Music

With Allentown Fair opening its 173rd year today, music critic John J. Moser has 25 years of reviewing grandstand shows behind him. These are the best he's seen, ranked in order.

Heart will perform a grandstand show at 7 p.m. Aug. 27 on the opening night of Allentown Fair. Tickets remain available.

The new Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Regional Music Awards has an official website, and is taking nominations for its first ceremony later this year.

The Struts performed Wednesday night at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks. The focus of the concert was a celebration of the 10th anniversary U.S. release of their debut album, "Everybody Wants."

Cheap Trick, which had its first hit with “Surrender” in 1978 and 10 years later had its biggest hit with “The Flame,” will perform Oct. 22. And Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, with his Led Zeppelin Evening will perform Nov. 15.

The Struts stop at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks for a paid-ticket show in which it will play the entire album, as well as other songs.

Emblem3, best known for the 2013 song "Chloe (You're the One I Want)," will perform in Archer's Arrow room at 7 p.m. Nov. 14, it was announced.

Neko Case, who has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and also is a member of the high-charting Canadian power pop super group The New Pornographers, will perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 17.

Singer Gladys Knight, who from 1967 to 1991 had nearly three-dozen Top 10 hits in the soul and R&B charts, will perform at Wind Creek Event Center at 8 p.m. Dec. 4. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 15.

Here's a breakdown of our rankings for the best main Steel Stage shows for the 11 nights of Musikfest 2025 in Bethlehem.

More than 250 students will perform this weekend at Lehigh Valley Mall. The Lehigh Valley Music Teachers Association's 42nd annual Playathon fundraiser continues Sunday.

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

Parliament-Funkadelic dominated R&B music during the 1970s, with more than 40 R&B hit singles, including three No. 1s, and three platinum albums.

Big Time Rush will perform at 7 p.m. Aug. 9, the festival announced.

Shinedown, best known for its 2000s songs "Second Chance," "Sound of Madness" and "If You Only Knew," will headline Musikfest's Steel Stage on Aug. 3, it was announced.

John Legend, best known for his 14-times platinum No. 1 hit “All of Me” from 2013, will perform “A Night of Songs and Stories” at 8 p.m. June 22 at Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem.

The group moe., which has played at most every summer jam festival, including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Japan’s Fuji Rock and even the 30th anniversary of Woodstock in 1999, will perform at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 10.

The group, which over a career of nearly 60 years has released 22 gold or platinum albums, and which, according to Billboard magazine, is the most successful American band in history, will perform 7:30 p.m. June 27 at Easton’s State Theater.

Toby Keith was a favorite of Lehigh Valley fans. He played at least eight headline shows here, starting in 1998 at the Allentown Fairgrounds. His last performance here was a 2021 headline show at Allentown Fair’s grandstand.

Customers can order Taylor Swift-themed chocolates and Super Bowl cakes from Vegan Treats, the popular Bethlehem bakery on Linden Street.

With its workspace drastically reduced at the proposed Bethlehem Cultural Arts Center at the current site of the Banana Factory, the Pennsylvania Youth Theatre's search for a new venue continues

By the time Allentown Fair concert tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, 141 people were in line, bundled in winter coats and many with umbrellas.