Music

By the time Allentown Fair concert tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, 141 people were in line, bundled in winter coats and many with umbrellas.

1970s and 1980s hitmakers Heart and Cheap Trick will headline Allentown Fair grandstand this summer.

ArtsQuest Communications Director Jennifer LoConte confirmed in an email that the festival will be two days — a Friday/Saturday lineup — free to the public and presented outdoors at SteelStacks.

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

As the North American Music Merchant's yearly show kicks off in California, music lovers in Nazareth can check out C.F. Martin's newest lineup at their local headquarters.

The Black Crowes, best known for its No. 1 hits "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels" will perform at 8 p.m. on May 3 at Wind Creek.

El Sistema Lehigh Valley, an after school program that impacts over 120 students in the area, is one of the programs set to benefit from a unique new position at the orchestra

Orgy, known best for its 1998 hit cover of the New Order song “Blue Monday,” will perform at 5:30 p.m. May 17 at MainGate Night Club as part of a tour to mark the anniversary of its album “Candyass,” which included “Blue Monday.”

ArtsQuest’s Concerts on the Grange, which kicked off last year as a two-day music festival featuring tribute acts to Upper Macungie Township’s Grange Park, this year will expand to four nights of music throughout spring and summer.

The Hooters, the Philadelphia band best known for hits 1980s hits "Day By Day" and "And We Danced," will return to Quakertown's Sounds of Summer concert series for the fourth year in a row.

J&J Demolition Derby, a Labor Day mainstay at Allentown Fairgrounds, will return to the fair for its closing-night grandstand entertainment offering on Sept. 2.

Blippi, whose energetic and educational antics have made him a global sensation, will bring his live show Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour to the fair on Aug. 29.

Rockers Orgy, with opening act Cold, will play at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 17, at Maingate Nightclub in Allentown. Tickets, at $25 in advance and $30 day of show, are available at maingatenightclub.com

Kutztown University's jazz ensemble was recognized by DownBeat magazine for Outstanding Performance in its Student Music Awards. It's the 10th win for Kutztown's commercial music program but the first for the jazz ensemble.

Tickets for both shows will go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday, May 10, at ArtsQuest Center, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, or at www.SteelStacks.org.

The nine-man Straight No Chaser will perform at 3 and 7 p.m. Dec. 7, the theater said in a release. Tickets, at $39.50-$74.50, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, May 10, on the State Theatre website.

Malina Moye, who combines influences of hip hop, rock, funk and soul and whose 2018 album “Bad As I Wanna Be” topped the Blue Albums chart, will perform at the free festival.

The 116th Bethlehem Bach Festival takes place Fridays, May 10 and 17 and Saturdays, May 11 and 18 at the Zoellner Center for the Arts, Packer Memorial Church, Moravian University and Incarnation of our Lord Church.

Bethlehem Area School District students involved in the innovative Marketing MusikFest class announced the bands they booked for the big Lehigh Valley festival on Friday, May 3.

Nashville artist-songwriter George Birge, whose song "Beer Beer, Truck Truck" went viral on social media in 2021, then who hit No. 1 with the song "Mind On You" in 2022, will be Brad Paisley's "special guest" at the Aug. 30 concert at Allentown Fair grandstand.

C.F. Martin & Company has unveiled a vivid new museum display focused on sustainable manufacturing practices, highlighting years of innovations which focus on quality instruments with an environmentally-friendly orientation.

Forty-six concerts (the same as last year) are scheduled for Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks' 14th year, announced Sunday at a season reveal event at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.