Seven Things to Know About Musikfest 2011

Musikfest 2011 is now underway in Historic Downtown and Southside Bethlehem.

This year's festival is the largest and most ambitious in the 28-year history of the biggest and most ambitious annual festival in the Lehigh Valley. We are talking about more than 300 live performances on 15 stages in addition to a whole host of other activities.

With all the talk of change coming to the festival, veteran fest-goers will find that plenty also remains familiar--as this year's festival slogan says "The Song Remains..." But a lot will be new. Here, we get you up to speed.

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave, you know that the biggest change is the shift of part of the festival to its new 9-acre SteelStacks campus, which uses the former Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces as its dramatic backdrop:

1. Platz Shift #1: The Sands Steel Stage, which hosts the festival's big-ticket shows--this year including Nick Jonas, Steve Miller and Steely Dan--moves from buggy, swampy Sand Island to PNC Plaza, a paved space just west of the blast furnaces. Its seating capacity is 7,200.
2. Platz Shift #2: Americaplatz, the largest free stage that was formerly in Payrow Plaza between City Hall and the main branch of the  has moved to the Levitt Pavilion, a permanent bandshell right under the blast furnaces. As in years past, it will host blues, rock and roots music, and admission is free. It has a capacity of 2,500 people and will have a set up of folding chairs as well as lawn space for visitors to set up a blanket, according to ArtsQuest spokesman Mark Demko.
3. The Musikfest Cafe: The PNC Performing Arts Series, which in years past was hosted by Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center, this year shifts to the Musikfest Café, the permanent indoor cabaret stage on the third and fourth floors of the  at 101 Founders Way. As the Zoellner shows did, these concerts will feature an eclectic mix of well-regarded, if somewhat less well-known acts. Also, as in years past, the shows do carry an admission price.
4. A New Platz Stays Open Late: The Air Products Town Square, which has already hosted numerous free musical acts since the SteelStacks opening, debuts as the 15th Musikfest venue. It will feature local and regional bands, singer-songwriters and street performers, and the shows are all free. The scheduled show times will be staggered with the Americaplatz performances, as the larger venue will be directly across First Street. This stage will also feature the first official late-night musical performances in Musikfest history. The venue will feature performances that are scheduled to go on until midnight or 1 a.m. through most of the festival.
5. Comedy Shows: The Musikfest Café will also feature late night performances, but those will be by stand-up comedians. On four of the festival nights--Saturday and Aug. 11, 12 and 13--a stand-up comic will take the cabaret stage starting at 10:30 p.m. Admission price for those shows is $5.
6. Movies: Another first for Musikfest this year is film. The Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas on the first floor of the ArtsQuest Center has a schedule of “Rock Docs,” musical documentaries that it will show to fest-goers for $5 a pop. Offerings include The Last Waltz, Foo Fighters: Back and Forth and The World According to John Coltrane.
7. The North Side Song Remains (Mostly) the Same: In the Historic Downtown, veteran fest-goers are going to find that--outside of the departure of the main stage and Americaplatz--very little has changed. Every other platz and stage, save one, will be exactly where it has been. Lyrikplatz, the smallest venue, which features up-and-coming singer-songwriters, moves from a spot near Handwerkplatz (the crafters venue in the 18th Century Industrial Quarter) closer to Main Street next to the 1750 Smithy, just south of the