Community Corner
Your Weekend: Musikfest Highlights
The 30th Musikfest gets under way Friday night with performances by Carly Rae Jepsen and John Gorka.
5 Tips for Your Musikfest Visit
The Weather: Friday night will be partly cloudy with temperatures falling from about 80 degrees to the 60s. Saturday calls for a 50 percent chance of rain, maybe a thunderstorm, with a high about 80 degrees and an evening low in the 60s.
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The Headliners: Pop star Carly Rae Jepsen, best known for “Call Me Maybe” at 8:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets, $39 and $29. Alt rockers OneRepublic, best known for “Apologize” and “Stop and Stare,” with Churchill and Mayer Hawthorne at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets $49 and $39.
The Highlight: Folk music luminary John Gorka, who played the first notes at the first Musikfest in 1984, returns Friday for both opening ceremonies and a free show at Liederplatz (the Sun Inn Courtyard) at 9 p.m. Opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. at Americaplatz (the Levitt Pavilion at SteelStacks) will also feature special tributes to two recently deceased supporters of ArtsQuest and Musikfest—John Walson Jr. of Service Electric and Marlene “Linny” Fowler.
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For the Little Ones: Banana Island hosts the Musikfest 30th Birthday Party from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, the craft theme is “Safari.” Steve Pullara and His Cool Beans Band plays at nearby Plaza Tropical from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The Classical Musikfest: Vagabond Opera blends Bohemian cabaret with neo-classical opera at Volksplatz from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday and noon to 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Mary Ellen’s Celtic Corner: The O’Grady Quinlan Academy of Irish Dance steps its way into your heart from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Volksplatz. OCEAN Celtic, an orchestral folk and Celtic band, takes the Volksplatz stage from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Back by Popular Demand: The Lehigh Valley’s own blues prodigy Eric Steckel plays at Americaplatz at 9 p.m. Friday and Liederplatz at 9 p.m. Saturday. Siberian surfers The Red Elvises make their annual pilgrimage to Bethlehem from Venice, Calif., starting with a Saturday, 9 p.m. show at Volksplatz. The Craig Thatcher Band plays the blues and classic rock Saturday at 9 p.m. at Americaplatz.
The Best of the Free Platzes: We’ve already mentioned the great John Gorka at Liederplatz at 9 p.m. Friday. Our other recommendations would include the raucous Gas House Gorillas, who play jump blues, gypsy swing and early rock n’ roll with New York attitude at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Musikfest Café. Downstairs at Lyrikplatz in the Banko at 9 p.m. Saturday is Bucks County’s own Gina Sicilia, a blues singer/songwriter who is well worth your time.
The Late Night Musikfest: This year, the SteelStacks campus keeps swinging until 1 a.m. on festival weekends. On Friday night, you can dance to rock ‘n’ roll oldies with The Fabulous Greaseband at the Musikfest Café starting at 10 p.m.; hear contemporary pop singer Heather Friedman sing at the Community Stage in front of the ArtsQuest Center starting at 11 p.m.; or laugh at the improvisational comedy of Mandudebro at the Banko starting at 11:15.
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