Root rocks for Little 5

Under a clear blue sky, approximately 2,700 students swayed and danced to the sounds of Rusted Root and the night's opening band, Blue Moon Revue, at the second annual Little 500 kick-off charity concert at Kappa Sigma Tuesday night.\nPreliminary estimates show more than $3,000 will go to the Bloomington Boys and Girls Club as a result of the effort put forth by fraternity members.\nBlue Moon Revue lead singer Matt Marshall said the concert was another way their band could help a charity.\n"We try to do charity when we can," Marshall said. "We just did 'Live from Bloomington' and we've done a lot of things in the past … We try to help out anytime we can, to get people together and play some music."\nGray skies and cool winds throughout much of the day Tuesday created doubt in the mind of Kappa Sigma President Alan Hazzard on the turnout for the concert. Nevertheless, Mother Nature blessed concert goers with sunshine and warmer temperatures in the late afternoon and starry skies in the evening, creating a pleasant springtime concert experience.\n"We got really lucky with the weather since the forecast, said it was supposed to be colder than it really was," Hazzard said. "It was good to see everyone come out for the concert and have a good time. That was one of the points of the concert, to bring everyone together during Little 5."\nConcert goer Lindsey Eckstein said she enjoyed the concert because of the band and the purpose behind the kick-off.\n"I thought Rusted Root did a really good job for as long as they played without really taking any breaks," Eckstein said. "I think that Kappa Sigma did a really good job for raising a lot of money. This wasn't like a regular party; instead it was a really good reason to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club, to get us all together here and to kick-off Little 500 week."\nFellow concert goer Erica Seligman said she enjoyed Rusted Root's extended rendition of their hit song "Send Me On My Way."\n"Both bands played great sets, but 'Send Me On My Way' is one of my favorite songs. I was thrilled when they played it," Seligman said. "This was so much fun, especially since this year is my first Little 500."\nKappa Sigma member Jon Barefoot, head of security for the concert, said although Union Board decided to forego its annual concert this year, continuing the tradition of a week full of events was important.\n"We're disappointed UB decided to not have a concert this year," Barefoot said. "We liked the opportunity and atmosphere for students to have a week of fun and music, but we were happy our concert came out as a success."\nBarefoot also said one of the best parts about a successful event was watching it go from an initial idea to a performance.\n"It's nice to see something go from the planning stages six or seven months ago and then be at the concert and see 3,000 people there enjoying themselves," he said.\nWhile plans for next year's show have yet to begin, Hazzard said the fraternity is always open to ideas and suggestions of who should headline the next kick-off concert.