Yes, yes we know. Selena Gomez tickets are sold out. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great time at Musikfest.
The annual music festival in Bethlehem, Pa. kicked off Friday and runs through August 15.
There are 324 performing artists at this year’s ‘Fest. Yes, over 300 performances -- that means over 30 shows a day.
And the best part? Most of them are free. There are 14 stages, called ‘platzes’ and 11 of them are free.
Musikfest is basically an all-you-can eat, weeklong buffet of music, dripping with yummy, melodic goodness. Check out this website by ArtsQuest (the presenters of Musikfest) which highlight’s upcoming performing artists and can’t-miss shows. They even give away free MP3’s of select bands.
With only seven days left to take it all in, you might need some help with where to get started. So we put together a little cheat-sheet for you:
Amped Up! The "Musikfest's got-battle-of-the-think-you-can-idol-band-quest" was an online competition across the country where bands could compete for a chance to play at Musikfest. ArtsQuest picked 10 bands, and the fans chose three: Panic Years, The Atomic Square, and The Hide and Seek Effect will perform on Monday August 9.
Every year Musikfest brings in tons of aspiring artists hoping to get a chance to showcase their talent. So make a point to head over to the Martin Guitar Lyrikplatz. It's the venue created to give aspiring artists their time to shine. The space is intimate, and it’s the perfect place for music lovers to get to see some quality performing artists give it all they’ve got. Find your away around Musikfest with this map. And check out the full line-up and the week’s schedule of events.
The Eric Mintel Quartet returns after two years. They're at the Banana Island stage Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. performing a mix of great jazz from their new CD, "Ground Breaker" and selections from "A Tribute to Dave Brubeck."
Of course, there are a lot of great performing artists you can pay to see, including Sublime with Rome.The band that epitomizes summer anthems is back and they’re bringing a new front man with them. Unfortunately, there are not any lawn seats left, but you can still swipe these tickets to see the band play along with The Dirty Heads on August 15.
Other headliners include: Lynyrd Skynyrd (lawn tickets left), Heart, The Doobie Brothers, Styx with Blue Oyster Cult and Adam Lambert.
You can rock out all day long (noon to 11 p.m.) until Aug. 15.
