Musikfest's 40th year has 1st sold-out headliner. There could be a record number of others

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Musikfest has its first sold-out headliner concert for its 40th year festival — technically.

And festival officials said they are hoping for others.

• Indie-pop trio AJR has sold out its headline show at Musikfest on Aug. 3
• Two other Musikfest headline shows — Goo Goo Dolls with O.A.R. on Aug. 9 and Train on Aug. 13 — are nearing sellouts
• Tickets are available on the festival's ticket buying site.

Indie-pop trio AJR, which will headline Musikfest on opening night Aug. 3, as of Wednesday was showing no seats available on the festival's ticket buying site.

It's the first of the festival's 11 headline shows to sell out Musikfest's 6,700-seat SteelStage arena.

ArtsQuest Chief Programming Officer Patrick Brogan said any venue would hesitate to call a show sold-out three weeks in advance.

Brogan cautioned that while the concert is functionally sold out, some additional seats "may trickle out in the weeks ahead" as production, setup and other details of the show are settled. SteelStage is a temporary venue erected in the parking lot at SteelStacks.

Any other tickets released would go up for sale on the website, Brogan said.

Musikfest will run Aug. 3-13 in downtown and South Side Bethlehem.

The show is far from the earliest sellout Musikfest has ever had. In 2017, rocker Santana set the record for the earliest date when his tickets were gone by Feb. 7. That beat the previous record by Keith Urban in 2014, when his show sold out on Feb. 11.

AJR, a brother trio known for its hits "Burn Down the House" and "Bang!" has risen quickly since its debut single "I'm Ready" sold triple platinum in 2013.

Its 2017 album "The Click" went platinum and produced the triple-platinum song "Weak" and the platinum "Sober Up." It since has had hits singles with "Burn Down the House" and "Bang!" (both double platinum), "100 Bad Days" and "Way Less Sad" (both platinum).

Its most recent album, 2021's "OK Orchestra," also hit No. 1 on the Indie albums chart and No. 10 on the overall albums chart and had sold gold status.

Record number of sellout?

Musikfest in 2022 had just one headline act sell out — Willie Nelson.

And, in fact, most of its sellouts over the years have been country music — Toby Keith in 2018, Lady Antebellum in 2016, Darius Rucker in 2015 and 2013 and Keith Urban in 2014.

Musikfest had its most sellout shows in one year in 2018, with three, when Keith, Santana and Chicago all sold out.

But Musikfest this year has the potential to match that.

The show by Goo Goo Dolls with O.A.R.on Aug. 9 has just 15 seats remaining available in the sections closest to the stage, a dozen or so in other seated sections and standing-only tickets, according to the online ticket site.

The show by soft-rock group Train on closing night, Aug. 13, shows seats in sections closest to the stage sold out, fewer than two dozen available in other seated areas and standing-only tickets.

Tickets remain available to pop-rock group Walk The Moon on Aug. 4; rapper G-Eazy on Aug. 5, Grammy Award-winning country music duo Dan + Shay on Aug. 6; country singer Walker Hayes on Aug. 7; R&B singer Keith Sweat and Monica on Aug. 8; comedian Gabriel Iglesias on Aug. 10; and Maren Morris on Aug. 12.

Musikfest is holding a sale for tickets to Walk the Moon, G-Eazy, Keith Sweat & Monica and El Gran Combo, offering them for $25 through 11:59 p.m. Saturday online only at musikfest.org/sale.