Students and Valley residents alike are expected to pack this year's Circle K Tempe Music Festival at Tempe Beach Park, especially with headliners Fergie and My Chemical Romance.
"This event is getting bigger and bigger every year, and now it's partnered with ASU for a huge Friday night part of the event," said Alison Bailin, public relations manager for the Tempe Music Festival.
The sixth annual Tempe Music Festival, Arizona's largest music festival, is Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29.
"[The Tempe Music Festival] over the past five years has been getting more and more regional and national attention as a respected music festival," Bailin said. "It only takes five years for any event to really say, 'All right, we're here, we're here to stay, this is our roots, and this is a culture we are creating.' "
Friday night is student night, and My Chemical Romance and Puddle of Mudd will perform. Fergie will headline Saturday night.
Amy Folden, a business management sophomore, said the headliners are completely opposite.
My Chemical Romance has more of a punk style, while Fergie's songs are playful and upbeat, Folden said.
Half of the 25,000 people who came to the Tempe Music Festival last year were students, Bailin said.
Last year, Bailin said that they went to ASU organizations and asked students which bands they wanted to see this year. The most popular requests among students were My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. Then, after deciding what acts they could afford and who the people wanted, they looked at the bands' schedules to see if they were available to come, Bailin said.
This year, "we're going to blow it out of the water," Bailin said. "We're going to make this year bigger and better than any we've had in the past, and [we] did, [we] got Fergie," she said.
Anahi Alvarez, a student at Phoenix College, said, "[It's] kind of surprising, especially because [Fergie] is so big. You wouldn't expect someone like that to come to Tempe."
However, these two popular performers won't be the only ones to take the stage.
"For the college kids, we have a college garage band competition," Bailin said. "The finalists will be battling on the SRP stage and finding out who is going to open for either My Chemical Romance or Fergie."
Bradford Smith, a history junior, said he's not a fan of Fergie or My Chemical Romance.
"It sounds like they couldn't get anyone," he said. Smith said it would be smart for the event to showcase all different genres of music to attract more people to the festival.
Throughout the day Saturday, there will be 20 bands playing, Bailin said.
Also, Rockstar Energy Drinks will have an extreme-sports demonstration. "They are going to put ramps and everything out there and they will be having their own X Games during the music fest," Bailin said.
However, not all events are geared toward students and music.
For adults, there will be VIP areas and sports lounges with flat-screen TVs. Families can hang out at the Gatorade Sport Village and play foosball and air hockey. There will also be a kids zone for those under 12 years old, Bailin said.
Tickets for the Tempe Music Festival went on sale Feb. 14.
"The grounds are really big, but they can only hold a certain amount of people," Bailin said. "This year, tickets are going to be limited."
Tickets can be purchased at livenation.com or ticketmaster.com. Prices range from $35 to $125.
Reach the reporter at: lauren.misak@asu.edu.
