The Major Rager, the annual jam concert, scheduled this year at the Imperial Theatre on Saturday night, has been a staple of Masters Week in the CSRA for nearly a decade.
The show is coordinated by Augusta-based Friends With Benefits Productions (or FWB), which specializes in community-driven live performances.
The yearly benefit show began with the Birdies and Bogeys Benefit, a show for local charities hosted on Masters Week of 2012 at Julian Smith Casino. The benefit was inspired by an encounter one of its organizers, Charlie Wall, had during a New Year’s trip to New York with a similar event at a church.
“So we decided to do it,” said Friends With Benefits CEO George Claussen, who launched the concert with sister Montie and friend Clayton Boardman and Wall. “Then that following year, we started Major Rager, and started incorporating charities in our concerts.”
In the years since, the Major Rager show has drawn several renowned performers, such as the Flaming Lips in 2017, and George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic in 2018. Claussen notes that getting high-profile acts is not quite as difficult as making sure things run smoothly once they’re in town.
“There’s definitely been some logistical challenges in years past,” he said, such as securing hotels for performers during tournament week—which often means lodging as far as Columbia. “It’s had its challenges over the years, but it’s been great.”
The roster for Saturday’s show includes the rock band Futurebirds, the Stews and Augusta band the Mason Jars.
The Rager is usually planned for outdoors, such as the Augusta Common, Evans Towne Center Park and the Sharon Jones Amphitheatre, where it had been scheduled for this year, before FWB changed the venue to the Imperial Theatre this week, due to concerns about inclement weather.
“It was just more convenient,” Claussen said. “With that size venue and that size band, it just works for 1,000 people. Next year we will be doing something really big for the 10th year.”
A portion of the performance’s proceeds will go toward the Hale House Foundation, the Augusta program that helps men age 18 and over recover from substance abuse and related issues.
“What they’re doing with men’s sobriety, and focusing on their mission down there has been just amazing,” Claussen said. And anything we can do, to help, you know, highlight that and make people know that there is an option to get sober.”
The concert, and the benefit, is in honor of Frank Hull, a friend of the founders who died in 2021.
“We’re going to honor Frank Hull every year,” Claussen said. “He was a really big part of Masters week for a lot of people. It’s been great to shed light on him and make sure that he’s never forgotten.”
Major Rager 2023 will be at the Imperial Theatre on Saturday, April 8, starting at 8 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.fwbpro.com/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
