Sun God Festival
The Sun God Festival is an annual campus festival at the University of California, San Diego. Its name references Sun God, an on-campus statue by French artist Niki de Saint Phalle. The festival takes place every spring quarter. The main stage is traditionally opened by the winner of the Battle of the Bands, a competition that UC San Diego student musicians perform in leading up to the festival. The festival is produced by the AS Concerts & Events office and paid for by the student body activity fee. It has featured a vast variety of entertainment elements since its inception, including a cross-campus fair, lounge areas, and multiple stages which have featured art performances, live comedy, student talent, DJ sets, and a mix of underground and commercially successful musical performers. The first Sun God Festival coincided with the one-year anniversary of Sun God's arrival in 1984. The festival's original location was adjacent to the statue, but it has since grown and moved numerous times, from Price Center to the now-demolished Mile High Field, eventually finding a more permanent home at its current location on RIMAC field. Due to the number of students who were being hospitalized from alcohol and drug abuse at the festival, students and administrators opted to eliminate guest tickets and increase safety measures. The changes saw a decrease in hospitalizations from 48 to eight from 2013 to 2014. These measures have improved the safety of the festival, but the loss of guest tickets and the increased security measures have also been a severe detriment to the event budget. During spring quarter of 2016, the Associated Students of UC San Diego ran a fee referendum to increase the student activity fee, which is the primary source of funding for the event. The new funding was meant to replace the festival's guest ticket revenue, which was lost when guests presented increased liabilities to student safety at the event. The student body overwhelmingly supported this fee increase in order to preserve the festival's tradition, passing the referendum by a margin of nearly 40 percent. In 2018, Associated Students replaced the headlining act, blackbear, with Roy Woods, when blackbear cancelled on account of a series of pancreatic attacks. In 2020, the Sun God Festival was among the many public events cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over concerns that the virus could spread quickly at large gatherings such as concerts. In 2024, Sun God Festival was set to take place on Saturday, May 4, 2024, but was ultimately announced to be cancelled two days prior due to security concerns regarding the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Some students remained skeptical as to the reasoning, speculating that the cancellation was an attempt by the administration to cause turmoil in the student population against the protestors. Many members of campus, including police, administrators, student planners, and university staff work throughout the year to support the event, as it presents unique challenges due to its scale and culture. In recent years, the festival has often been used as a platform to promote safety initiatives, such as bystander intervention peer workshops, alcohol and drug education, and sexual assault awareness. 1983 – Sparks 1985 – Los Lobos 1990 – The Call 1991 – The Beat Farmers, The Untouchables 1992 – Blur, Senseless Things, Food For Fleet, Flatten Manhattan 1993 – Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms, Blacksmith Union 1994 – They Might Be Giants, No Doubt, Frente!, Brian Dewan 1995 – The Pharcyde, 311, B-Side Players, DJ Greyboy, Oversoul 1996 – Rocket from the Crypt, Souls of Mischief, Buck-O-Nine 1997 – De La Soul, Save Ferris, Clyde's Ride, Switchfoot, DJ DIEM 1998 – Social Distortion, The Roots, d.f. Rost 1999 – Cypress Hill, Reel Big Fish, Black Eyed Peas 2000 – Dishwalla, Rahzel, The Aquabats, F.o.N. 2001 – Naughty By Nature, Face To Face, XZIBIT 2002 – Cake, No Use For A Name 2003 – Mos Def, Bad Religion, Kinky, White Starr, Maxeen 2004 – Busta Rhymes, Goldfinger, The Dandy Warhols, Stellastarr, Moving Units, The Bronx 2005 – Ludacris, Phantom Planet, Damian Marley with Stephen Marley, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Walkmen, Rufio 2006 – My Chemical Romance, Cypress Hill, Talib Kweli, No Use For A Name, Bedouin Soundclash, Ozma, Boy Sets Fire, The Fully Down, Versus The Mirror 2007 – T.I., Ozomatli, Third Eye Blind, Ben Kweller, Fifty On Their Heels, High Tide, Busdriver, Self Against City, Meho Plaza 2008 – Coheed and Cambria, Sean Kingston, Matt Costa, Say Anything, Living Legends, Richard Vission, The Aquabats, Little Brother, Sleepercar, Lady Dottie & The Diamonds, The Muslims, DJ Artistic, The Drowning Men, The Modlins, Bill Magee Blues Band, Radio Racer, Neon Trees, The Frantic Romantic, Masterpiece 2009 – N*E*R*D, Iron & Wine, Girl Talk, Motion City Soundtrack, Sara Bareilles, Augustana, The Cool Kids, Grand Ole Party, Rootbeer, DJ Nu-Mark, Nosaj Thing, Anavan; Nooners: Iglu & Hartly, Rob Crow, Dear And The Headlights, Lady Dottie & The Diamonds, The Shys, The Pheromones, Crash Kings, Wizard Wolves 2010 – Drake, Michelle Branch, Z-Trip, Relient K, Thrice, B.o.B, Crash Kings, The Parson Red Heads, Designer Drugs, Skeet Skeet, Robbed By Robots 2011 – Wiz Khalifa, Jimmy Eat World, Mike Posner, Crystal Castles, JFK of MSTRKRFT, Best Coast, Big Sean, LA Riots, Kill The Noise, Ocelot 2012 – Silversun Pickups, Paul Van Dyk, Chiddy Bang, Ra Ra Riot, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Tommy Trash, Dia Frampton, Murs, Tokimonsta, Clockwork, Oliver, Yacek 2013 – Kendrick Lamar, Porter Robinson, Portugal. The Man, Andrew McMahon, Danny Brown, Adrian Lux, Youngblood Hawke, RAC, DJ Geo-D, IndO 2014 – Diplo, Young the Giant, Juicy J, New Politics, The Colourist, Joey Bada$$, Ty Dolla $ign, Audien, Torro Torro, 2ToneDisco, Jhameel 2015 – Snoop Dogg, STRFKR, Jhené Aiko, OK Go, Mike Czech, DJ Demon 2016 – Miguel, Nico & Vinz, Louis the Child, Great Good Fine Ok, Paradise 2017 – ScHoolboy Q, DJ Mustard, Bad Suns, Khalid, Manila Killa, Mild High Club, Kinjaz, 220 Second to None, Choreo Cookies, Mark Johns 2018 - Roy Woods, MadeinTYO, Sir Sly, Cuco, Robotaki, Ashe, Temporex, Sorah Yang, The GOOD Project, Choreo Cookies, Femme Fatale, 220 Second to None, Stay For the Fireworks, Headliner Blackbear canceled due to medical emergency 2019 - Vince Staples, Joji, Hayley Kiyoko, Whipped Cream, HUNNY 2020 - Festival cancelled due to COVID-19 2021 - Festival cancelled due to COVID-19, replaced by Sunny Days Virtual Festival Gryffin, Omar Apollo, Eric Nam, Chloe x Halle, Aubrey Plaza, Hasan Minhaj 2022 - Iann Dior, Keshi, Umi, Peach Tree Rascals, Berhana 2023 - Smino, Knock2, Dayglow, Khai Dreams, Boys World, Podcast But Outside 2024 - Festival cancelled due to security concerns caused by the 2024 university pro-Palestinian demonstrations, originally JPEGMafia, Fousheé, William Black, Grentperez, Frex Official website @UCSD: 2016 - Sun God Moves to a Saturday @UCSD: Lineup Released for 2016 Festival + Interview with AVP Walker @UCSD: Celebrating our Sun God @UCSD: 1997 Sun God Festival