New Mexico State University’s radio station, KRUX 91.5 FM, is hosting its annual music festival this week from April 14-16. KRUXFest is a three-day music festival with more than 20 years of history, but due to the pandemic it was put on hiatus.
“We have had a two-year hiatus from this little festival due to COVID, but this year we wanted to go all out,” said KRUX general manager, Myra Rommes.
The KRUX team invited over 15 musical guests — some from the Las Cruces, El Paso, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, areas — to perform over the course of three days. There will be appearances by late night drive home, Max Diaz, Acid Wave and more.
Alongside the performances, the festival will feature food trucks and local vendors participating in the “KRUX Market.” The KRUX Market will begin at 4 p.m. on April 15 and 3 p.m. on April 16.
The festival will take place at three different venues: Corbett outdoor stage, the intramural fields and the Horseshoe.
“We love using this stage to get the students who live in the dorms to join the crowd,” Rommes said about choosing the Corbett outdoor stage as the festival’s opening venue.
With more than four performances each day, the location of the festival changes to create a new atmosphere for the crowd and musical acts.
“We’re super excited to get our wheels turning again with bigger live shows and hope to make a huge impact on the campus as a whole,” Rommes said.
One attendee, Anahi Llañez, said she was excited to partake in the festivities for the first time. She sees this as an opportunity to meet new people while eating and enjoying live music. “I’m actually looking forward to seeing late night drive home perform,” Llañez said. “I’ve listened to their songs and stuff like that and I really like their music, so I’m kind of excited to actually go and see them.”
The El Paso band, late night drive home, is one of the most anticipated performances of the festival. The group’s single, “Television Romantic,” was released in February and offers a glimpse into the band’s debut album, which will be released later this spring. The band is scheduled to perform at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Another excited KRUXFest newcomer said he was hoping to get in touch with new artists through this festival experience. “I do love the radio station and the variety [in music] that they have … so as long as it’s the same vibe as the station, I’ll be happy,” Daniel Salazar said.
The festival begins today, April 14, at 4:30 p.m. and will be kicked off by Arlo Saturn at the Corbett outdoor stage. The free event is open to people of all ages and will include a T-shirt giveaway each day.
