Romophos Sophomore Honorary will present its Spring Charity Concert on March 23 at Newport Music Hall. Credit: Mason Swires | Asst. Photo Editor

Three local bands made up of Ohio State students and alumni will take the big stage at Newport Music Hall on Thursday.

Romophos Sophomore Honorary is set to present its Spring Charity Concert featuring Captain Kidd, First Responder and Flashback Humor.

Romophos is made up of 22 second-year students who applied to be a part of it and meet biweekly. Laura Baird, secretary of the group and a second-year in strategic communication, said the group follows three pillars: service, leadership and academics.

Each year, the members choose a charity to support, and this year Romophos has chosen the OSU Star House. After expenses for the concert are paid for, all of the funds raised throughout the semester and that night will go to the charity, which assists homeless youths in the Columbus area.

“The cool thing about the honorary is it’s really up to each class of how they want to do it,” Baird said. “We had about three charities come in and talk to us, and OSU Star House is one we picked just because they have a lot of service opportunities as well as being a really good cause.”

The Spring Charity Concert is the group’s biggest event of the year, and Baird said many join the honorary because of a passion for music. Group members recommended local artists to feature in the show and the group voted on who would take the stage.

“We looked in the Columbus area, people that have pretty good followings, people that we knew who would like to do something like this,” Baird said. “A lot of the people in the organization, they apply because they love concerts and love music, so a lot of them are very informative about a lot of different bands.”

It will be dance-pop group Captain Kidd’s  second time on the Newport stage, but its first time headlining. The band opened for Smallpools for another charity event back in 2014. The band is set to play songs from its first two EPs along with two unreleased songs from its upcoming album, which is set to be released in the fall. Captain Kidd will be supported by shoegaze group Flashback Humor and noise-pop outfit First Responder.

“It’s such a cool venue — one of the historic venues in the area, so it’s always super cool to play these kind of venues here … So many bands that you look up to and bands that you listen to have played it. It’s cool to play on the same stage,” said Nathan Baumgard, a 2015 alumnus in English and lead singer for Captain Kidd.

Tickets for the charity concert are $20 at the door and $15 in advance. They can be purchased through Romophos members or via Venmo. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Correction March 23: A previous version of this article stated that doors for the event would open at 7 p.m. when it is in fact 6 p.m.