Arts & Entertainment

Musikfest 2013 Starts Friday: 300 Free Shows

Check out Patch's guide to Bethlehem's Musikfest 2013, which starts Friday.

When Lunic, an all-female electro indie pop band from New York, plays its first notes 4 p.m. Friday on a stage in front of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, the 30th annual Musikfest will get under way.

When the official opening ceremonies begin two hours later, the 10-day festival will be in full swing with shows starting or under way at seven other stages in North and South Bethlehem.

John Gorka, the man who played the very first notes at the very first Musikfest in 1984, will be among those on stage for the opening ceremony. The national folk music star, a one-time Moravian College student who—according to local legend—for a time lived in the basement of Godfrey Daniels on W. Fourth Street, will perform a free concert later that night at Liederplatz—the courtyard behind the Sun Inn.

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More Musikfest Tips

The Music

Gorka’s performance will be one of about 300 free shows on 13 stages that will take place over the course of the festival.

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Musikfest is the largest ungated free music festival in the country. All but 10 of the festival’s performances are free to attend.

The only shows that are not free are at the Sands Steel Stage, a temporary amphitheater set up in an asphalt lot just west of the old Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces, where national recording artists will play nightly.

The headlining performers for Musikfest 2013 are:

·  Carly Rae Jepsen—Aug. 2

·  OneRepublic with Mayer Hawthorne and Churchill—Aug. 3

·  Skillet, We As Human, Decyfer Down, Thousand Foot Krutch—Aug.4

·  Frampton’s Guitar Circus, featuring Peter Frampton, B.B. King and Sonny Landreth—Aug. 5

·  George Thorogood & The Destroyers and Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes—Aug. 6

·  Styx and Foreigner—Aug. 7

·  KC and the Sunshine Band and The Family Stone—Aug. 8

·  Darius Rucker—Aug. 9

·  Ke$ha—Aug. 10

·  Avenged Sevenfold—Aug. 11

As represented in the main stage acts, the festival as a whole features a wide variety of musical genres, including country, Celtic, rock, blues, jazz and polka. There’s something for just about everyone. Check the Musikfest Website for full schedules.

North and South

Many of the stages have the word “platz”—the German word for “place”—at the end of their names, a nod to Bethlehem’s German roots.

The festival is divided between venues north and south of the Lehigh River. Find festival maps here.

Musikfest runs a North South Shuttle bus that runs back and forth. ArtsQuest members, volunteers and those who paid to ride the shuttles from Martin Tower and RMS ride free. Otherwise the cost is $3.

Patrons can also use the LANTA Bethlehem Loop bus that will run every 15 minutes between the transportation center at Broad and Guetter streets, SteelStacks and the Sands Bethlehem Casino during festival evenings and on the weekends. It costs $2 per ride or you can buy an all-day pass for $4. Seniors ride LANTA free.

South Side Venues

The south side venues are concentrated at a developing arts campus around the Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces. That includes the Sands Steel Stage, TD Bank Community Stage, andAmericaplatz (the Levitt Pavilion). The Jazz Cabaret Stage, Lyrikplatz and the PNC Series at Musikfest Café are all inside the ArtsQuest Center.

These venues are open from 4 or 5 p.m. until midnight—1 a.m. on the weekends.

North Side Venues

The north side venues are mostly concentrated along the Monocacy Creek in an area that extends from Johnston Park through the 18th Century Moravian Industrial Quarter under the Hill-to-Hill Bridge to nearly Sand Island.

That includes Volksplatz, Festplatz, Plaza Tropical, Banana Island and Handwerkplatz. After opening night, these venues are open from noon to 11 p.m. through the festival (except Banana Island, which closes at 8).

Handwerkplatz hosts more than 40 artisans and crafters and “Cast in Bronze,” commonly known as “that masked bell guy.” The man in the mask is Frank DellaPenna and what he plays is a four-ton portable carillon with 35 tuned bells.

New this year is that Banana Island—the kid-centric Musikfest “platz” will no longer host musical acts. Instead, ArtsQuest has added four new rides—giving the venue a total of nine. The cost of the rides vary, but a $15 daily pass is available on festival Monday to Thursday between noon and 5 p.m.

The festival also extends east to historic Main Street, which is closed to traffic from late afternoon to about 11 p.m. every night of the festival.

There’s a stage for some lesser-known musical acts on the street as well as a performance area often occupied by buskers who work for tips.

Just off of Main Street, is Liederplatz, a popular stage in the courtyard behind the historic Sun Inn. The venue operates from 5 to 11 p.m. nightly.

For a slightly different Musikfest experience, there are nightly chamber and classical music concerts at the Central Moravian Church and the Central Moravian Church Old Chapel from Aug. 5 through Aug. 9.

Getting There/Parking

Generally, Musikfest patrons are advised not to drive to the festival areas and that’s pretty good advice, especially if you are heading to the South Bethlehem venues where public parking during the festival is in acutely short supply.

But there are several remote parking options.

You can park at Martin Tower and ride a shuttle that drops you between Banana Island and Plaza Tropical for $4, roundtrip. The fare also includes access to a North South Transfer Shuttles that can take you to South Bethlehem venues.

You can park at the new RMS lot at 240 Emery St. in South Bethlehem. A $4 ticket will get you a round trip to SteelStacks and access to the North South Transfer Shuttle. That lot doesn’t open until 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, however.

You can also ride LANTA to the festivalwith parking options at the Westgate Mall, the Bethlehem Square Mall, the Creekside Shopping Center in Hellertown or the William Penn Highway and Route 33 Park & Ride.

LANTA costs $2 per ride or $4 for an all-day pass. Seniors ride LANTA free.

If you insist on driving in, there are parking options on the north side with parking decks on North Street and Walnut Street, which can be appealing if you plan to spend time on Main Street or at Liederplatz.

Typically, there are also seasonal entrepreneurs who will allow you to park on their lot for a price.

A word of caution about on-street parking: If you don’t feed meters, have the proper permits or park your vehicle in an illegal space, the Bethlehem Parking Authority will enforce its rules aggressively. Don’t be surprised to find a ticket on your windshield when you get back from the party.

The Food

Musikfest veterans know that the festival is nearly as much about the food as it is about the music. Food and drink is available at pretty much every platz.

Tacos, gyros, pizza, burgers, sausages, cheese steaks, crab cakes, barbecue, ice cream, strudel—whatever you have a hankering for, you can probably find it somewhere at Musikfest—along with an assortment of sodas and draft beers.

In most of the platzes (except for inside the ArtsQuest Center) the food and drink is sold using a ticket system.

Tickets are worth 50 cents each. They are sold in perforated blocks of 20 tickets at every venue.

An evening of eating at Musikfest can add up in terms of cost, but don’t forget that food ticket sales help to pay for all the free music at the festival.

The Beer Mug

Like any other festival, souvenirs are also a part of the scene. The most emblematic of souvenirs at Musikfest is the insulated, plastic, decorative, covered beer mug. A new one is issued every year, featuring that year’s official poster artwork. This year's mug costs $10 and will be available at souvenir stands throughout the festival.

The mugs keep your beer cold and spill-resistant in a crowd. They entitle you to a slight discount on every beer purchased at festival beverage tents and they reduce waste. Some local bars around the city also offer specials—offering low-cost refills of your favorite draught during the festival.


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