Musikfest headliners tie record 4 sellouts. Did weather or country music make the difference?

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — As Musikfest closed Sunday night with a headline concert by The Black Keys, this year's success of its main Steel Stage already had been noted.

ArtsQuest Director of Communications Jennifer LoConte posted on Facebook on Saturday night that country music singer Jordan Davis had sold out Musikfest's main Steel Stage on Saturday night.

That gave Musikfest four sold-out headline shows (The Black Keys didn't sell out Sunday night).

Previous sellouts this year were Megan Moroney on Preview Night, July 31; Riley Green on opening night, Aug. 1; and Darius Rucker on Aug. 3.

That tied a record set last year, when four headliners also sold out Steel Stage. They were rockers Greta Van Fleet and Shinedown, country chart-toppers Old Dominion and rapper Ludacris.

That beat the previous record of three in 2017 with Santana, Chicago and Toby Keith.

The main stage attendance was an indication of how good the weather was for Musikfest this year. Only one day — Preview Night — saw rain, but it passed without threatening the main stage.

Musikfest has not released overall attendance and other details of how well it did this year; it typically does so on the Tuesday after the festival.

Last year, extreme heat and days of rain meant Musikfest's attendance for its 41st run was down more than 23% off 2023's record crowds.

Record attendance for Musikfest remains at 1,330,000 for 2023.

But Musikfest last year said it still had record crowds for its headline Steel Stage, in addition to the most sold-out headline shows in its history.

That seemingly is likely to improve this year, as the festival saw perfect temperatures without precipitation, save for light sprinkles on Preview Night.

‘In love with country music’

This year's four main-stage sellouts also was a confirmation of how well country music shows sell at Musikfest.

All of the sellouts were country.

Moroney became the first sellout more than a week before her show, Green sold out days later and Rucker and Davis apparently completed their sellout during Musikfest.

It's a stunning turnaround for Musikfest, which for much of its 42-year history offered only one country act a year — Martina McBride in 2003 and 2010, Keith Urban in 2005, Trace Adkins in 2006, Big & Rich in 2007 and Lonestar in 2008.

Musikfest seemed to turn a corner on country in 2013, when it booked Darius Rucker, who gave the festival its only sellout that year.

Then in 2014, country singer Keith Urban also was the only sellout, as well as giving Musikfest its then-earliest sellout (by early February).

Rucker again was the festival’s only sellout in 2015, and Lady Antebellum its only sellout in 2019.

In 2017, Musikfest sent out a message on its Twitter account: “Bethlehem will feel a little like Nashville this summer.” It was referring to the three country music acts who would take the stage that year.

“I would say success begets investment,” ArtsQuest Chief Programming Officer Patrick Brogan said in recent years. “We have seen the success in country.”

Nationwide, country music is the most popular format among American adults. Its 15.2 percent radio market share is nearly double Top 40 (8 percent) and adult contemporary (7.6 percent).

“Mainstream America is in love with country music, and corporate America has noticed,” Gary Overton, chairman of Sony Music Nashville, told Billboard magazine.

The main-stage tickets record Musikfest set last year was 54,786 tickets to its 11 shows on Steel Stage — an almost 8% increase from the previous record set in 2011, the first year that the festival included the Steel Stage on the SteelStacks campus.

But Steel Stage that year had a larger capacity, with 7,200 seats.