Arts & Culture

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.

WWE will return to the Lehigh Valley this summer, bringing its 2026 Summer Tour to the PPL Center on Thursday, July 16, marking the company’s first live event in Allentown in roughly three years.

The Freddy Awards is now in its 24th year. The ceremony will take place on May 21 at State Theatre.

Country music star Martina McBride and Justin Hayward, who led The Moody Blues for more than 50 years, are among four new shows announced for the theater's 100th season.

Musikfest announced 331 music acts announced for about 500 concerts on the festival's 15 free stages during its July 31-Aug. 9 run, with a July 30 preview night.

The season will offer 48 shows and open May 15.

Hard rock band The Used will perform at Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem on July 22. Tickets are available at the venue website or box office.

ArtsQuest hasn't yet announced its summer lineup for its free Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks series, or for its various genre summer festivals. And maybe it hasn't finished announcing its paid-ticket Levitt Pavilion shows yet. But performers are announcing shows themselves.

Third Eye Blind, best known for the hits “Semi-Charmed Life,” “Jumper,” “How It’s Going To Be,” “Jumper” and “Graduate,” will perform at 7 p.m. Aug. 2, it was announced.

KC and the Sunshine Band will bring that music to Easton's State Theatre at perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28. Tickets, at $90-$110, remain available, though some sections are limited.

Three Dog Night, which had hits such as "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," "Joy to the World" and "Black and White," will perform at 7 p.m. Sept. 27, and the stage musical of Charles Dickens’s "A Christmas Carol," will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3.

Sangriafest, Tacofest and Ginvitational will be back with "craft spirits and global flavors," ArtsQuest said in a news release.

The Coral Reefer Band, which includes nine members who each played live shows with Jimmy Buffett for more than 25 years and appeared on multiple gold and platinum albums, will perform at Wind Creek Event Center at 7:30 p.m. July 9.

Russell Dickerson, best known for the 2017 triple-platinum hit "Yours" and the double-platinum hits "Blue Tacoma" in 2018 and "Love You Like I Used To" in 2020, will perform at 7 p.m. July 31, it was announced.

The My Generation Tour of Gary Lewis & The Playboys, The Lovin' Spoonful and The Hollies' Terry Sylvester that stopped Friday, March 13, at Easton's State Theater was a wonderful collection of memories — and an occasional surprise.

The Oak Ridge Boys will stop at 6 p.m. Sunday, March 15, at Easton's State Theatre. Tickets, at $65-$85, remain available at the theatre website and are expected to be available at the door at 453 Northampton St.

Gary Lewis & The Playboys and The Lovin' Spoonful will perform as part of The My Generation Tour at 7:30 p.m. March 13 at Easton's State Theatre. Joining them will be Terry Sylvester of The Hollies, one of those British groups with which they competed, and which had five Top 10 hits of their own in the 1960s.

Looking at what has transpired at The Archer since it opened, Live Nation Head of Clubs Programming Molly Warren said, "We had an amazing first year."

Wilco, whose songs "I Might" and "Speak Into the Rose" hit the Top 5 on Billboard's Singles chart in 2011, will play "An Evening With Wilco" show at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks at 8 p.m. June 17.