By Natalie Murphy

With the growth of the Northwest Arkansas music scene in the last decade, the University of Arkansas Headliners Concert Committee has created a staple event, bringing some of the biggest names in the industry to the university as part of the Springtime of Youth music festival.

The festival, first introduced to the campus in 2015, has featured Grammy nominated artists such as Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, EDM group Galantis, Kesha and countless others all from different genres and backgrounds. This year’s lineup was equally as special as years past with local rock band Ted Hammig and the Campaign, Shygirl, Faye Webster, Grouplove and headliner Aminé. 

The concert, which took place April 22 in the Baum East Parking Lot, gained enormous buzz after the lineup was announced. And after so much success the day of, many are wondering who the creators behind the campus’ most anticipated concert are.

“It’s a fully student committee, besides our advisor. It is all current undergraduates who are full-time students,” said Headliners Vice Chair Ella Marshall.

Marshall, a UA junior, along with Committee Chair Anna Draper were at the forefront of this year’s event planning. Together, the two, plus a student committee of 11, helped further coordinate the details so the concert would best fit the wants of all UA students. 

The team was built of dedicated music listeners of all genres who were passionate about bringing the student body a colorful experience. Many are also marketing and advertising majors who are looking to pursue a career in event management, and joined Headliners to kick start their careers. 

This year, the committee decided to get the students perspective on which artists they would like to see on the lineup. By doing this, they sent out a survey in the beginning of the 2022-23 school year that received over 1,000 responses of artists big and small they wished to hear live. Headliners also honed in on the top requested genres, all in order for the committee board to put together the best concert possible, that was worth the students’ time and tuition. 

“The one main goal of Headliners is to bring in as many different genres in one year as possible because we want to cater to as many students as possible, as well. So we took a lot of information from the census poll and we got our top four or five main genres that a lot of people voted for and that’s kind of how we compiled different artists,” committee member Sakura Roberts said. 

Once the genres were picked, the board met to vote on specific artists they and the students wished to see and compiled a ranked list of musicians for the committee’s advisor, Trisha Blau, to contact their management. Arranging the artists is usually done by October, shared Marshall. 

The following months are then spent planning venues, ticketing, graphics, photo booths, vendors and more. Around December, the concert date is also announced to curate as much anticipation as possible. But the busiest week for the committee comes the week of Springtime of Youth when it is crunch time for setup and organizing the actual event.

“We are still deciding things five days in advance, which can be scary, but it’s just how live entertainment works,” Marshall said. 

While this week can be hectic, it is also committee members, such as Roberts, favorite part. 

“The whole week leading up to Springtime of Youth is so fun because we’re all doing stuff every single day. The day before we make late night Walmart trips to go get all the food and things that the artists asked for, and that’s always fun because we do that as a committee,” she said. “And then the day of the concert is the best time because you spend literally morning till night just setting up, but you are with the other 12 people, and you get to listen to music and meet the artists sometimes. It’s always just a cool vibe and we get super close.”

This year’s planning definitely paid off, after Headliners pulled off another great event. With multiple photo-ops, a handful of food truck vendors, and thousands of students in attendance (breaking a Headliner record), the 2023 concert was a success.

Ted Hammig and the Campaign kicked off the show with their rock melodies, followed by Shygirl’s catchy club mixes. After her set, Faye Webster’s name graced the stage screens resulting in loud cheers from the crowd, especially as she sang her one-of-a-kind indie songs with guitar in hand. 

As the evening continued, Grouplove got the audience jumping and dancing to their discography and played their anthemic hit “Tongue Tied,” that gave the crowd 2011 nostalgia. Headliner Aminé then closed out the night with his catchy rap lyrics, singing the song that put him on the map “Caroline.”

“I really enjoyed being able to see artists who I’ve never seen before. My favorite performance was Aminé. He was really sweet and really knew how to put on a show,” said Kristin Tuttle, a UA freshman who attended the festival.

As the next Chair and Vice Chair look over applications to determine the new committee board for the coming school year, students and Headliners staff are already looking forward to the 2024 Springtime of Youth. 

For Roberts, she hopes for more EDM, country and possibly even Spanish club artists in the coming lineups. Marshall is also interested to see more artists in the R&B/hip hop genre and also hopes to see Headliners continue to feature minority artists. 

“I would love to see artists of the underrepresented communities of LGBTQIA+, or people of racial communities, get a platform, because that is what we want to do for them. We really highlighted female musicians in this, but we also want to make sure that we have a line up that is representative of all people and diversities,” Marshall said. 

Although this year’s Springtime of Youth has come to a close, there is still much to look forward to as a UA music lover. Once the new committee members are selected, planning will start back up again for the Headliners Fall Concert, which usually takes place at the end of August or early September. With anticipation building, students already can’t wait to see which artist they will be getting a free show from next!