BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A new one-day music festival that will showcase eight Lehigh Valley-connected musical acts will be part of the Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks summer season.
Sounds of the Underground, at 7:30 p.m. June 21, will be presented by Underground Music Collective, a multimedia platform started by former Lehigh Valley resident Gerard Longo, along with the Valley's "Your Next Favorite Band" podcast.
In addition to performances on the Levitt stage, the event will spill over to finish at the Community Stage on the Air Products Town Square.
"Bring your lawn chair, grab a spot and join us in Bethlehem on the first Friday of summer."Underground Music Collective founder Gerard Longo
"Underground Music Collective ... will return to our homeland of Bethlehem, PA for a summertime party unlike any we’ve ever thrown," Longo says on the Underground Music Collective website.
"Bring your lawn chair, grab a spot and join us in Bethlehem on the first Friday of summer."
As are all concerts that are part of the Levitt summer season, Sounds of the Underground will be free and for all ages.
The performer lineup(s)
The evening will kick off at 7:30 p.m. with a Nashville-style songwriters round on Levitt Pavilion stage, "where you will get to experience a variety of genres, from folk and Americana, to indie rock and hip hop," Longo said.
Performers will be:
- Folk singer-songwriter Alex Radus, who has been a nationally touring musician, singing in a duo that opened for folk legend Richie Havens.
- Bren, and indie-alternative singer/songwriter with a sultry voice and edgy sound who released her new EP, "Too Late for Flowers," in August.
- Multi-genre artist Chelsea Mitchell of the Philadelphia-based band Dirty Dollhouse.
- Greg Adams of alt-rock band TIOGA.
- Hip-hop/alternative duo Kuf Knotz & Christine Elise.
- Blues/rock/soul act Tye Vallone & Brie Emsee of The Groove Merchants.
The event then will continue at 9 p.m. on the Community Stage with The Beautiful Distortion, which with its harmony-heavy melodic rock (think Alice In Chains meets Fleetwood Mac), won WZZO-FM’s Backyard Bands Competition in 2016 and Lehigh Valley Music Awards for Best New Band in 2017 and Best Loud Rock Band in 2018.
Closing the night will be Radus alt-rock project, Hot4Robot.
The Underground Music story
Longo said Sounds of the Underground is a sequel to the Nashville Meets Bethlehem songwriters round that Underground Music Collective held at the ArtsQuest Center in November.
"That event was an opportunity to showcase the songs and stories of some of our home region's most notable songwriting talents, while borrowing the writers round concept, innovated in our current home of Nashville," he said.
"Much like its predecessor, Sounds of the Underground is meant to put a spotlight of the vast songwriting talent of eastern Pennsylvania."Underground Music Collective founder Gerard Longo
Its success prompted Levitt SteelStacks Executive Director Shayna Super to suggest a similar concept could work well on Levitt, Longo said.
"Much like its predecessor, Sounds of the Underground is meant to put a spotlight of the vast songwriting talent of eastern Pennsylvania," Longo said.
With "Your Next Favorite Band" founder Philip Reese, he said, they put together "a lineup that is both diverse in style and rich in talent."
"To have the opportunity to produce an event on Levitt is, quite literally, a dream come true," said Longo, who started Underground Music Collective in Bethlehem as the regional music blog Lehigh Valley Underground in 2016.
He moved to Nashville in 2018.
"I started working as part-time event staff at ArtsQuest in 2014," he said. "In those early days, I remember looking around campus, wondering what it would take to work with ArtsQuest to produce an event of this magnitude.
"I'm incredibly grateful for my ArtsQuest family. ... I can't wait to share this full-circle experience with everyone back home."
