Music

Boogie-rocking band ZZ Top will return to Bethlehem’s Musikfest, it was just announced Monday.

Top reggaeton Jowell and Randy will perform on Musikfest's main Steel Stage at 7 p.m. Aug. 4.

More than 250 students will perform this weekend at Lehigh Valley Mall. The Lehigh Valley Music Teachers Association's 42nd annual Playathon fundraiser continues Sunday.

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Parliament-Funkadelic dominated R&B music during the 1970s, with more than 40 R&B hit singles, including three No. 1s, and three platinum albums.

Big Time Rush will perform at 7 p.m. Aug. 9, the festival announced.

Shinedown, best known for its 2000s songs "Second Chance," "Sound of Madness" and "If You Only Knew," will headline Musikfest's Steel Stage on Aug. 3, it was announced.

John Legend, best known for his 14-times platinum No. 1 hit “All of Me” from 2013, will perform “A Night of Songs and Stories” at 8 p.m. June 22 at Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem.

The group moe., which has played at most every summer jam festival, including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Japan’s Fuji Rock and even the 30th anniversary of Woodstock in 1999, will perform at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 10.

The group, which over a career of nearly 60 years has released 22 gold or platinum albums, and which, according to Billboard magazine, is the most successful American band in history, will perform 7:30 p.m. June 27 at Easton’s State Theater.

Wheatus, best known for its 2000 single “Teenage Dirtbag,” will perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 in Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, it was announced.

The celebration of the Isla del Encanto in Allentown was organized by the Puertorrican Culture Preservation and held on Sunday, July 28.

Musikfest 2024 begins with a preview night on Thursday. The 11-day festival will feature more than 422 artists and more than 500 concerts. Headliners include Greta Van Fleet, ZZ Top, Ludacris and Jowell & Randy.

College Hill PorchFest, a celebration of music and community across the Easton neighborhood, will return in September, with applications for performers and porches being accepted until July 31.

Tickets for the 50 shows in the new season go on sale to theater members at 10 a.m. Aug. 1 and to the public at 10 a.m. Aug. 8 at www.statetheatre.org, or at the box office at 453 Northampton St., Easton.

Erica Silver, a music teacher with the Allentown School District, is the youth chorale's newest conductor and Alaina Swartz is the new director of education and community engagement.

Diana Ross, who with The Supremes had a dozen No. 1 hits in the 1960s, then a half dozen more as a solo artist in the 1970s and ’80s, will perform at the center at 8 p.m. Oct. 18.

ArtsQuest, in partnership with Trans-Bridge Lines and Penn State University, on Monday announced a new satellite parking lot will be established at Penn State Lehigh Valley.

The opening night (the fest continues 2-11 p.m. today) offered New York gospel-blues trio The Harlem Gospel Travelers as headliners, and they offered an enthusiastic set. But it was some of the supporting acts that elevated the experience.

Cheap Trick, which was to be the opener for a show by rock band Heart, was announced Friday as the replacement for Heart as grandstand opening-night headliner at 7 p.m. Aug. 28. It will be joined for the show by another 1970s hit rock group — Blue Oyster Cult, best known for its 1976 hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."

It's been two weeks since rock band Heart canceled its opening-night headline concert at Allentown Fair, and it looks like the fair is set to announce a replacement.

For the first time, the two-day festival will feature a barbecue competition, along with 11 blues performers. It will take place Friday, July 19 and Saturday, July 20 at SteelStacks.