Gamecock Athletics announces Garnet & Black Spring Fest featuring Darius Rucker

Gamecock Athletics, in partnership with Rock Block, has announced that country music superstar and longtime Gamecock supporter Darius Rucker, along with country singer, songwriter and actress, Lauren Alaina, will headline the Garnet & Black Spring Fest on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Colonial Life Arena.

“The Garnet & Black Spring Fest promises to be a great event for fans of all ages and gives us an opportunity to come together and celebrate what it means to be a Gamecock,” said Athletics Director, Jeremiah Donati. “Our department has been hard at work finding new ways for our fans to interact with one another and our student-athletes, and the Garnet & Black Spring Fest is just one of the new events that we will be announcing to meet that goal. Due to the ongoing stadium construction, our ability to host a Spring Game this year was going to be challenging as our top priority is ensuring Williams-Brice Stadium is ready for our September 5 home opener. As a result, the Garnet & Black Spring Fest was created to not only provide fans with the opportunity to meet and greet our football student-athletes but to come together as Gamecocks.”

Tickets for the Garnet & Black Spring Fest Concert will be released in phases to allow priority access to Gamecock Club members, Letterman Association members, University of South Carolina students and Colonial Life Arena Cyber Club members. Emails with ticket purchase details will be sent at the start of each pre-sale period listed below.

Fans of all ages are invited to the free Garnet & Black Spring Fest Block Party in Foundation Square, at the corner of Lincoln and Greene Streets, outside of Colonial Life Arena. The Block Party will begin at 1 p.m. and will feature a meet and greet with Gamecock football student-athletes, food and drinks, inflatables, live music and more. The timeline of Block Party events will be released at a later date. Doors of Colonial Life Arena will open at 6:00 p.m. with the concert beginning at 7:00 p.m.

If you aren’t currently a Colonial Life Arena Cyber Club member, you can sign up to receive presale access by clicking the button below.

Tickets for the General Public on-sale on Tuesday, March 3 at 10 a.m. can be purchased by clicking the button below.

All pre-sales will end at 10 p.m. on Monday, March 2. Tickets are available online only the day of the onsale. Any remaining tickets for any event following the first day of general public ticket sales will be available for purchase online at ticketmaster.com and at the Prisma Health Box Office at Colonial Life Arena on the next Tuesday (9 AM – 4 PM) or Friday (11 AM – 4 PM) that the box office is open.