Music

Organized by the SouthSide Arts District, First Friday is a monthly community celebration across South Bethlehem, featuring art, live music, cultural experiences and historical attractions.

A popular retro stylist band that was among the bigger-named acts to play an early show at Allentown's new Archer Music Hall will return to the area to play Wind Creek Event Center. So will a top comedian who has been a favorite of the Lehigh Valley.

Pure Prairie League will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks in Bethlehem. It helped bring mainstream success to the country-rock and Southern Rock genres with its 1972 album "Bustin' Out," and its Top 30 hit "Aimie."

Scotty McCreery, who won “American Idol” in 2011 and since has released three No. 1 Country chart albums and two other Top 10 discs, will perform at 7 p.m. April 26, it was announced.

Bush, whose 1994 debut album “Sixteen Stone” sold six-times platinum — the band sold 10 million copies with its first three albums — will perform Friday, Feb. 20, in Bethlehem.

Two Feet, which topped the Alternative chart, will perform Sunday, April 13. And Dayseeker, which this year had the Top 10 rock hits "Crawl Back to My Coffin" and "Bloodlust," will perform Tuesday, May 6.

Let Freedom Sing, to be held at 7 p.m. May 27 at Allentown’s Coca-Cola Park, seeks to unite more than 5,000 voices from across the region for “a choral experience to the community, uniting in celebration.”

“Weird Al” Yankovic, best known for turning Michael Jackson’s 1984 hit “Beat It” into the parody “Eat It” for a Top 15 hit that was certified gold, will perform at Musikfest 2026, it was announced.

Next month, Wind Creek Event Center owner Jeff Trainer plans to open The Broken Record, a restaurant in Lower Macungie Township that will combine a broad range of food offerings with a music theme — and perhaps more.

Circle Jerks, whose 1980 album "Group Sex" is considered to be a landmark in hardcore punk, will perform at 7 p.m. March 31 at Allentown's Archer Music Hall. Gorilla Biscuits and Negative Approach, two other hardcore band from the 1980s, will open the show.

The net proceeds of the concert, "For Ukraine: A Concert of Remembrance and Hope," will be used to support Ukrainian humanitarian efforts.

The iconic Martin on Main festival is returning to historic Nazareth at noon on July 29, with two raffle prizes worth over $3,000.

Singer Tony Bennett, who died Friday just two weeks before his 97th birthday, graced the stages of the Lehigh Valley frequently in the final two decades of his performing career. And it seemed those shows often came during important moments in Bennett’s career.

David Foster and wife Katharine McPhee will perform at Wind Creek Event Center 8 p.m. May 9. Iconic English progressive rock band Yes will play at 8 p.m. Sept. 21.

The three-day festival features performances by Bywater Call, the Sensational Blues Brothers and Toronzo Cannon.

Allentown native Walt Groller learned to play the accordion at age 4 and became one of the premier polka musicians in the world.

The festival will feature an array of entertainers, artwork, games for all ages and food vendors on Saturday, July 22.

If you’re the kind of fan of brother-trio indie-pop band AJR seeking more of an experience than just seeing the guys in concert at Musikfest on Aug. 3, the Bethlehem festival has an event for you.

Walk The Moon, 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.

Indie-pop trio AJR, which will headline the main stage at Bethlehem's Musikfest festival's opening night Aug. 3, as of Wednesday was showing no seats available on the festival's ticket buying site.

"American Idol" winner David Cook, who after the show had a platinum album and two platinum singles, will perform at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem.

Morgan James will bring the modern R&B style of her new disc 'Nobody's Fool' to Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks in Bethlehem on Friday.