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Student festival expands in second year

University of Arkansas junior and recent “The Voice” alum Trey O’Dell will open the Springtime of Youth festival at 3 p.m. Saturday. Other performers at the festival include Brother Moses, Kevin Gates, Moxie Raia, BØRNS and headliner Diplo.
University of Arkansas junior and recent “The Voice” alum Trey O’Dell will open the Springtime of Youth festival at 3 p.m. Saturday. Other performers at the festival include Brother Moses, Kevin Gates, Moxie Raia, BØRNS and headliner Diplo.

Of all the live music events happening this weekend, University of Arkansas students are likely most excited about the Springtime of Youth music festival taking place at the Washington County Fairgrounds (or at least, the students who managed to get tickets to the sold out event). Saturday will be the second year of the festival, which is hosted by the Headliner Concerts Committee at the UA.

"Several universities around the South do a large event like this. The students love it -- we've heard a lot about it," says Corey Kimmel, chairman of the committee, which used to organize one major concert each semester of the school year. "We've done that for so long -- one concert per semester -- we wanted to do something new and keep it fresh and exciting."

FAQ

Springtime of Youth Music Festival

WHEN — 3 p.m.-midnight Saturday

WHERE — Washington County Fairgrounds

COST — Sold out

INFO — osa.uark.edu

The first Springtime of Youth festival was held last year over two days in the parking lot of Baum Stadium and featured acts like Misterwives, Moon Taxi and Wiz Khalifa. This year's festival may have been consolidated to one day, but Kimmel says the community involvement and inclusion of local music really takes the festival to the next level.

"We're trying to bring those artists you find at Coachella and Lollapalooza. There's not a lot of events like this here, and we want to bring that art and culture to Fayetteville. We're very excited to see the response from the community and that our work has been so well-received," he adds.

The festival will bring several alumni of the major music festivals from around the country, including 2015 breakout electro-pop singer Garrett Borns -- better known by his stage name -- BØRNS, who just made his debut at Coachella two short weeks ago.

"I feel like whenever I record music, I always have kind of a festival in my mind. It's always my mental image, and I'm like, 'I can't wait to play this outside,'" Borns says by phone from Los Angeles during a short break in touring. "I like to make people forget where they are and be in a moment -- sort of a floaty ascension moment."

Adding local musicians to the lineup this year, though, gives the festival stronger roots -- something Kimmel says the committee members knew they wanted from the get-go. And you certainly won't hear any complaining from the day's opening act and junior at UA, Trey O'Dell, who recently returned to Northwest Arkansas after competing on NBC's singing competition show, "The Voice."

"This is a dream come true to get to share the stage with such amazing artists. It's happening so soon after 'The Voice'; I wasn't expecting [stuff like this to start happening] until like two years down the road," O'Dell says. "This will be the biggest show I've played as far as scope. I've sung the National Anthem at some big sporting events, and I've sung in front of as many as 20,000 people. I sang to all of America on 'The Voice.' But this is my music, my band, and I'm getting to play for the students. This is an opportunity to show my students what I'm about. It's mind blowing."

NAN What's Up on 04/29/2016

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