This week on What Where When-sday, we feature the Rites of Spring music festival happening this Saturday, April 18, on Vanderbilt University’s campus at Alumni Lawn. Hosted by the Vanderbilt Programming Board’s Music Group committee, the single-day event features artists including Ravyn Lenae, Natasha Bedingfield and a Boogie wit da Hoodie, as well as student bands Creek Beagle and Spring Training. This annual event connects students and the community with local vendors, campus life and a variety of established and emerging music.
“Since its inception in 1971, late 1960s, this festival has taken on several different roles,” says Jordan King, Vanderbilt senior and one of the event’s co-chairs. “It started as a three-day sort of week celebration where we would involve students through craft trainings, or we would have the symphony come, we would also have like puppetry. And so it has also been like a celebration in the sense of trying to connect to the larger national community.”
King said that the ability to feature well-acclaimed names like Drake and The Red Hot Chili Peppers in the past has allowed the event to become a part of the fabric of Nashville’s live music scene.
“I’d say that the VPB’s mission by doing this is to kind of get the school community, but also the city community together and make them enjoy music, especially as we’re bringing big artists, not only what you expect in Nashville country music. So I definitely say to put out the music out there, but also create a very fun event for everybody to enjoy,” says Rites of Spring co-chair and Vanderbilt sophomore Basia Mielech-Marciniak.
A new initiative for this year’s Rites of Spring is the inclusion of student bands to support the festival’s commitment to musical connection and exploration. “We’re excited to give people our age also a chance to improve musically and have the ability to perform at a big festival,” Mielech-Marciniak said. Creek Beagle and Spring Training were winners of a battle of the bands competition hosted by the university.
“I think, with Rites of Spring, we really try to bring in people who are really hitting on major trends within pop culture and media, but we also do bring in vendors from around the city. So we have food vendors, we have people doing arts and crafts, and they’re also bringing their stories to the event,” King explained. “I think, at the end of the day, we’re bringing so many different people together that have different stories that have somehow ended up in Nashville. So it’s a really beautiful thing to see students get to interact with people that are off-campus and also people that are coming from out of the state to come to the festival and sort of take ownership for their love for music.”
Find the schedule, a festival map and ticketing information for Rites of Spring 2026 here.
Additional event opportunities:
Starting tonight (April 15), the Belair Lip Bombs perform at the Blue Room, followed on Thursday (April 16) by The Thing at The End. On Friday night (April 17), we have a double feature as WNXP presents sports at Cannery Hall’s The Mil, as well as Delicate Steve over at The Blue Room. This Saturday (April 18) brings us to Record Store Day, which hosts a lineup of live performances, DJ sets, a variety of local vendors and a handful of special releases at local record stores across Nashville. We finish this week’s list with a performance by Cut Worms at the Basement East on Tuesday night (April 21).
