The nationally touring rock band Lifehouse announced Friday it will be performing at Freakfest 2007 for the Saturday, Oct. 27 Halloween festivities on State Street.

Although Frank Productions, the company handling entertainment, ticketing and private funding for the Halloween celebration this year, has yet to officially announce the lineup for Saturday, the news is leaking fast.

In addition to Lifehouse, other bands including The Mighty Short Bus, The Gabe Dixon Band, Matt Wertz, and Dave Barnes have all reported on their respective websites they will be playing at Freakfest as well.

"It's the biggest name we've had on State Street for Halloween in a long time," said City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, who sits on the Downtown Coordinating Committee helping organize the event. "The city is very lucky to have Frank Productions involved. –The city could never pull this off on their own."

Frank Productions met with city officials and the Madison Police Department Thursday night to begin discussions for the weekend. At the meeting, Dave Maynard of Frank Productions announced the lineup was almost complete, and it would be officially revealed sometime in the beginning of October.

Verveer said he hopes the addition of a big name like Lifehouse to the lineup will reduce complaints from students about the $5 admission fee, which was applied for the first time at last year's festivities.

"I really hope that really great entertainment will encourage students to return to State Street and continue the tradition," Verveer said. "State Street's supposed to be about fun, not riots and property destruction. Hopefully, that's all behind us."

Maynard said Frank Productions will be adding a smaller stage this year located at Peace Park, in addition to the two larger stages with nationally touring bands. The tentative start time for the music Saturday night is 7 p.m., and the event will close down by 1:30 a.m. There will be no events or ticketing Friday night.

Freakfest tickets will be available starting Oct. 5 online at Ticketmaster.com and at all Ticketmaster locations, or at select State Street businesses for $5. Ticket prices will go up to $7 starting the day of the event.