UPPER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. — Erecting a stage in a field in Upper Macungie Township for a concert might conjure thoughts of the famed 1969 Woodstock festival on a farm in upstate New York.
The kickoff of Concerts at the Grange on Friday wasn't quite on that magnitude, offering only a show by Face 2 Face, a tribute to Billy Joel and Elton John.
And attendance was closer to 1,000 than a quarter million.
- ArtsQuest's Concerts at the Grange at Upper Macungie's Grange Park kicked off Friday
- It was the first of four events ArtsQuest will produce at the park this summer
- Concerts at the Grange continue at 5:30 p.m. today, May 13, with The Doors tribute band The Ultimate Doors and Grateful Dead tribute Splintered Sunlight.
But it was an evening that offered good music, as well as a sense of community, for a couple of hours amid the surrounding farm fields.
The event was Concerts on the Grange, a two-day music festival that continues at 5:30 p.m. today, May 13, with tribute acts portraying The Doors and The Grateful Dead. Tickets, at $22 and $34, remain available on the SteelStacks website.
It also represented a rare step off Bethlehem's SteelStacks campus for ArtsQuest, the nonprofit agency that programs the ArtsQuest Center, Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks and the Musikfest festival.
By all appearances, it was a success, raising expectations for three more events ArtsQuest plans to produce at Grange Park this summer.
For [the] first time, that number felt pretty good.ArtsQuest Chief Operating Officer Curt Mosel, referring to the 1,000 people at Concert on the Grange
ArtsQuest Chief Operating Officer Curt Mosel said about 1,000 tickets were sold for a 2,000-capacity set-up.
"For [the] first time, that number felt pretty good," Mosel said. He said a capacity crowd for a first-time event would have presented more difficulties.
For tonight's concert, a far larger "walk-up" crowd for a jam band such as Grateful Dead tribute Splintered Sunlight, can be expected, with perhaps 300 tickets being sold at the gate.
"It's a great way to start," Mosel said.
'Starting off with a win'
The concert was what might have been expected.
Playing at facing grand pianos — hence the name Face 2 Face — singers Mike Santoro (Billy Joel) and Kenny Metcalf (Elton John), backed by a four-man band, played a show that lasted just over two hours.
They opened with Joel's "My Life," making a lyrical change from "a stand-up routine in LA" to "PA."
Then, after playing John's hit "Benny and the Jets," they won over the audience with Joel's "Allentown," though it was probably the song that most fell short in a show that presented reasonable facsimiles of the stars' voices and piano playing.
In all, the duo performed 25 songs — 13 of Joel's, 12 of John's — with each performing a solo set of five songs each, and duetting on the rest.
They closed with John's "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)," and Joel's "Piano Man."
There was no encore, and it was disappointing that they didn't play John's biggest hit, "Candle in the Wind."
On lawn chairs and blankets, the audience was reserved — Santoro chided them early on, saying "You guys are relaxed, I see. That's good."
It's not a guaranteed success, but starting off with a win is great.ArtsQuest Chief Operating Officer Curt Mosel
But by the end of the show, several in the crowd were dancing, and on John's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," waved cell phones and cigarette lighters to the music.
The weather was perfect: 75 degrees under nearly cloudless skies at the start, and by the end, cool enough for jackets.
"It's not a guaranteed success, but starting off with a win is great," Mosel said.
Parking and traffic were surprisingly efficient, especially for a first-time event on a narrow road.
Food wasn't quite as successful: One food truck of just a handful there had a wait of nearly two hours — the length of the concert.
'Programming for residents'
Mosel said the relationship with Upper Macungie started in 2018, when "a couple of folks" from the township approached ArtsQuest with the idea to "develop a new relationship and see where it goes."
That resulted in 2019's Sangriafest festival, which drew a "modest attendance of 700," but "everyone got ideas of how to do it" — the cost of infrastructure, ticketing and gating, and getting alcohol permits.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit before Sangriafest returned in 2022 to sell out 2,500 tickets — with organizers having to turn away about 400 people, Mosel said.
It's incredible to see all you out here.Upper Macungie Recreation Manager Mike Kukitz, welcoming the crowd to Concerts on the Grange
One of Upper Macungie's "big goals was doing programming for residents," Mosel said, and what was learned through Sangriafest was "transferrable. We thought this was a great example of what we could do."
Upper Macungie has done some of its own live music events since that, he said.
Upper Macungie Recreation Manager Mike Kukitz clearly was pleased.
"It's incredible to see all you out here," Kukitz told the crowd from the stage to open the show.
The next Artsquest-produced event scheduled at Grange Park will be the return of Sangriafest on June 8, and Upper Mac Community Day on June 24.
'Different than doing an event at SteelStacks'
As Friday's concert was about to start, Mosel said he was "excited creating something new."
"What does it take? What will we learn? It's different than doing an event at SteelStacks," he said.
He said data showed Friday's concert drew people from Breinigsville, Trexlertown, Macungie and Wescoesville — "the local audience came out."
But it also attracted people from the Allentown area, which was another intent, Mosel said.
"The idea is to make relationships with communities — and corporate sponsors," he said.
Mosel said ArtsQuest will continue to consider opportunities to present entertainment off the SteelStacks campus, but "I wouldn't say we're going to look, as much as say we're open to it."
He said the organization has gotten requests from as far away as Florida to produce shows. But its focus remains on SteelStacks, he said.
"We're very busy on our campus," he said.
He said the organization will "take things one at a time." He said, for instance, last year's project was creating an ice-skating rink at SteelStacks. This year is events with Upper Macungie, and doing that next year "would take precedence over looking for more."
"Our team learned a ton putting this together," Mosel said. "Helping build communities is still part of the mission. The ArtsQuest brand is something they trust us to do it."
"Our missions are close together. If we generate some cash, it goes back into our missions."
