ArtsQuest Announces FINAL Musikfest 2024 Headliner
Welcoming Sugar Ray and Tonic to the Wind Creek Steel Stage
Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley, PA., April 30, 2024 – ArtsQuest is excited to announce the final Musikfest 2024 headliner, Sugar Ray and Tonic, will be taking on the Wind Creek Steel Stage at PNC Plaza on Friday, August 2. This Musikfest headliner is presented by 100.7, WLEV.
Ticket access begins today at 10 a.m. for ArtsQuest Circle Members and Wednesday, May 1 at 10 a.m. for ArtsQuest Steel and Gold Members. On Friday, May 3, ticket access will open up to the general public at musikfest.org. Ticket prices run from $25 to $75. Steel Terrace tickets include dinner, drinks and dessert at private tables under a covered tent and are $194. For more exclusive ticket access and advanced purchase opportunities, become an ArtsQuest Circle donor today. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and the show kicks off at 7 p.m.
Sugar Ray is a rock band from Orange County, California. The band formed in 1992 with the name Shrinky Dinx, later changing it to Sugar Ray after the boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. They were originally a funk metal band, however new releases have found them venturing into other genres, like pop rock. Sugar Ray’s first mainstream hit came in the summer of 1997 with their song “Fly,” which was released on the album Floored and featured notable reggae artist Super Cat. 21 years down the road, Post Malone incorporated “Fly” in “Sugar Wraith” on the triple-platinum Beerbongs & Bentleys. Helmed by GRAMMY Award-winning producer David Kahne, Floored earned the band’s first gold plaque and eventually went double-platinum. Two years later, 14:59 bowed in the Top 20 of the Billboard Top 200, went triple-platinum and gave us “Someday,” “Falls Apart” and their second #1 “Every Morning.” In 2001, Sugar Ray crashed the Top 200 at #6 as “When It’s Over” staked out a spot on the charts. It added another platinum plaque to their walls. Enjoying a renaissance, Sugar Ray headlined the Under the Sun Tour 2013-2015. They inked a deal with BMG in 2019 and dropped their seventh full-length, Lil Yachty. In addition to features from Rolling Stone and Billboard, NPR claimed, “The Newport Beach natives returned to their signature uplifting and airy rock sound.” It only set the stage for more touring and music. No matter how much everything changes, we’ve got Sugar Ray forever. Having performed at Musikfest in 2000, we are very excited to be welcoming the band back to the festival on the Wind Creek Steel Stage.
The story of Tonic revolves around the longstanding, close brotherhood shared among members Emerson Hart, Jeff Russo and Dan Lavery. Since 1996, the GRAMMY Award-nominated multi-platinum trio has consistently delivered anthemic and undeniable rock fashioned from eloquent songcraft, lyrical honesty and unshakable melodies. Along the way, they translated true experiences and real memories into a storied catalog that resounds as loudly today as it did over two decades ago. To date, the band has landed six Top 10 singles, sold 4 million-plus records and garnered a pair of GRAMMY Award nominations. Their full-length debut, Lemon Parade, not only went platinum, but it also yielded the “#1 Most-Played Rock Song of 1997” in the form of the lead single “If You Could Only See.” The band’s follow-up single, “You Wanted More,” served as the lead-off from the platinum Original Soundtrack Album for American Pie and the second full-length, Sugar. In between a marathon of touring, they released Head on Straight in 2002. The single “Take Me as I Am” received a GRAMMY Award nomination in the category of “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” as the album vied for “Best Rock Album”—only to lose to Bruce Springsteen. After a five-year hiatus, the three-piece returned to the charts on the heels of Tonic in 2010, landing in the Top 50 of the Billboard Top Rock Albums Chart and Top 25 of the Billboard Top Independent Albums Chart. Following a successful Pledge Music campaign, they re-recorded the seminal Lemon Parade acoustically for 2016’s Lemon Parade Revisited.
About Musikfest
A record-breaking 1,330,000 people attended Musikfest in 2023. The 11-day festival featured over 500 free performances, across 16 stages located throughout the City of Bethlehem. The 41st Musikfest is scheduled for Aug. 2 – 11, 2024, with a special preview night on Aug. 1. This year’s Musikfest 2024 poster artist is Banana Factory Artist-in-Residence and Teaching Artist, Lauren Beck.
About ArtsQuest
ArtsQuest’s mission is to provide access to exceptional artistic, cultural and educational experiences using arts and culture as key elements of economic development for our urban communities. ArtsQuest™ supports this mission via the presentation of performing and visual arts, film, arts education classes and outreach, youth programming and cultural events. Through festivals such as its flagship event, Musikfest; the Banana Factory Arts Center; and the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks arts and cultural campus, ArtsQuest’s programming reaches more than 1.9 million people annually. The organization’s programs and events, of which over 50% are free to attend, have a combined economic impact of more than $136 million annually in the region.
