When it comes to Springfest, student organizers Justin H. Haan ’05 and Jack P. McCambridge ’06 are a lot of things. Modest is not one of them.
In their discussion of their expectations for this weekend, the term “unprecedented” comes up repeatedly, as do “wonderful,” “unbelievable” and “out-of-this-world.”
By coupling the 11th annual Springfest in the same weekend with a concert by rap superstar Busta Rhymes, the two may have found a way to draw the troubled tradition into maturity.
“This could be the hugest concert in Harvard history, and in the history of the concert commission,” says Haan, director of the Harvard Concert Commission. “There’s a potential for a lot of people to come…We’ve been informed that it’s somewhat unprecedented in the city of Cambridge to have an outdoor show like this.”
To give some idea of the scope of their ambition, Haan, who is a Crimson executive, and McCambridge, the chair of the Underegraduate Council’s Student Life Committee, hope to draw 7,000 people to this concert. The last major concert on campus—by pop-rock band Guster last November—drew only 1,800.
The concert also seeks to appease the widely held conception that Springfest’s focus has drifted too far away from undergraduates. By holding this concert in the same weekend as Springfest, the organizers say they hope to shift the balance back in the direction of students.
The concert, scheduled for tonight at 9 p.m., will also feature a rap freestyle battle inspired by the movie 8 Mile, and performances by student poetry group the Spoken Word Society and rising campus rap stars Tha League.
Springfest, scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, will be largely similar to last year’s event, featuring carnival games and rides, student group sponsored booths, and a Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) barbeque.
“Springfest brings out a lot of people that work within the University with students, and, to me, it’s certainly a reasonable and desirable thing as a community-building event,” says McCambridge. “Some students will say that it’s the wrong focus, but I think the balance to that can be this kind of a concert event…I think that’s a wonderful balance to strike within this type of a weekend and that was part of the motivation behind the decision to do [the concert] this weekend.”
MAKING MUSIC
Perhaps no area of Springfest’s past has been more troubled than efforts to bring a big-name musical group to perform.
Tight budgets have led to some strange choices in the past. Artists who have performed at Springfest range from bands well past their peak, like the Violent Femmes in 1999, to novelty acts, like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in 2000, to downright bewildering choices, like God Street Wine in 1997.
The last band to perform at Springfest, the Verve Pipe, was paid $15,000 in 2002. Still running on the fumes of their minor hit from 1996, “The Freshman,” the Verve Pipe understandably failed to please many students.
2002 was also the first year that University President Lawrence H. Summers co-sponsored Springfest. At the time, controversy arose over whether Summers had limited the council’s choices to family-friendly artists.
“I think [the Verve Pipe] was what he would allow from the available choices,” McCambridge says. “Which is fine. It was his first entry into Springfest and we completely understand his hesitance, but it’s evolved from there.”
