Green Key weekend began over a century ago as an informal series of fraternity parties, but today, it is Dartmouth’s signature spring celebration. From its earliest roots in 1899 — when the Class of 1900 threw “Spring Houseparties” with sports, dances and a prom — to the riot and cancellation of the Green Key Ball in 1967, the weekend has always been a celebration of the spring.
Students often associate Green Key with live music, but before 2013, a big, campus-wide party was not a permanent fixture of Green Key. The College occasionally brought famous bands to Hanover — notably the Grateful Dead, who played a three-hour long concert in Thompson Arena in 1978 to thousands of students and Deadheads.
However, Greek Houses have consistently hosted Green Key concerts, including Phi Delta Alpha fraternity’s annual Block Party, which hosted student bands, and Alpha Delta fraternity’s Lawn Party, which brought in professional musicians.
Enter the Programming Board.
As part of its goal to “create social and entertainment events on campus,” PB was already hosting concerts throughout the year, including smaller performances during Green Key. Rock band Augustana performed in Alumni Hall in the Hopkins Center for the Arts in 2008, followed by rapper Talib Kweli in 2011.
Smaller concerts had their limits, though. PB brought famous DJ Avicii in the winter of 2012, but extremely limited tickets due to the choice of venue — ’53 Commons — sparked outrage from the student body. In response, the PB reevaluated its concert strategy and conducted a campus-wide survey. They found that the majority of students wanted a “large concert with a big name artist.”
As a result, in the spring of 2013, PB announced its first Green Key headliner: Shaggy was set to perform on the Gold Coast lawn on Tuck Drive. The expanded event drew an estimated 3,800 attendees, far more than any Greek event and the “strongest showing at a Programming Board event in recent memory,” according to former The Dartmouth opinion writer David Brooks ’15, who followed the PB changes in his column.
The successful new format continued in 2014 with rapper Lupe Fiasco and rap duo Aer braving rain to play the “Gold Coast” lawn — a concert venue set up on Tuck Drive.
The new PB event did nothing to deter Greek houses from continuing to host live music. Gamma Delta Chi fraternity brought relatively unknown electronic music duo The Chainsmokers in 2014 — who are now three-time Grammy winners.
The Board scaled up in 2015 with a three-act bill featuring T-Pain, Far East Movement and rising indie-pop group MisterWives, filling the lawn with thousands of students. At the time, Programming Board concert chair Leif Harder ’15 said that PB’s campus-wide surveys played an important role in choosing which acts to bring, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth. Folk phenom Noah Kahan also performed at Collis Mainstage in 2016 before his first record deal and breakout into mainstream popularity.
PB continued to sponsor big names — Raury, Dan + Shay and Cash Cash in 2016; Sage the Gemini and Cheat Codes in 2017; Quinn XCII, Coast Modern and Tinashe in 2018; Waka Flocka Flame, Two Friends and MAX in 2019 — until the COVID-19 pandemic forced a pause in 2020 and 2021.
During the pandemic, the Programming Board cancelled the headliner concert, and Green Key was instead marked by smaller outdoor events and virtual performances.
By 2022, with the pandemic winding down and students anxious for a return to normality, the Green Key concert returned. Saint Motel and Kyle co-headlined, with an opening performance by Doechii, who went on to win Best Rap Album at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
Students had mixed opinions. John DeForest ’25 attended, and while he didn’t give it a glowing review, he had a good time.
“Overall decently fun, not my favorite songs but got some nice moments of hyping up the crowd,” he said.
In 2023, the concert featured indie-pop group Neon Trees and rapper Cochise, and in 2024, Shaggy returned alongside Brooklyn rapper Young M.A.
This year’s performers, rapper A$AP Ferg and British singer-songwriter Jay Sean, are sure to draw a crowd of thousands of students celebrating the end of winter. Student band Read Receipts, who also performed at last year’s concert, will play before the main act.
