Arts & Culture

Indie/punk/pop rockers Slingshot Dakota opened the festivities for Musikfest 2023 Thursday night, regaling the crowd with a succession of energetic hits.

As Musikfest enters its fifth decade, who have been the best of its 370 headline acts? Our music expert gives us his set list.

Lehigh Valley indie-rockers Slingshot Dakota are kicking off Musikfest at the Air Products Americaplatz at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks stage at 5 p.m. Thursday, bringing their unique and creatively energetic punk rock sans guitar.

Welcome to LehighValleyNews.com's Fest in Show, a daily offering of some of the can't-miss acts on the stages of Musikfest.

Musikfest, a 10-day festival of music, food, refreshments and more, celebrates its 40th year beginning on Thursday.

The classic & antique car festival is expected to bring thousands of visitors and hundreds of cars to the park, dating back to the early 1900s.

The Musikfest show will be the first day — and second stop — in Allman’s See It All American Tour with Donovan Frankenreiter. The tour will be an attempt by Allman and Frankenreiter to set the official world record by playing 50 shows in 50 states in 49 days.

Philadelphia psyche-pop master Kurt Vile and The Violators, who topped the Adult Album Alternative charts with the 2015 song “Pretty Pimpin’” and have had three albums in the overall Top 50, will headline a concert with the late jazz great Sun Ra’s band The Sun Ra Arkestra at Allentown’s Miller Symphony Hall.

The opening acts for Musikfest's main stage headliners have been announced. They include several Lehigh Valley favorites.

A completely dry stretch of weather is almost unheard of this time of year, said meteorologist Bobby Martrich of EPAWA Weather Consulting, the official forecaster of Musikfest.

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.

T.I., best known for his eight-times- platinum hits "Whatever You Like" in 2008 and "Live Your Life (featuring Rihanna)," will perform at 6 p.m. Aug. 6.

James McMurtry, who in 1989 had the hit "Painting By Numbers," will perform with his band The Marshall Law Review at 7 p.m. June 21, it was announced.