With the weather warming up and final exams still a couple of weeks away, UW-Madison’s third annual Revelry Music and Arts Festival offers students and civilians an early taste of summer.
This year’s festival, which takes place May 2, boasts a whopping 21 student-friendly acts on three stages. The headlining stage is at Library Mall, shifting 90 degrees from its previous location on Langdon Street to create additional room. Organizers anticipate selling 10,000 tickets, up from 6,000 last year, making Revelry the largest student-run event on the UW-Madison campus. Prices are $10 for UW-Madison students and $30 for the general public age 18 and over, but increase to $15 and $35, respectively, the day of the event.
Though you’ll need a ticket to gain entrance to the Library Mall grounds, there is free admission for additional performances at the Memorial Union Terrace stage. It is the only location where alcohol will be allowed. Revelry will also feature student art installations, food vendors and a silent disco.
Here is a look at the six headlining acts performing at Library Mall:
Kuziemski
Chance the Rapper
Chance the Rapper and the Social Experiment
9 pm
Chance the Rapper was billed as the fifth act during Revelry’s inaugural year, when the 21-year-old delivered a solid, entertaining afternoon set a mere week after he dropped his career-launching Acid Rap mixtape. Though the Chicago native hasn’t released anything more than some odd one-off tracks and guest verses since 2013, his recognizable name and technical skill put him in a select group of rappers who would make the cut to headline a major festival. Chance will be performing with his backing band, the Social Experiment, a hip-hop collective that blends blues, jazz and soul.
YouTube star status: 8/10 stars. Chance’s guest appearance on Justin Bieber’s “Confident” has over 136 million views.
The Chainsmokers
The Chainsmokers
7:30 pm
This marks the Chainsmokers’ first appearance in Madison. The electronic dance DJ duo will surely feel right at home among the students on Library Mall: Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall are rich in millennial cultural capital, thanks to their dance floor hits “#SELFIE” and “Kanye.”
YouTube star status: 10/10 stars. The video for “#SELFIE” has over 320 million views.
AlunaGeorge
AlunaGeorge
6:15 pm
AlunaGeorge may have gotten their big break as featured performers on Disclosure’s house hit “White Noise,” but their own mesh of R&B, trip hop and electronic beats is just as deserving of acclaim. Between Aluna Francis’ sweet and sensual vocals and George Reid’s infectious, uncluttered production, this London duo has mastered move-to-it music.
YouTube star status: 6/10 stars. Their guest appearance on “White Noise” has over 27 million views.
Lawrence Agyei
Mick Jenkins
Mick Jenkins
5:15 pm
Like Chance the Rapper, Mick Jenkins is an up-and-coming MC hailing from Chicago. Jenkins’ fourth mixtape The Water[s], which he released last August, thrust him into the national spotlight. His 2013 track “Pyrite” features UW-Madison’s own Lord of the Fly.
YouTube star status: 4/10 stars. Jenkins’ video for “Martyrs” has almost one million views.
Jesse DeFlorio
Until the Ribbon Breaks
Until the Ribbon Breaks
4:10 pm
Though the majority of this year’s headlining Revelry acts get their sounds from bending and blending genres, none stirs the musical pot quite like Until the Ribbon Breaks. Though initially the solo project of Pete Lawrie-Winfield, it has grown into a trio that has a little something to offer everyone in attendance.
YouTube star status: 3/10 stars. The video for “Romeo (Rescore)” has nearly 500,000 views.
Nick Hakim
Nick Hakim
3 pm
Nick Hakim is a contemporary R&B artist, a smooth singer and guitarist capable of healing your heartbreak while rehashing his own. A Washington, D.C., native who now resides in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hakim released two excellent EPs last year, Where Will We Go Pt. 1 and Where Will We Go Pt. 2.
YouTube star status: 2/10 stars. Hakim’s guest appearance on GIZMO’s “Lift Me Up” has nearly 84,000 views.
