Outdoor Show brings music, food, vendors to Central Quad
ktru’s annual spring music festival, the Outdoor Show, is returning for what ktru station manager Keegan Pierce described as their “first year back from COVID.” The outdoor festival will take place in the central quad Saturday, April 15 from 1 to 11 p.m.
ODS features a lineup of eight artists: Luna Luna, Hyperfemme, Sunset Blvd, El Lago, Cucucuy, Fea, Syo and BXXNG. According to Pierce and station manager Alexa Scott, artists from across the state and a range of genres were selected as part of the theme “Taste of Texas.”
“We’re usually pulling artists kind of from the local area, or close by just given the budget and all, so we’re going with the theme of taste of Texas,” Pierce, a Lovett College junior, said. “We are excited to show all of the different types of music that come specifically out of Texas.”
ktru and Archi Market partnered to provide a space for student vendors at the event, and Houston-area vendors such as Blessings Plants & Music will be on site in addition to food trucks and a cowboy hat decorating station. In the event of rain, updates on plans and location can be found on ktru social media accounts, and ODS is expected to continue, rain or shine.
For Scott, a Lovett junior, ODS represents a way to show the Rice community ktru’s mission. Scott said ktru is about listening to good music, having a good time and hanging out with friends.
“ODS is a lot more of a rebirth for ktru, because last year, we were able to have an in- person show, but this year, we were able to have a committee working on it,” Scott said. “We’ve had the largest number of DJ applications [in recent memory], and it’s really showing the rest of the community what ktru is.”
Scott, who designed the poster, leaned on themes of rural Texas while trying to represent the “cryptid-ness” of ktru.
“My favorite part is totally the middle part that has the ungodly Longhorn, because there's always been something weird about KTRU,” Scott said. “A lot of posters from old ODS have rabbits and mystical forms.”
According to Pierce and Scott, ktru is an example of the effectiveness of student-run initiatives. Beyond campus, they both said that ktru has historically had a close relationship with the broader community. There were even, at times, more off-campus than on-campus attendees at ODS, according to Pierce.
“I think that [ODS is] a really cool example of a student-run … event,” Pierce said. “Especially with stuff like Moody X-Fest and things going more towards admin control, I think that it’s really cool that ktru can create a space for students to put something together like this.”
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