2023 Springtime of Youth Festival featured diverse artists, celebrated all genres

On Saturday night, rapper Aminé electrified the stage with colorful flashes of light and lively graphics, his dancing and stage presence captivating the crowd.  Hundreds of students danced with him, basking in the energy of the 8th annual Springtime of Youth festival.

Springtime of Youth, which began as a solo concert tradition in 2007, evolved into a festival by 2015. The student-led Headliners Concert Committee is responsible for planning the event and selecting artists to perform each year. Past performers include Dominic Fike, AJR, Kesha, Bleachers, Diplo and Wiz Khalifa.  

In addition to Headliner Aminé, this year’s festival lineup featured Grouplove, Faye Webster, Shygirl and UA Battle of the Bands winners, Ted Hammig and the Campaign.  

Anna Draper, president of Headliners and a senior marketing major, said the committee sent out a campus-wide survey last semester to see which artists and genres students were most interested in. The committee also strives to select members with a wide variety of music tastes, Draper said.

“Part of the way we do interviews for the people on the committee is getting people who have a really diverse music taste, so we’re able to represent a lot of the students on campus,” Draper said.  

Ella Marshall, vice-chair of the concert committee, said they chose Aminé as the headliner in response to the student survey. 

“One thing we realized is that rap is something we don’t heavily highlight through our festival,” Marshall said. “We wanted to bring in a headliner who had that sort of vibe. Aminé is such a college vibe, he’s such a fun environment. He screams ‘festival.’”  

As vice-chair, Marshall was also in charge of creating a vision for the festival. 

“This year, we really wanted to lean into the Earth Day elements. We had subtle elements within our graphic design just to pay homage to it,” Marshall said.

The variety of music at the festival was already visible within the first two acts. Ted Hammig and the Campaign opened with a classic rock ‘n’ roll performance. Shygirl followed, expertly and confidently engaging the students and dedicating her songs to the “beautiful people in the crowd,” encouraging them to embrace their sexuality.

Faye Webster interacted with the audience during her casual and intimate set, discussing everything from the festival atmosphere to Pokemon characters. With shades on, she crooned her soulful, indie/alternative music, closing with the song “Kingston.”

While Grouplove was equally intimate and performed a similar genre to Webster, they were full of energy and led the crowd to dance, especially during their hit, “Tongue Tied.”  

Freshman Joia Traver said Grouplove’s performance was her favorite.

“I’ve been listening to them for a long time, and it was amazing to hear them in person,” Traver said. “I really enjoyed the atmosphere of that day, everyone was just having a good time and listening to music. It was a refreshing break from studying and school work.”  

The festival also allowed her to connect to people with similar interests, Traver said.

“I was really excited to get to meet people that liked similar things as me,” Traver said. “Sometimes it’s hard to find that clique of people with such a big campus.”

There were also environmental opportunities within the festival itself. Students who filled a trash bag with waste received free Headliners merch.  

“It’s a really unique opportunity, because there’s never going to be another time in your life ever again where you’ll be able to go to a concert or music festival for 100% free,” Draper said. “Just making that really accessible to people is something that Headliners is there for.”