Entertainment News

A St. Patrick’s Day Ceremony/Irish Culture Celebration on Friday at Payrow Plaza in Bethlehem kicked off the St. Patrick's Day weekend in the Lehigh Valley.

The free Blues, Brews & Barbecue festival will be Saturday, June 22, along Allentown's Hamilton Street from Fifth to Ninth streets, and on North and South Seventh Street.

ArtsQuest said it will be a day filled with tacos from throughout the Lehigh Valley, along with music, game shows, Margarita Madness, the Chihuahua Beauty Contest, and food and drinks from a ton of vendors.

The Bethlehem festival, which organizers say barely muddled its way through a rainy event last year, got a $75,000 state grant announced Wednesday by state Sen. Lisa Boscola.

The Front Bottoms, the New Jersey-based band that had the Top 20 Alternative hit “Peace Sign” in 2018, will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 18, in the second paid Levitt Pavilion show announced for this season.

Gin Blossoms, Toad The Wet Sprocket and Vertical Horizon are on the bill for Aug. 15 at Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem. The show unites three acts that from 1991 to 2001 collectively produced 17 Top 20 alternative hits and five gold and platinum albums.

The Bach Choir of Bethlehem is the oldest American Bach Choir. As it closes its 125th anniversary celebration, it's about to do something it's never done before — release a live CD. The choir also has released details of its upcoming 116th Bethlehem Bach Festival.

Scott Bradlee’s Post Modern Jukebox, which reinterprets contemporary hit songs as jazz, ragtime and swing music, will perform at the theater at 7 p.m. July 21.

As Dorney Park begins testing and inches closer to the opening of Iron Menace, fans are heaping praise on Thunderhawk — a classic wooden coaster that turns 100 this year.

Slash, the guitarist for Guns 'N Roses, will bring his S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival, to the massive downtown and South Side Bethlehem music festival’s main Steel Stage on Aug. 5, it was announced Tuesday.

Television personality Carson Kressly, a Lehigh Valley native, will be master of ceremonies for Liberty Ignited: A Lehigh Valley Salute to America at 250 on July 3, a release said.

The Four Tops, who in the 1960s helped define the Motown sound with hits such chart-topping hits as "Reach Out I'll Be There," will perform at 7 p.m. Sept. 2, backed by Allentown Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets, starting at $126.65, remain available at the PPL Center website or the box office at 701 W. Hamilton St., Allentown.

In PPL Center's nearly 12-year history, it has been host for a handful of "final" tours. On Thursday, June 11, ballad-rockers Journey will be the latest.

"There are few events around the world that bring people together like the World Cup," ArtsQuest Chief Operating Officer Curt Mosel said at a news conference Friday. "And this year, our team will be taking it up a notch."

Bad Company Legacy, which includes two members of the group that from 1974-92 sold 20 million copies of hits such as “Can’t Get Enough,” “Feel Like Making Love” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy,” will perform at 7 p.m. Nov. 1. And Morgan Wade, whose hit "Wilder Days" helped get her nominated for the Academy of Country Music's New Female Artist of the Year in 2023, will perform at 8 p.m. Aug. 28.

A rainy Memorial Day weekend forecast is forcing some schedule changes across the Lehigh Valley, but several of the region’s biggest annual events say they’re moving forward — rain or shine.

The Spirits name pays homage to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms hockey franchise and looks to build on its success since 2014, which inspired brothers Rob and Jim Brooks to launch another professional team.

On Thursday, ArtsQuest and public officials gathered for a ceremonial "brick-breaking" marking the start of construction work at the former Bethlehem Steel Turn and Grind Shop at SteelStacks in Bethlehem.

Straight No Chaser will perform at the theater at 3 and 7 p.m. Dec. 5. And the stage play "Waitress" at 7 p.m. Dec. 15 and 16.

Friday's show, which started this year's lineup of 48 concerts, gave the audience its first exposure to a new state-of-the-art sound system that replaces a public address system developed 25 years ago.

Two-thirds of the way through construction, the new Creativity Center is ahead of schedule, below budget, growing in size and adding new elements of creativity, opportunity and community, officials said.