Tomorrow evening begins the third annual Springfest, a free concert showcasing both local and national acts organized by OSU’s student radio, the Underground.

Jason Casden, programming director for the Underground, expects this year to be different as the Underground has severed ties with the Ohio Union Activities Board which has in past years provided Springfest with a Velcro wall, sumo suits and other blow-up fun.

Casden expects this change to improve the quality of Springfest.

“We have different goals,” he said. “We are more concerned with the music … We spend a lot of time concentrating on the concert.”

Four main members of the Underground organized this year’s festival of music, dance and art. Casden booked all the acts, Yon Chong headed the promotions and Jennifer Mankarious and Elena Costella organized fundraising. Each member is an undergraduate student at OSU.

The pre-show party will begin at Woody’s in the Ohio Union at 3 p.m. The local acts performing will be: Bravado, 84 Nash, Lauren Hospital and Tree of Snakes.

In addition to the national acts performing on West Lawn of the Ohio Union, there will be art displays including a 48-foot graffiti wall and robotics inside the East Ballroom.

The line-up for the night begins with Paris, Texas, an indie punk rock band from Madison, Wis. who will be performing at 5 p.m.

Paris, Texas formed in 1997 have produced several short CDs in the few years they have been together. Scott Sherpe is on vocals, Sam Vinz is on the drums, Nick Zinkgraf and Nolan Treolo each play guitar and Matt Tennessen is on bass.

Next up is the Icarus Line playing at 5:45 p.m. The band from Los Angeles, Calif. produced their first full-length CD “Mono.” Icarus Line includes Lance Arnao on bass, Alvin Deguzman and Aaron North on guitar, Jeff Watson on drums, Joe Cardamone as vocalist and John Guerra a.k.a. “daddy” as road manager and over-all over-lord of the band. Get ready for in-your-face punk rock full of ranting and deathly screaming in a haze of guitar noise.

The next act is Starlight Mints performing at 6:30 p.m. They are the most eclectic band on the bill judging from the soundbites on their Web site. These talented musicians mix a classical string section with rock guitar and dreamy lyrics. Starlight Mints are composed of principal songwriter and guitarist Allan Vest, drummer Andy Nunez, guitarist Matt Goad, bassist Javier Gonzales and keyboardist Marian Love Nunez.

OSUDance’s performance “Flux” is next up at 7:20 p.m. The description of this show found on the underground Web site is, “improv. dance and love rock, hip-hop and electronic music in a battle-royale throwdown.” Judging from that, it promises to be the most unique spectacle of the night.

At 8:05 p.m. there will be a performance by the Dayton-based band Swearing at Motorists. The poetic description of this act found on the Underground’s Web read, “wonderfully depressing, yet, somehow uplifting epic song stylings that crawl around the hope found at the end of each night spent in and out of love,” sounds like it perfectly sums up Swearing at Motorists.

Next is DJ Titonton Duvante who will spin his mix of techno, house and drum and bass from 9 p.m. The Columbus-based DJ is a cofounder of the group ele_mental, a “loose affiliation of creative, technologically-oriented people.” The independent hard-core hip-hop group, All Natural, will perform at 9:55.

The Delta 72 has an hour slot at 10:55 p.m., the longest of the show. The Philadelphia band plays a mix of funk, blues and rock that will surely get the crowd dancing. Mark Boyce is on piano and organ, Gregg Foreman is on guitar and vocals and harmonica, Jason Kourkounis plays the drums and other percussion and Bruce Reckahn is on bass.

Springfest will finish up with a performance by the White Stripes, a duo from Detroit. Jack White is the singer and guitarist and Meg White is on drums. Their sound has been described as a mix of rock, pop and blues.

If it rains, the show is scheduled to move inside the East Ballroom and the art will move to the second floor lounge.