Today, Umphrey’s McGee announced that the band would be headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 10th to headline the first-ever expansion of golf and music fusion, The Major Rager. Along with Nashville’s Moon Taxi, Umphrey’s will take to Symphony Park at South Park Mall for the event which doubles as a fundraiser for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and a musical accompaniment to the start of the PGA Championship nearby at the Quail Hollow Club—one of the four major golf competitions for men (a.k.a. Major Championships) in the world.
The original Major Rager has been going down for four years in Augusta, Georgia, coinciding with the kickoff of the annual Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Course every April—the first Major Championship each summer. The Masters Golf Tournament Major Rager this year went down on April 6th and featured performances by the Flaming Lips, People of the Sun (by Moon Taxi), Eric Krasno Band, and Stop Light Observations.
The folks over at Friends With Benefits Productions, the company that puts on each installment of The Major Rager, have high hopes for the series. They hope that some day they will have a Major Rager at the start of each of golf’s Major Championships—with Augusta under their belt (Masters Golf Tournament) and Charlotte on the way (PGA Championship) at the end of the summer, Major Rager is halfway to its goal. While the Masters Tournament in April always takes place in Georgia, June’s U.S. Open and August’s PGA Championship move to a different location each year, letting golf and music fans from across the country look forward to potentially seeing an installment close to home. Each July, world-famous golfers flock to The Open Championship at one of the ten links courses in the U.K., so we’re looking forward to when the international edition of the Major Rager heads across the pond.
We love events like these, that mix unlikely yet not mutually exclusive worlds. Both the members of Umphrey’s McGee and Moon Taxi have gone on the record as being big sports fans and avid golfers, so it’s unsurprising they were quick to jump on board for the expansion of the event. A limited amount of early-bird tickets went on sale today at 10 AM (EST) with general admission costing $25 and VIP costing $80. Once sold out, ticket prices will jump to $30 and $100 respectively, so hop on tickets while you can here.
[Cover photo: Phierce Photo]
