Revolution 91.7 announces mayhem festival 2023

Western Kentucky University’s student-run radio station, Revolution 91.7, announced on Friday that it is hosting its annual Mayhem Festival again this year. 

The free event will be held on WKU’s South Lawn on Friday, April 14th as announced on their Instagram post promoting the event for the first time teasing that the lineup would be announced soon. 

This will be Revolution’s 20th annual Mayhem Festival and after the station announced a rebrand earlier in fall semester of 2022, they are looking to rebrand Mayhem as well.

“WWHR wanted to make Mayhem bigger and better this year, so planning has been intense,” said Alana Watson, host of NPR’s All Things Considered at WKU and Revolution’s staff supervisor.

 “A lot goes into planning a free festival for campus and the community. We’ve secured a variety of artists, we’ve worked with WKU events to get a bigger stage, and we’ll be having food trucks and vendors this year!” 

Station Manager Austin Preston said that they are also working on putting together an afterparty at Donna’s Bar the night of Mayhem as well, featuring two more acts. 

Since the early 2000s, Mayhem has served as an event that students can look forward to in the springtime right before studying for finals begins. Last year was Mayhem’s return to South Lawn after the pandemic. Since then, Revolution has been working to create a brand for Mayhem that can last for years into the future. 

“We wanted Mayhem to have its own identity again.We want it to be a campus and community event that people look forward to every year,” Watson said. 

Watson said that they are giving mayhem an official logo and mascot this year that are being designed by WKU alum JB Carter to be used for years in the future. 

The festival will also be live-streamed for those who cannot make it in person.

“The hope is that every year we continue to build on the foundation we are building this year so that Mayhem can grow and be the best music festival it can be for local artists, WKU and the Bowling Green community,” Watson said. 

The lineup for Mayhem will be announced later in the coming weeks.

Graphic by JB Carter