BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Alt-rockers Goo Goo Dolls, which has had a dozen songs in the Top 10 of Billboard's adult rock chart, will headline Bethlehem's Musikfest festival, it was announced Monday.
The show, which also will include veteran jam band O.A.R., will perform Aug. 9. It is the first main stage headliner announced for Musikfest’s 40th year.
- The Goo Goo Dolls will headline the main stage at Musikfest next summer
- The festival will run Aug. 4-13 in downtown Bethlehem and the SteelStacks campus in South Bethlehem
- Joining the Goo Goo Dolls will be veteran jam band O.A.R.
Tickets, at $29-$89 and $219 for the Steel Terrace, go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday at the ArtsQuest Center box office at 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, at www.musikfest.org and 610-332-3378.
The announcement comes in time for tickets to be bought as holiday gifts.
Musikfest will run Aug. 4-13 in downtown Bethlehem and the SteelStacks campus in South Bethlehem.
Goo Goo Dolls last played Musikfest in 2012. It also played Sands Bethlehem Event Center, now Wind Creek Event Center, in 2016.
The group broke into the mainstream with its 1995 double-platinum hit "Name," then in 1998 had the seven-times-platinum hit "Iris" and platinum hits "Slide" and "Black Balloon," all from its five-times-platinum album "Dizzy Up the Girl."
With other hits such as "Broadway" and a hit cover of Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit" that also went to No. 1, the group has had five gold and platinum singles and three gold or platinum albums.
Six of its albums hit the Top 30, including, most recently, 2013's "Magnetic," which hit No. 8. Its most recent album, "Chaos in Bloom," was released in August. It has had 22 Adult chart hits, with the most recent being last year's "Fearless," which reached No. 24.
"Iris," which was used in the movie "City of Angels," spent nearly a year on the Billboard charts. The group also has had four Grammy Award nominations.
O.A.R. has been together 25 years and in 2015 headlined Musikfest.
O.A.R. , which has released 10 studio albums and six live discs since starting in 1996 and had the gold hit "Love and Memories" in 2005 and the platinum hit "Shattered (Turn the Car Around)" in 2008.
Musikfest for the past two years has not only returned from the pandemic restrictions, but added an 11th headline act by offering a Thursday “preview” concert. It was country star Darius Rucker in 2021 and Boyz II Men last year.
