Frigid temperatures in our region couldn’t stop the many hardy souls who braved the elements and came down to South Bethlehem for the first First Friday of 2018.
On our end, we highlighted five performers throughout five unique SouthSide venues.
- The evening started at The Banana Factory, where Dear Anna frontman Lorenzo Bubba provided us with a glimpse into the future; that is to say, less than two weeks from now on January 19, when he and his band take the stage alongside Kill the Broadcast and Kara Hartzell as part of the Lehigh Valley Underground 2nd Birthday Spectacular at SteelStacks. Tickets for this special night are still available and can be found right here.
- From there, the party proceeded to Greek Meat Guy (129 E. Third St.), where singer-songwriter Not For Coltrane, who delighted the dinner crowd with his own unique brand of folk songs and storytelling.
- Speaking of folk storytelling, we then walked just down the street to Domaci’s grand opening on the South Side. It was there that Dina Hall and Beth Sherby, known as a duo as Ophelia, welcomed guests with a soulful, harmonic blend of tunes.
- First Friday action then progressed up to 4th St., where Molly’s Irish Grille & Sports Pub’s Artist-in-Residence Brian Kibler was turning in another fine performance to kick off the New Year, complete with support from his wife, Eva, and singer-songwriter Jordan White.
- Then, it came time for the main event. Every first Friday of the year, Jim Weider (formerly of The Band) comes into town to perform at the legendary Godfrey Daniels. Weider brought his latest instrumental project, ProJECT PERCoLAToR, into town with him, blowing the sold-out crowd away with groovy rhythms and captivating guitar work for an evening of first-class musicianship. We look forward to seeing them come back through town on the first Friday of 2019!
Thanks as always to our stellar community partners at SouthSide Arts District and Banko Beverage Co. for teaming up once again. Below, have a look through our lens.
BONUS: After wrapping up at Godfrey’s, we felt like keeping the night going, so we headed down to SouthSide 313 to catch some of John Sears and the Stock Music Co. Here’s a snippet from the band’s performance.
