Arts & Entertainment

Musikfest 2013 Starts Friday: 300 Free Shows in Bethlehem

Headliners include: Carly Rae Jepsen, OneRepublic, Styx and Foreigner, Ke$ha, KC and the Sunshine Band and The Family Stone and Darius Rucker.

By Daryl Nerl

When Lunic, an all-female electro indie pop band from New York, plays its first notes 4 p.m. Friday on a stage in front of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, the 30th annual Musikfest will get under way.

When the official opening ceremonies begin two hours later, the 10-day festival will be in full swing with shows starting or under way at seven other stages in North and South Bethlehem.

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John Gorka, the man who played the very first notes at the very first Musikfest in 1984, will be among those on stage for the opening ceremony. The national folk music star, a one-time Moravian College student who—according to local legend—for a time lived in the basement of Godfrey Daniels on W. Fourth Street, will perform a free concert later that night at Liederplatz—the courtyard behind the Sun Inn.

The Music

Gorka’s performance will be one of about 300 free shows on 13 stages that will take place over the course of the festival.

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Musikfest is the largest ungated free music festival in the country. All but 10 of the festival’s performances are free to attend.

The only shows that are not free are at the Sands Steel Stage, a temporary amphitheater set up in an asphalt lot just west of the old Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces, where national recording artists will play nightly.

The headlining performers for Musikfest 2013 are:

  • Carly Rae Jepsen—Aug. 2
  • OneRepublic with Mayer Hawthorne and Churchill—Aug. 3
  • Skillet, We As Human, Decyfer Down, Thousand Foot Krutch—Aug.4
  • Frampton’s Guitar Circus, featuring Peter Frampton, B.B. King and Sonny Landreth—Aug. 5
  • George Thorogood & The Destroyers and Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes—Aug. 6
  • Styx and Foreigner—Aug. 7
  • KC and the Sunshine Band and The Family Stone—Aug. 8
  • Darius Rucker—Aug. 9
  • Ke$ha—Aug. 10
  • Avenged Sevenfold—Aug. 11
Want to know more, like information on the stages, venues, getting there, parking, food and drink? Check out the complete Musikfest Guide on Bethlehem Patch.


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