It’s the first night of this year’s Musikfest, and there is something to celebrate! Happy 40^th year Musikfest, and many many more! There couldn’t have been a more perfect choice than Walk the Moon to join this celebration.

Walk the Moon took the Wind Creek Main Stage kicking off this year’s Fest with all the bouncy dance energy needed to get this party started. The band started with “One Foot” with strong drum lines pounding away, the blonde bopping frontman, Nicholas Petricca , dressed in a green jacket, tied dye shirt and black track pants got the crowd on their feet. This was not a concert for sitting, it was a full on, best dance party around.

They continued on with “Avalanche”, “Portugal”, and “Sidekick” then played the fast-paced infectious pop rhythmic “Can You Handle My Love”,  and  “Fire in Your House” from their album, ‘Heights’, released last year. Petricca continued on with his nonstop energy, and kept the audience engaged and involved, moving from his synth keyboard, to single drum, never letting his commanding stage presence to waiver in the least. There’s one thing that seems obvious, even if it was your first WTM concert, Petricca is glad that you’re there. He seemed so passionate to perform and determined to make sure you had a great time.

Thrown in the mix was a cover song, “All These Things That I’ve Done” by The Killers, and every once and a while with the anticipation of the next song, you had to think, well, is this when they’re going to probably play the one song everyone wants to hear? You know, that “Shut Up and Dance” song?  No, not quite yet. But as the set moved on, the fans seemed anxious. They wouldn’t save it for the encore, would they? No, they wouldn’t.

They continued on their 15-song set list with “Work That Body” getting the crowd involved clapping their hands and singing along against the crusty bass beats. “Headphones” had a twist of more of a mix of a heavy metal sound infused with a pop punk beat, with a snippet of Led Zeppelin’s “Kasmir” that blended in.

And finally, closing the set, “Shut Up and Dance”, the hit single that catapulted this band into the stratosphere, and a song that has become well played at wedding receptions. As all fans cheered, WTM continues to play this song with fresh enthusiasm and energy, you can never get tired of  hearing this song.

The band returned for a one song encore, “Anna Sun”, their first song to receive airplay.  Fans that go way back to this point in the band’s history will remember the face paint, that has graciously faded away. Although there were several fans decked out in face paint amongst the crowd as a sweet homage.

Something else is going on with this band. While dedicated fans are counting off all their favorite songs by WTM, spanning well over a decade, WTM is actually counting down the remaining shows, with Bethlehem being number three. A video emerged several weeks ago from Petricca, with great emotion and moments of tears shed that the band will be taking a “hibernation “after their last show on this tour.  Certainly understandable, all three members have other projects and interests they would like to pursue.  And when you welcome change, you also welcome the opportunity to grow and evolve.  So hibernation is not a break-up, or total disbanding, more like a big sleep. Petricca promised the viewers that WTM will return bigger and better than ever. But for the fans singing and dancing along, it makes the Musikfest concert all the more bittersweet.

Opening bands for Walk the Moon were Bethlehem’s own Slingshot Dakota and Brigette Call Me Baby.