ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A recently reunited Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo who were groundbreaking as women leaders of a hard-rock band will headline Allentown Fair’s grandstand on the fair's first night, it was announced Monday.
Opening the show will be a new wave rock group that in the 1970s and 1980s produced more than a dozen Top 40 hits and also is in the Hall of Fame.
Heart, the group led by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, will perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, the fair announced.
Opening the show will be Cheap Trick, which had such hits as “Surrender,” “Dream Police” and “The Flame.”
Tickets, at $99-$129, will go on sale to the public starting at 10 a.m. Feb. 2 at the fair box office or at Ticketmaster.com. Special box office hours will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 2 and Feb. 8.Allentown Fair news release
Tickets, at $99-$129, will go on sale to the public starting at 10 a.m. Feb. 2 at the fair box office or at Ticketmaster.com. Special box office hours will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 2 and Feb. 8. All show tickets include admission to the fair.
Heart is the fourth headliner announced for this year’s fair, for which the 172nd year is scheduled for Aug. 28-Sept. 2. The fair has said it plans to present five grandstand headline shows as well as the annual demolition derby this year.
Hits, rock hall, hiatus and reunion
Since 1975, Heart has sold 25 million copies of its 15 studio albums, nine live discs and 10 compilations.
More than a dozen of those discs hit the Top 40 and gave Heart more than two dozen Top 40 hits, including iconic 1970s tunes such as “Magic Man,” “Crazy on You” and “Barracuda,” and 1980s chart-toppers such as “These Dreams” and “Alone.”
The group’s debut album, 1975’s “Dreamboat Annie,” sold platinum and debuted in the Albums chart Top 10. In addition to “Magic Man” and “Crazy On You,” it had a hit with the title track.
It had even bigger success with the 1977 album “Little Queen,” which sold triple-platinum and produced the hit “Barracuda.”
Heart had its biggest success with its self-titled 1985 album, which sold five-times platinum, hit No. 1 and gave the group its biggest hit, the chart-topping “These Dreams.”Heart chart history
But it had its biggest success with its self-titled 1985 album, which sold five-times platinum, hit No. 1 and gave the group its biggest hit, the chart-topping “These Dreams.”
It continued that success with the 1988 triple-platinum album “Bad Animals,” which gave it another No. 1 hit, “Alone.”
Heart continued to have success through the 1993 album “Desire Walks On,” which sold gold. Its most recent album of new music was 2016’s “Beautiful Broken.”
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
From 2016-19, Heart went on hiatus after the sisters’ relationship was strained by Ann Wilson's husband, Dean Wetter, pleading guilty to assaulting Nancy Wilson's 16-year-old twin sons.
The group reunited in 2019, but its tour was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2022, Nancy Wilson went on tour with her own version of Heart, called Nancy Wilson's Heart, which in June performed at Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem.
From 'Surrender' to 'The Flame'
Cheap Trick had its first hit with “Surrender” in 1978 and the follow-up hits “I Want You to Want Me,” “Dream Police” and “Ain’t That a Shame.”
It was full of new wave imagery with guitarist Rick Nielson playing checkerboard designed guitars in a baseball cap with a flipped-up brim, long-haired singer Robin Zander wailing away and balding drummer Bun E. Carlos beating away with a cigarette dangling from his lip.
Starting with its 1977 platinum album “In Color,” the band produced five straight gold or platinum albums through 1982. Its 1979 album “Dream Police” went to No. 6.
But bassist Tom Petersson left the band in 1982, and Cheap Trick didn’t have another Top 40 hit or platinum album until he rejoined in 1988. Cheap Trick then had the platinum album “Lap of Luxury,” which included “The Flame” and “Don’t Be Cruel.”
Ten years after its breakthrough, Cheap Trick had its biggest hit with “The Flame” and another with a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel.”Cheap Trick chart history
Then, 10 years after its breakthrough, Cheap Trick had its biggest hit with “The Flame” and another with a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel.”
Its most recent album of new music was 2021’s “In Another World.”
It was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
Carlos no longer tours with Cheap Trick. He has been replaced by Neilson’s son Dax playing drums.
Cheap Trick last played the Lehigh Valley in 2023 at Wind Creek and also in 2019, and at Allentown’s PPL Center in 2018. It also played Wind Creek in 2015 and 2012. It also played at Allentown’s Airport Hall in 1991 and Allentown Fair in 1978.
Tickets also will be available on Feb. 2 for this year’s previously announced Allentown Fair headliners, Brad Paisley on Aug. 30, Pentatonix on Aug. 31 and Jeff Dunham on Sept. 1.
The fair also offers discount ride tickets, half-price fair admission, and prepaid premium concert parking.
