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Sun God Festival

Sun God Festival
2025 Sun God Festival wordmark
Frequencyannually
Location(s)RIMAC Field at UC San Diego
Years active1983 – Present
FoundersAS Concerts & Events, UC San Diego
Most recentMay 3, 2025; 3 months ago (2025-05-03)
Next eventTBA
Budget$1,022,200 (2024-25)
Websitesgf.ucsd.edu

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.[1]

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.

History

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The first Sun God Festival coincided with the one-year anniversary of Sun God's arrival in 1984.[2][3] 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.

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.[4]

In 2018, Associated Students replaced the headlining act, Blackbear, with Roy Woods, when blackbear cancelled on account of a series of pancreatic attacks.[5] 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.[6]

In 2025, the EDM artist Wooli was originally set to be the headliner for Sun God Festival. Several days before the event was set to take place, the artist dropped out of the event and any mention of him attending was removed from the Sun God Festival website.[7] AS Concerts & Events confirmed on Instagram that he would not be headlining for "unforeseen circumstances", but some students speculated it was due to the student population being upset and vocal at the disappointment of the choice of headliner.[8]

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.[9]

Controversies

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Alcohol and Drug Abuse Hospitalizations

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Due to the number of students who were being hospitalized from alcohol and drug abuse at the festival, including a "handful" of attendees experiencing "near death" hospitalizations in 2013,[10] students and administrators opted to eliminate guest tickets and increase safety measures, such as the implementation of on-site medical care to reduce the amount of hospitalizations.[11] These changes saw a decrease in hospitalizations from 48 to 8 from 2013 to 2014.[12]

In 2014, a student who attended Sun God Festival was found dead in his dormitory after the event. The autopsy revealed that the death was caused by an overdose of the drug 5-APB.[13][14] This death caused further security measures to be implemented, such as pat-downs for attendees.[15]

In 2015, alcohol usage at the festival increased by 45 percent.[16] The increased security measures and loss of guest ticket revenues have also been a severe detriment to the event budget, which affected future lineups. Additionally, since 2019, students living on-campus are not allowed to house guests during the weekend of Sun God Festival, and non-affiliates are not allowed in residential areas.[17]

2024 Festival Cancellation

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In 2024, the Sun God Festival was set to take place on Saturday, May 4, 2024, but was ultimately announced to be cancelled two days prior with the reason cited as security concerns caused by the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on campus.[18][19] However, numerous Associated Students members at the time expressed concerns with the cited reason, claiming the cancellation was made in retaliation by the university and a deliberate attempt to pit students against one another.[20]

AS Concerts & Events Backlash

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In 2022, Associated Students Concerts & Events received significant amounts of backlash over the choice of headliners not being representative of student interests. In 2023, AS Concerts & Events responded to the concerns by creating a video responding to falsified comments. After backlash, the video was deleted from their social media a day later. [21][22]

Lineup

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2009 Sun God Festival - view from Main Stage
2009 Sun God Festival - Girl Talk headlining the Dance Tent

Festival Lineups

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Cancelled Events

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  • 2020 – Festival cancelled due to COVID-19[6]

References

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  1. ^ @UCSD: Celebrating Our Sun God
  2. ^ Pincus, Robert (October 28, 2001). "The 20th anniversary of UCSD's Stuart Collection celebrates a grand experiment in public art". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved April 29, 2007.[dead link]
  3. ^ Williams, Jack (September 14, 2002). "James DeSilva; visionary collector of art for UCSD". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  4. ^ "2016 AS Election Results" (PDF). Associated Students. UCSD. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  5. ^ a b Metu, Amarachi (April 6, 2018). "BLACKBEAR TO HEADLINE 2018 SUN GOD FESTIVAL". The Triton.
  6. ^ a b "AS Concerts and Events: Sun God Festival Update". March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  7. ^ "Lineup". Sun God Festival. University of California, San Diego. Retrieved 2025-04-29.
  8. ^ a b Dueker, Vivian (2025-04-30). "Wooli will no longer headline Sun God Festival". The UCSD Guardian. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  9. ^ Somers, Kyle. "Talking About Pills". UCSD Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  10. ^ Times, Tony Perry Tony Perry is the former San Diego bureau chief for the Los Angeles (2014-08-20). "UCSD student dies of drug overdose after on-campus music festival". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  11. ^ "Sun God kills, baby | San Diego Reader". www.sandiegoreader.com. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  12. ^ "Sun God on Trial". UCSD Guardian. 4 November 2014.
  13. ^ Garske • •, Monica (2014-08-15). "ME Report: UCSD Student Died of Drug Overdose After Sun God Festival". NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  14. ^ Phillips, Sandra (August 21, 2014). "UCSD student dies of accidental overdose after on-campus music festival".
  15. ^ Alexander, Patrick (2019-05-06). "Sun God: A Supposedly Fun Event I'll Never Go to Again". The Triton. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  16. ^ "Student dishonesty and alcohol use spiked at Sun God 2015 | San Diego Reader". www.sandiegoreader.com. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  17. ^ "Our Process | Sun God Festival 2019". sgf.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  18. ^ "UCSD students establish pro-Palestine encampment on campus". KPBS Public Media. 2024-05-01. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  19. ^ "UC San Diego cancels this weekend's Sun God Festival due to Gaza protest encampment". San Diego Union-Tribune. 2024-05-03. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  20. ^ Castillo, Carter. "UC San Diego cancels Sun God Festival in response to Gaza Solidarity Encampment". The UCSD Guardian. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  21. ^ Sadri, Mehri. "UCSD ASCE Q&A video faces controversy before Sun God Festival". The UCSD Guardian. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  22. ^ Vazquez, Lea. "The Downfall of Sun God Festival and ASCE". The UCSD Guardian. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  23. ^ "The Guardian: Sun God 2001". Archived from the original on May 31, 2011.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j UCSD Guardian, Volume 45, Issue 45
  25. ^ a b c d e f "Past SGF Posters". Facebook.
  26. ^ "UCSD Wiki: Sun God 2007". Archived from the original on April 24, 2012.
  27. ^ "Sun God Festival 2008". Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.
  28. ^ "Sun God Festival 2009". Archived from the original on February 9, 2010.
  29. ^ "Sun God Festival 2010". Archived from the original on March 30, 2010.
  30. ^ "Sun God Festival 2011". Archived from the original on April 7, 2011.
  31. ^ "Sun God Festival 2012". Archived from the original on May 23, 2012.
  32. ^ "Sun God Festival 2013". Archived from the original on April 3, 2014.
  33. ^ "Sun God Festival 2014". Archived from the original on March 14, 2008.
  34. ^ "Sun God Festival 2015".[permanent dead link]
  35. ^ "Sun God Festival 2016". sgf.ucsd.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-07-23. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  36. ^ Burke, Matthew (19 April 2017). "UCSD Announces 2017 Sun God Festival Lineup". Sound Diego. NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  37. ^ O, Sylvia (April 27, 2018). "Roy Woods Replaces Blackbear For Sun God". The Triton.
  38. ^ Metu, Amarachi (April 20, 2018). "Second Wave Sun God Artists Includes MadeinTYO". The Triton.
  39. ^ Parajuli, Sabira. "Vince Staples to Headline Sun God". The Triton.
  40. ^ Arrieta, Hector (2022-04-17). "2022 Sun God Festival: Facts and Other Things to Know Before You Go". The UCSD Guardian. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  41. ^ "Sun God Lineup 2023". UC San Diego ASCE Instagram. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  42. ^ "Lineup". SGF 2025. Archived from the original on 2025-04-30. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
  43. ^ Johnson, Erika. "'Sunny Days' Student Festival on the Horizon". UC San Diego Today.
  44. ^ Castillo, Carter. "UC San Diego cancels Sun God Festival in response to Gaza Solidarity Encampment". The UCSD Guardian. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
  45. ^ "Sun God Lineup 2024". UC San Diego ASCE Instagram. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  46. ^ "Cancellation of 2024 Sun God Festival". adminrecords.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-04.
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