Rock the Night Away as ZZ TOP Closes out Musikfest 2024
Bethlehem, PA, February 26, 2024 – ArtsQuest is excited to announce ZZ TOP as the next headliner of Musikfest 2024. ZZ TOP with special guest Foghat, will perform at the Wind Creek Steel Stage at PNC Plaza on Sunday, August 11. This Musikfest headliner is presented by Capital Blue Cross along with media partner, 99.9 The Hawk.
Ticket access begins Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. for ArtsQuest Members and Friday, Feb. 29 at 10 a.m. for the general public at Musikfest.org.. Ticket prices range between $30 to $79. Steel Terrace tickets are available and will include dinner, drinks and dessert at private tables under a covered tent. For more exclusive ticket access and advanced purchase opportunities, become a ArtsQuest Circle donor today. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. Be sure to also stick around for fireworks after the concert concludes!
ZZ TOP, “That Little Ol’ Band From Texas” has been at it for well over a half century, delivering rock, blues and boogie on the road and in the studio to millions of devoted fans. With iconography as distinctive as their sound, ZZ TOP is virtually synonymous with beards, hotrod cars, spinning guitars and that magic keychain, all of which transcend geography and language.
It was in Houston in the waning days of 1969 that ZZ TOP coalesced from the core of two rival bands, Billy Gibbons’ Moving Sidewalks and Frank Beard and Dusty Hill’s American Blues. Their third album, 1973’s Tres Hombres, catapulted them to national attention with the hit “La Grange”, still one of the band’s signature pieces today. Eliminator, their 1983 album was something of a paradigm shift for ZZ TOP. Their roots blues skew was intact but added to the mix were tech-age trappings that soon found a visual outlet with such tracks as “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs” on the nascent MTV. It was one of the music industry’s first albums to have been certified Diamond, far beyond Gold and Platinum and a reflection of US domestic sales exceeding 10 million units.
The band’s line-up of the bearded Gibbons and Hill and Beard, who ironically is clean shaven, remained intact for more than 50 years until Dusty’s passing. When Dusty temporarily departed the tour in the summer of 2021, it was a given that Elwood would be the perfect choice to stand in for Dusty until he could return. But Dusty’s return was not to be, and Elwood continues to handle the bass duties for the band now and into the future.
The elements that keep ZZ TOP fresh, enduring and above the transitory fray can be summed up in the three words of the band’s internal mantra: “Tone, Taste and Tenacity.” As genuine roots musicians, they have few peers. Their influences are both the originators of the form – Muddy Waters, B.B. King, et al – as well as the British blues rockers and Jimi Hendrix who emerged the generation before ZZ’s ascendance.
They have sold hundreds of millions of records over the course of their career, have been officially designated as Heroes of The State of Texas, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (by Keith Richards, no less) and have been referenced in countless cartoons and sitcoms. They are true rock icons and, against all odds, they’re really just doing what they’ve always done. ZZ TOP abides!
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. To see the poster and learn more about Beck’s vision for it, along with information about the festival, visit Musikfest.org.
