Beloved '80s cover band Racer X, which counts Associate Professor of Music Vineet Shinde and Associate Professor of English Aaron Kitch as members, will light up another Homecoming weekend with a performance on Saturday night in Morrell Gym.
The screaming fans and '80s attire—any excuse to break out the American Apparel metallic spandex—will surely follow precedent, but expect some new elements as well. Most notably, the larger Morrell Gym venue will be a change of scene from Smith Union, where the group has played in past years.
"We are working with the folks at Moonlighting and with our design people to create some new stage effects, including some awesome lighting and background visuals," said Kitch.
Kitch said that his band will debut some new songs at Bowdoin—"Our House" and "Video Killed the Radio Star"—as well as some new arrangements of crowd favorites like "Blister in the Sun," "Safety Dance" and "Land Down Under."
Racer X will also feature Bowdoin students on some songs in the first set. The group would not reveal the names of these guest performers yet, but Shinde said of the way students were chosen, "three words: Mad falconry skillz."
Racer X's humor has helped attract their wide following.
Exemplifying Bowdoin's unofficial credo "work hard, play hard," Kitch will be signing copies of his new book, "Political Economy and the States of Literature in Early Modern England" during a break between sets.
Catch Racer X Saturday at 9 p.m. in Morrell Gym.