BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A comedian who helps decide America’s best talent will return to Wind Creek Event Center.
So will an English progressive rock group that in the late 1970s and early 1980s produced seven gold and platinum albums.
Howie Mandel, who since 2010 has been a judge on “America’s Got Talent,” will perform with fellow comedian Brad Garrett at 8 p.m. Aug. 24.
And Alan Parsons Live Project, which continues the work of Alan Parsons Project, will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 2.
Tickets, at $49.50-$89.50 for Mandel and Garrett and $39.50-$99.50 for Alan Parsons Live Project, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, June 27.Wind Creek Event Center website
Tickets, at $49.50-$89.50 for Mandel and Garrett and $39.50-$99.50 for Alan Parsons Live Project, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, June 27, at the event center website or at the box office at 77 Wind Creek Blvd.
Mandel since 2010 has been a judge on “America’s Got Talent.” Before that, Mandel was host of the NBC-TV game show “Deal or No Deal” from 2005-09.
Mandel first got broad attention as Dr. Wayne Fiscus on the NBC-TV drama “St. Elsewhere.” He also is well known for being the creator and star of the children’s cartoon “Bobby’s World.”
He also played the event center, when it was called Sands Bethlehem Event Center, in July 2014 and 2018.
Garrett played Robert Barone on the CBS-TV comedy series "Everybody Loves Raymond" 1996-2005 — a role for which he won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and was nominated twice more.
He also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his role as comedian Jackie Gleason in the CBS-TV movie "Gleason."
In 1984, he won Grand Champion in Comedy category on ABC-TV's "Star Search."
Alan Parsons Live Project
Alan Parsons Project from 1976-84 sold more than 5 million albums and had eight Top 40 singles including the hits “Games People Play,” “Eye in the Sky” and “Time.”
Alan Parsons Project started as a duo of Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, with a rotating lineup of supporting musicians.
Parsons was an audio engineer and record producer who was involved with significant albums that included The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be,” and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” Woolfson was a songwriter, lyricist and vocalist.
Woolfson died in 2009.
Alan Parsons Project released its debut album, “Tales of Mystery and Imagination,” in 1976, but had its U.S. breakthrough in 1977 with the album “I Robot,” which sold platinum and made the Billboard Top 10 with the Top 40 single “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You.”
Its next two albums, 1978’s “Pyramid” and 1979’s “Eve,” both sold gold, and the latter had the Top 40 song “Damned If I Do.” But the group again found success with 1980’s “The Turn of a Friendly Card,” with the Top 20 hits “Games People Play” and “Time.”
The group had its biggest success in 1982 with the Top 10 platinum album “Eye in the Sky,” with the No. 3 title track.
Alan Parsons Project continued having success with the 1984 gold album “Ammonia Avenue,” with the Top 10 Adult chart hits “Don’t Answer Me” and “Prime Time,” and the Rock chart hits “Stereotomy” and “Standing on Higher Ground.”
The group continued to release albums — 11 in all — through 1990.
After Woolfson’s death, Parsons released four solo albums, then re-activated the band to release the album “The Sicilian Defence” in 2014.
Parsons released a solo studio album, “The Secret,” in 2019 as his first in 15 years, and his most recent, "From the New World," in 2022. Also in 2022, he released a live album, "One Note Symphony — Live In Tel Aviv."
Since 2012, he also had done studio vocals for German Electronica group Lichtmond, and with YES members Billy Sherwood and Chris Squire as The Prog Collective.
Parsons has been nominated for 11 Grammy Awards.
The Alan Parsons Live Project also played the event center in November. Alan Parsons Live Project also played the venue as Sands Bethlehem Event Center in 2018.
