I remember touring UMass Amherst during my junior year of high school. As we were walking past the Mullins Center, the tour guide began telling the group about all the events that take place there each year. Of course, he began discussing the spring concert UMass holds each year. He brought up names of past artists who’ve performed at UMass, dropping names like Cardi B and Migos. Four years later, and that’s basically the only part of the school tour that I can still remember. As someone who loves going to concerts, I was reeled in by the prospect of seeing these big names perform at my own school. The 2023 Spring Concert was held on April 30, headlined by rapper Don Toliver. As I excitedly prepared to attend this concert, I wanted to take a moment to look back at Spring Concerts in the past, and how UMass students continue to come together and appreciate live music year after year.
Although the Spring Concert has been held in the Mullins Center in recent years, it has actually changed locations a few times. In 1980, The Allman Brothers Band performed with Bonnie Raitt at Alumni Stadium. By 1984, the annual concert had moved from the football stadium to the campus pond. From then and through the 90s, so many huge names performed right on campus. Some of the biggest include Ziggy Marley (1990), Bob Dylan (1991), Beastie Boys (1992), and Phish (1992).
As music trends changed, so did the artists coming to perform at the Spring Concert. In 2010, LMFAO opened for Ludacris (so 2010 of them). In 2012, J Cole was the headliner. In 2016, it was Fetty Wap and Logic.
In 2017, a free spring concert was held at UMass, with Jason Derulo and Migos as the performers. UMass very purposefully put this concert on the same day that Blarney, a St. Patrick’s Day celebration, was going to be held. Blarney is a notorious day in UMass history, and the school tried to deter the gatherings of students off-campus with this concert but ultimately failed to do so. After a few years of low concert attendance because of Blarney, UMass decided to move it to a different weekend.
Due to COVID-19, the Spring Concert was held virtually in 2021 with Noah Cyrus performing via live stream. In 2022, I got to experience my first in-person Spring Concert with Jack Harlow as the headliner. On April 30, I attended the 2023 Spring Concert with Don Toliver, Coi Leray, and Jay Sean performing, and I was so excited about it!
Looking back at the history of UMass’s Spring Concert, it’s interesting to think about how many of these names were not as big then as they are now. So many bands and artists started off performing at smaller venues such as UMass, to people that hardly knew any of their music. When I think about the future, I wonder who will be the huge names that I saw at UMass’s Spring Concert when they weren’t well known. I guess only time will tell…
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