Sun God Festival

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Sun God Festival
Sun God Festival Logo.png
Location(s) UC San Diego
Years active 1983 - present
Founded by Associated Students of UCSD
Date(s) Mid-May
Genre Hip-hop, Rock and roll
Website Official website

The Sun God Festival is an annual campus festival at the University of California, San Diego that usually takes place the sixth or seventh week of the spring quarter. Put on by the Associated Students Concerts & Events office and paid for by the students with an "activity fee" assessed to tuition, the festival is marked by a festival/fair during the day and a large concert at night on RIMAC field, usually featuring a mix of underground/indie bands and one or two headlining mainstream groups.[1] The concert is traditionally started by the winner of the Battle of the Bands at UCSD.[2]

In recent years the concert has become the dominant event of the festival, and has grown popular enough to headline groups such as Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Social Distortion, Gwen Stefani, and My Chemical Romance. The 2007 concert, held on May 18, was headlined by T.I. and Third Eye Blind.[3]

The festival's name references the Sun God, an on-campus statue by French artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002). The Sun God was the first contribution to the famous Stuart Collection. The first Sun God Festival coincided with the one-year anniversary of the statue's arrival in 1984.[4][5] The festival's original location was adjacent to the statue, but it has since moved numerous times, from Price Center to the now-demolished Mile High Field, to its current location on the RIMAC field.

The festival and concert provide an excuse for students on what many consider a socially dead campus to finally let loose following their midterms with binge drinking, psychoactive substance abuse, and public displays of affection.[6] Campus police, reinforced by other San Diego Police Department precincts, step up enforcement with plain clothes officers and random open-container checks.[7]

The festival/fair portion of Sun God consists of booths made for the most part by student organizations. Booths are organized into food, information, game, etc. In addition to the booths the festival/fair portions of Sun God holds the traditional Junkyard Derby down hill race, where students, faculty, and any combination of the two can form groups to create downhill racers made from old/junkyard parts.[2]

Past headliners

2007 Sun God Concert - T.I. on stage

References

External links