Music

Goo Goo Dolls, the 1990s-2000s alternative rock group who produced the platinum hits “Name,” “Iris,” “Slide,” and “Black Balloon,” has sold out its concert for tonight, Aug. 9, on Musikfest’s Steel Stage.

From lack of parking and gridlock traffic to the increased prices for headliner tickets, as well as upticks in costs for food and beverages, there are plenty of reasons why some of the Lehigh Valley’s residents don’t like — with a contingent even going so far as to actively avoid — Musikfest.

Here are the Musikfest acts and more you should see today, Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Six years ago today, local noted musician Sal Ritz Jr. passed away shortly after performing at Musikfest. His widow, Laurie Ritz Dragotta, says a return to Musikfest is still too emotional for her.

Dan + Shay, a country duo from Nashville, played to a roaring crowd on the main stage at Musikfest 2023 on Sunday night. The two are just returning to touring as they've been recording a new album due out this fall.

Here are the Musikfest acts and more you should see today, Monday, Aug. 7.

Rapper G-Eazy performed at Musikfest on Saturday night.

Here are the Musikfest acts and more you should see today, Sunday, Aug. 6.

With an indefinite hiatus on the horizon and only a handful of shows left to play, Walk the Moon's performance at Musikfest's Steel Stage reminded us they're more than their biggest single.

Opening ceremonies for the 40th Musikfest were held on Friday evening. The nation's largest open-gate music festival will continue through Aug. 13 in south Bethlehem.

Alejandro Escovedo, a member of the musical family that has made stars of his brothers — percussionist Coke Escovedo, who played with Santana, and Pete Escovedo, father of Sheila E. — will play Tuesday, Sept. 9 in The Archer's Arrow Room.

From 8 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. Friday, July 25, you'll be able to buy tickets for six of Musikfest's 11 headline shows — and a paid-ticket Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks show — at 25% off.

Megan Moroney, who last year won the Academy of Country Music's New Female Artist of the Year, is the first artist to sell out a concert on this year's Musikfest main Steel Stage.

South African rockers Seether, who had the chart-topping songs “Broken (with Amy Lee),” “Remedy,” “Fake It” and “Country Song,” will team up with Daughtry, the “American Idol” contestant who went on to become a chart-topping rocker, to play the event center at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 5.

Zoostock, a one-day music festival that draws inspiration from the famed Woodstock music festival, is set for 5-9 p.m. Saturday, July 26, at Lehigh Valley Zoo.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 19, Copeland will headline ArtsQuest's Blast Furnace Blues Festival, performing on the Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks stage. The concert and festival are free.

The action ramps up Friday with Market to Go, open from 3-7 p.m., with offerings of blueberry crumb pie, coffee cake, strudel, sugar cookies and blueberry swirl ice cream. The event continues Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days.

The blues music festival features two days of free music with Grammy Award nominees and Blues Music Award winners, including Shemekia Copeland and Dylan Triplett. It occurs on Friday and Saturday at the SteelStacks campus.

Straight No Chaser, the popular a cappella group whose membership includes two Lehigh Valley natives and had a viral hit with its internet video of “Twelve Days of Christmas” mashed with Toto’s “Africa,” will perform two holiday shows, at 3 and 7 p.m. Dec. 7, as part of the newly announced season.

Set It Off, the Tampa, Florida, band whose song "Fake Ass Friends" hit No. 15 on Billboard's Hard Rock chart last year, will perform at the venue on Dec. 6, it was announced.

“Tony n Tina’s Wedding,” which had popular runs at Musikfest Café at ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem from 2012-17, will perform one night only Aug. 22 at Bear Creek Mountain Resort.

The Bacon Brothers, which features acclaimed actor Kevin Bacon with his brother Michael, will kick off the new season Sept. 7. And Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience will follow Sept. 12, with the Academy Award-winner on stage, narrating a cinematic journey through the heart of the Mississippi Delta, where the Blues was born.