Music

Rain stayed away to the delight of visitors on Musikfest Preview Night. The 10-day, free music festival celebrates its 42nd year in Bethlehem.

If you come to the SteelStacks campus tonight for Preview Night of Musikfest's 42nd year and don't see any outdoor free stage performances, it's because they've been moved.

Here are music acts you should see today, Thursday, July 31, on Preview Night for Musikfest 2025.

Here's what you need to know about Musikfest 2025, which runs from Thursday, July 31 to Sunday, Aug. 10, in Bethlehem.

5XW Wrestling will make its Lehigh Valley debut at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9 at Country Club Brewing with an outdoor parking lot party that also will include bands, drinks, food and a party DJ.

Guster, with opening act The Mountain Goats, 6 p.m. today, July 29, Archer Music Hall, 939 Hamilton St., Allentown. Tickets $68.50 general admission standing, available at www.archermusichall.com or at the box office.

Here are our Top 6 main Steel Stage shows at Musikfest, which opens with a preview night Thursday, July 31.

Beatles tribute act Rain performing a Christmas tribute at 8 p.m. Dec. 5.

Country music hitmaker Riley Green has no tickets left for his Aug. 1 Steel Stage concert, Musikfest presenters ArtsQuest said on its Facebook page.

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.

Joe Russo's Almost Dead is led by Russo, who was drummer in the Grateful Dead splinter group Furthur with Dead guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh.

There will be two “Twist & Shout” Musikfest Sunday Brunches in Hotel Bethlehem's Grand Ballroom — Aug. 4 and Aug. 11.

Wheatus, best known for its 2000 single “Teenage Dirtbag,” will perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 in Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, it was announced.

The celebration of the Isla del Encanto in Allentown was organized by the Puertorrican Culture Preservation and held on Sunday, July 28.

Musikfest 2024 begins with a preview night on Thursday. The 11-day festival will feature more than 422 artists and more than 500 concerts. Headliners include Greta Van Fleet, ZZ Top, Ludacris and Jowell & Randy.

College Hill PorchFest, a celebration of music and community across the Easton neighborhood, will return in September, with applications for performers and porches being accepted until July 31.

Tickets for the 50 shows in the new season go on sale to theater members at 10 a.m. Aug. 1 and to the public at 10 a.m. Aug. 8 at www.statetheatre.org, or at the box office at 453 Northampton St., Easton.

Erica Silver, a music teacher with the Allentown School District, is the youth chorale's newest conductor and Alaina Swartz is the new director of education and community engagement.

Diana Ross, who with The Supremes had a dozen No. 1 hits in the 1960s, then a half dozen more as a solo artist in the 1970s and ’80s, will perform at the center at 8 p.m. Oct. 18.

ArtsQuest, in partnership with Trans-Bridge Lines and Penn State University, on Monday announced a new satellite parking lot will be established at Penn State Lehigh Valley.

The opening night (the fest continues 2-11 p.m. today) offered New York gospel-blues trio The Harlem Gospel Travelers as headliners, and they offered an enthusiastic set. But it was some of the supporting acts that elevated the experience.

Cheap Trick, which was to be the opener for a show by rock band Heart, was announced Friday as the replacement for Heart as grandstand opening-night headliner at 7 p.m. Aug. 28. It will be joined for the show by another 1970s hit rock group — Blue Oyster Cult, best known for its 1976 hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."