The Ohio Union Activities Board announced the lineup of artists planned for its upcoming “Big Free Weekend” concert series Wednesday afternoon outside the Wexner Center.
OUAB summed up the series with the slogan “7 artists, 4 days, 1 weekend.”
“Big Free Weekend” begins 4 p.m. May 13 with the Ark Band at Browning Amphitheatre. The Ark Band is the only non-ticketed event; all other concerts will require free tickets in advance from the Ohio Union at the Ohio Stadium between gates 22 and 24.
On May 14, the Cool Kids and Kid Cudi will be performing at Newport Music Hall. Tickets for this event will be released at 5 p.m. April 15.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Head Automatica will be performing May 15 at Newport Music Hall, as well. Tickets for that show will be released at 5 p.m. April 22.
“Big Free Weekend” will conclude with performances by Dashboard Confessional and Augustana May 16 at the Lifestyles Community Pavilion. Tickets will be available at 5 p.m. April 29. Bus transportation to the concert is also available. Transportation details can be found at ouab.osu.edu.
“The way the bands were chosen is based on availability and price range,” said Courtney Banks, OUAB concert chair and junior in strategic communications. “I looked at availability, who is current and who everybody would want to see for free.”
This year was a little more difficult for OUAB because of the struggling economy, Banks said.
“Since we could not have one ‘Big Free Concert’ to please 10,000 people, I wanted to break it up into different genres that many people could enjoy,” Banks said.
The event, hosted every year by OUAB, took more than two months to organize. Choosing venues is one of the most difficult parts of the planning process, and Banks credits a “good relationship” with Newport Music Hall as part of the reason two of the concerts are booked at the venue.
Kate Witzman can be reached at [email protected].
