If you’ve ever walked by the Pit, you’ve seen a little piece of Guster history.

Drummer Brian Rosenworcel remembers the early years when the band was trying to get its name out.

“We used to spend our summers selling our demo tapes out of our guitar cases in front of the Coop,” he says.

This Sunday, the band which built up its mailing list outside the Yard’s gates will return to Harvard, performing at Gordon Track at 8 p.m.

Guster’s ascent from a band which played free gigs around campus and the greater Boston area—including one show which Rosenworcel remembers as “something where there was free hamburgers and hot dogs”—is an astounding success.

But the concert also marks a success for the Undergraduate Council’s Harvard Concert Commission (HCC), which hasn’t successfully put together a show for any major band since the Verve Pipe played Springfest in 2002.

Prior to the Verve Pipe, the last major concert at Harvard happened when Dispatch played at Sanders Theatre three years ago. Since then, the HCC has made multiple attempts to bring major musical groups to campus—all of which, until now, have ended in failure.

In 2002, the HCC made a push to bring hip-hop duo Outkast to campus. After the Council got approval to bid on the band and use the Bright Hockey Center for the show, controversy arose when then Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth ’71 raised concerns over Ouutkast’s lyrics and their pending lawsuit with Rosa Parks over their song “Rosa Parks.”

When the concert was finally approved by the administration, the Council’s bid turned out to be too low.

In an attempt to compensate with a spring concert, the Council planned a joint performance by Wyclef Jean and Jurassic 5 for early May.

This venture fell through when the administration pulled the plug on the concert less than a week before because negotiations with the bands had not finished and no tickets had been sold.

Last spring, there was again talk of bringing in a band for Springfest, but the allotted budget was only $20,000—not enough to bring in a nationally-recognized group.

Behind the Scenes

Instead of using their Springfest budget on a smaller band, the Council decided to save the money for a bigger concert this fall, when admission fees would also allow for a much greater overall expenditure.

Even with the additional money, however, budgeting was one of the main factors in picking this fall’s act. According to HCC Director Robert G. Bonstein ’04, the HCC was looking for a group popular enough to draw a large crowd, not so expensive that ticket prices would discourage attendance, and available on a date when there would be a venue available for the show.