Multi-platinum recording artist MAX and Grammy-nominated Social House will headline this year’s Bearstock, an annual music festival presented by Mercer University’s student programming board, QuadWorks.
DJ Saturn and Lewis Ashe and the Locals, two acts featuring Mercerians, also will perform at the April 13 concert on Cruz Plaza on the Macon campus. Music will go from 4 p.m. to sunset.
“Bearstock is a tradition that has been around on Mercer’s campus for several years,” said Adam Penland, assistant director of campus life and a Mercer alumnus. “I was a freshman and experienced my first Bearstock at Mercer the spring semester of 2017, and there’s just a feeling to it that brings together the entire student body.”
The free event will include food trucks such as Hank’s Food Truck, which serves hot dogs and sausages; Pinky’s Shaved Ice; Macon Baking Co.; Alumni Cookie Dough; and more. Full meals and desserts will be available for free while supplies last.
In the week leading up to Bearstock, Quadworks will sell concert T-shirts for $5 in the Connell Student Center lobby. The remaining T-shirts will be sold at the event, alongside freebies including stickers and wristbands. Bearstock sponsor Live at Lofts will give away blankets at the concert.
Pop sensation MAX broke onto the music scene in 2016 with his album “Hell’s Kitchen Angel,” which featured the single “Lights Down Low.” The song went triple platinum, and the remix, featuring Gnash, reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2019, MAX was nominated for Best New Pop Artist at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. His latest studio album, “Love in Stereo,” includes the chart-climbing “Butterflies,” featuring Ali Gatie.
Students may also remember the musician as actor Max Schneider, who played Charlie Prince, the main character in the 2012 Nickleodeon original film, Rags.
Musical duo Social House started out writing and producing songs for other artists, including collaborating with Ariana Grande on the song “Boyfriend.” The single won Song of the Summer at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards and was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Social House also has production credits on Grande’s “Thank U, Next” and “7 Rings,” which was nominated for Record of the Year at the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Mercer alumnus Christopher Howard is DJ Saturn. Lewis Ashe and the Locals is composed of alumnus Lewis Ashe, a Mercer graduate assistant; alumnus Jackson Waddleton; alumnus Andrew Adams; and student Jacob Woods.
