BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Pop-rock group Walk The Moon's concert on Aug. 4 at Musikfest will be the last chance you'll get to see them perform in a long time, the band says.
The group, best known for its 2014 hit "Shut Up and Dance," on Friday announced it will take an indefinite hiatus after playing the four remaining shows it has scheduled — the next of which is Musikfest.
- Pop-rock group Walk The Moon, which will headline Musikfest on Aug. 4, has announced it will go on an indefinite hibernation after it plays its four currently scheduled shows, including Muikfest
- The group made the announcement in a message on its YouTube channel
- Tickets to the Musikfest show remain available at www.Musikfest.org.
"Hello, Walk The Moon family," frontman/singer Nicholas Petricca says in a message posted on the band's YouTube channel titled "Announcing Our Hibernation," in which he says he's speaking for himself, drummer Sean Waugaman and bassist Eli Maiman in a "message directly from our heart."
"We are announcing our hibernation. The time has come for us to take a good long break from touring and making records together. "Walk The Moon singer Nicholas Petricca
"We are announcing our hibernation. The time has come for us to take a good long break from touring and making records together. When we do reconvene, that will be a glorious day. And the truth is, we don't know when that's gonna be."
Just three shows after Musikfest
After the band plays Musikfest, it has only shows in Levis, Canada, on Aug. 5; Arcadia, Wisconsin, on Aug. 12; and then is slated to play SEMA Fest in Las Vegas on Nov. 3-4.
"As we share this announcement with you, we are filled with love, gratitude, appreciation and some heartache, contemplating just how many shows we've played together, how many miles we've traveled, how many of our dreams have literally come true, how our lives have transformed.
“It’s a choice we made powerfully to follow our truth, to make space for new creations, for family, to serve our well-being and, in the long run, even serve the well-being of our community… to hopefully come back one day stronger than before.”Walk The Moon singer Nicholas Petricca
"How in this time we’ve grown up together as brothers, as artists, as human beings and with so many of you.”
He notes that this summer will mark 18 years since he started the band – half his life ago, he notes. The other members have been in the band for a dozen years.
“It is an enormous act of love to carefully lift something like this from the center of our lives and place it gently to the side, out of focus, and let it rest for a moment," Petricca says, frequently stopping as his voice breaks.
“It’s a choice we made powerfully to follow our truth, to make space for new creations, for family, to serve our well-being and, in the long run, even serve the well-being of our community and, in the long run, to even serve the well-being of Walk The Moon.
"Like hibernation, to hopefully come back one day stronger than before.”
Petricca says that because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the band from taking a tenth-anniversary tour, it will livestream the final show of the tour 'to share with everyone. Details to come."
He also says the band has new music — "something to celebrate our time together and the road ahead" — for which he also asks listeners to stay tuned.
He also says he's "creating a solo project universe, so keep your ears perked."
Played Lehigh Valley early in its career
Walk The Moon released its first album, “I Want! I Want!” in 2010, but didn’t find success until its 2012 self-titled second album, which hit the Top 10 on the Alternative chart and had the platinum, Top 20 Rock chart hit "Anna Sun."
The group played at Allentown's Crocodile Rock Cafe in 2012.
But the band had its biggest success with its 2013 third album, "Talking is Hard." That disc went to No. 1 on the Alternative chart and Top 15 on the overall chart and sold platinum.
It also produced the hit "Shut Up and Dance," which sold five times platinum and topped the Rock chart.
In 2015, the group was nominated for the American Music Award for New Artist of the Year, Favorite Pop Rock Band and Favorite Artist. "Shut Up and Dance" won Billboard Awards for Top Radio Song and Top Rock Song.
The band followed that with the 2017 album "What If Nothing," which peaked at No. 3 on the Alternative chart and had the gold, Top 5 Alternative hit "One Foot."
The group's latest album was 2021's "Heights."
Tickets to the Musikfest show, at $25-$79, remain available at www.Musikfest.org and, in fact, some are on sale for $25 without related fees until 11:59 p.m. today, Saturday, July 15, at www.musikfest.org/sale/.
