UCSD Guardian News
May 4, 1998

This year's Sun God evening concert will be headlined by punk-rock band Social Distortion. Hip-hop group The Roots and local band D Frost round out the rest of the concert lineup.

"This is the single, biggest student event on campus," A.S. Festivals Coordinator Steve Roberts said. "Basically, it means getting outside, getting a little sun and taking a break from the monotony of school."

Both Social Distortion and The Roots were selected by the Sun God Committee, which Roberts said tried to choose bands that represent students' diverse musical tastes. The committee narrowed its selections based on cost and availability before making offers to musical acts.

D Frost was selected by the Sun God Committee in a "Battle of the Bands" contest at The Stage at The Pub on April 4. D Frost beat out the five other groups performing at that event.

The evening concert will begin at 7 p.m. on the RIMAC Field. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m. The concert is free to UCSD students, staff and faculty with valid UCSD I.D.

There are a limited number of non-student tickets available for people over the age of 18 with valid I.D. UCSD students, staff and faculty can purchase these tickets for $10 at the UCSD Box Office and at the event. Two non-student tickets can be purchased with each UCSD I.D.

During the day, there will be more than 90 food, game and information booths in the Price Center Plaza, on the Library Walk and on the Sun God Lawn. There will be a five-hour concert in the Price Center showcasing the talents of UCSD students.

Other free activities during the day include a balloon artist, a caricaturist, face painting, Henna tattoos and a magician.

Hughes Network Systems and Sony each spent $5,000 to sponsor the festival as "Sun God Benefactors."

Roberts said that around $30,000 was spent on overhead costs, such as renting booths, hiring crew to construct the concert stage and hiring security, before hiring the musical acts. He said that about $20,000 was spent on musical acts.

Despite the costs, Roberts said that he believes the money is well spent.

"From all indications of student input that we have received, it's a very unique and important event on campus," Roberts said. "I think that everyone takes a lot of pride in it at our school and thinks that it's worth the investment."

Despite the fact that the Sun God Festival is often associated with rampant partying, Roberts said he encourages students to act responsibly at the events.

"We can't deny the association of the festival with partying, we acknowledge that," Roberts said. "We hope that people are responsible with what they do so that they don't ruin anyone else's night because they are partying."

This year, festival information is available on the Internet. The site is located at http://asucsd.ucsd.edu/sungod/sungod98.