PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Spring time is upon Plymouth State once again and that means one thing in the minds of weary students campus wide: Spring Fling, and this year, Guster. The annual event jointly sponsored by the Spring Fling Committee, PACE and Student Senate is a weekend of entertainment and fun for PSC students, held on Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3. Building upon last year’s success, the organizers of this years ‘Fling have added more programming to the line-up.
The climatic event in many people’s minds is the concert at the Recreation Field behind Facilities Services. Many well-known and underground acts have graced the stage in years gone by. Early 90’s pop sensation, Blessid Union of Souls, was the most recent band to play under the lights of Spring Fling. Selection of the band is a multi-step demanding process that balances student’s desires with cost. However, “for the first time in a while we’re going to actually have a band that everyone wants,” says Tracie Massey, Assistant Director for Student Activities and Greek Life at Plymouth State College. The band Massey referred to is none other than the Boston-based trio, Guster. Massey emphasized how mercurial the selection process can be, “at the end of the year like this, there are fifty other schools vying for the same bands we are and we got lucky this time. I think a lot of the student body will [be excited for Guster] – the Spring Fling Committee is looking into opener bands. Their hope is to have a Hip-Hop band.”
Massey went on to say, “apparently one of Guster’s favorite bands is a Hip-Hop band from Boston. So, we’re really trying to hit all students’ likes and needs.”
In 1992, during freshman orientation week at Tufts University, Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner, and Brian Rosenworcel met and formed a band called Gus, shortly thereafter the name was changed to Guster and has stuck ever since. Soon their rooms became makeshift rehearsal spaces, and the trio started to develop their distinctive style. College students by day, Boston underground-music sensation by night, Guster etched their niche. Two years latter, they released their fist studio album, Parachute. But it was Lost and Gone Forever, Guster’s third studio album, which started earning the band critical acclaim. Filled with driving beats, catchy melodic lines and unrelenting harmonies, Lost and Gone Forever’s “Fa Fa,” & “Barrel of a Gun” received radio play around Boston and even at PSC’s WPCR. The success of Lost & Gone Forever gave way to gigs like Woodstock ’99 and opening slots for Barenaked Ladies, Dave Matthews Band and Bob Dylan. The band has even been spotted on television shows like Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Late Show with David Letterman to name a couple.
A fourth album, Keep It Together, is in the works and slated for release in a month or two. According to the bands official website (www.guster.com), “It’s 12 songs deep – 13 if you include the top-secret hidden track at the end. It’s the kind of album we set out to make – the kind of album you can listen to over and over again with new things to discover each time. It’s not as instantly accessible as our last record – it’s more of a grower and it reflects a more ambitious and musical band this time around.”
Another feature of this year’s Spring Fling is the integration of Guster into almost every aspect of the event. A Theme is selected each year, and this year it all revolves around Guster’s Lost and Gone Forever. “The theme for this year is ‘Spring Fa-Fa-Fa-Fling,'” Massey chuckles. “It’s a play-off-of ‘Fa-Fa,’ so we got approval from the band to use that.” Massey continues, “Everything looks Guster pretty much. The poster looks Guster, the T-shirts for the volunteers are Guster looking. Everything screams Guster.” Each day of Spring Fling has its own min-theme derived from songs titles and lyrics off of Lost and Gone. Also of note this year events are even being held on Sunday, for instance, students can register to play a round of Frisbee Golf.
Admission to the big concert is free for students as long as they pick up their bracelets in advance. This year, “students have a limitation of three guests each” and the bracelets, “must be purchased in advance,” Massey said. “There will be no guest tickets at the door.”
In a letter from the Spring Fling Committee, it states that students can pick up bracelets “anytime between April 17 and May 1 in the HUB between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday.”
For more information on Spring Fling events students can visit the PACE website (http://oz.plymouth.edu/~pace), and look for continuing coverage on TheClockOnline.com
Plymouth State University
Saturday, June 28, 2025