” and “Saturday Night Live.” Cold War Kids will draw a large number of devoted fans to one of the most successful indie rock bands of the last decade.
Lupe Fiasco, the headliner. If you’re not already familiar with his work, change that. Lupe also has five studio albums, most prominently of which was his third, “Lasers,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2011. A single from that album, “The Show Goes On,” has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. It’s safe to say, Lupe will deliver a performance Volapalooza will not forget.
This is only the beginning of things, however. Although much of Volapalooza’s budget comes from student fees, the event can improve its lineup if the concert makes enough revenue from the year prior. So I encourage you, even if you’re not a fan of any of these bands, go to Volapalooza, support student programming and maybe your favorite band will come next year.
Thomas Carpenter is a junior in classics. He can be reached at [email protected].
