Saturday’s opening of the new Levitt Pavilion at SteelStacks must have been everything ArtsQuest imagined when they first dreamed of the entertainment complex on the former Bethlehem Steel property in south Bethlehem.
Saturdays crowd at Levitt PavilionPhotos by April Bartholomew/The Morning Call
There were perhaps 1,500 people on the lawn in front of the pavilion, listening to Texas boogie-woogie blues pianist/singer Marcia Ball. There were even more people on the Town Square plaza in front of the ArtsQuest Center listening to a drum band before the show. And inside the center, there was a crowd listening to ‘80s rockers Kix.
And it was, truthfully, an amazing array of music at an amazing site.
But it also made me a little apprehensive about what SteelStacks may be like a month from now, when the crowd of 1 million people that annually descends on ArtsQuest’s Musikfest festival is here.
But more about that later.
My biggest purpose here is to give my impressions of the new Levitt Pavilion.
And they’re all mostly very good. This is a free venue that’s offering music of solid quality, and people who don’t seize the opportunity are missing out.
A lot of people Saturday obviously felt the same way. Perhaps 1,500 were on the Levitt lawn – most with lawn chairs, some on blankets, so this was no happenstance crowd.
That number of people came close to filling the space. Only a section farthest from the stage on the east side of the lawn was empty, and others could have fit in gaps between people, but the official capacity of 2,500 is way overstated. As it was, a couple of hundred people chose to sit on the adjacent Town Square.
Despite being comfortably full, sight lines on the lawn are very good. From a lawn chair three-quarters of the way back, it’s easy to see the stage clearly, even if taller people are ahead of you. The very back of the lawn offers an even clearer – if farther away – vantage point. The only bad sight area is to the extreme east, toward The Sands casino, where the pavilion shell gets in the way.
The open concept means “there is no front row, no back row; everyone is welcome,” Elizabeth Levitt Hirsch, who heads the Levitt Pavilion program and is the daughter of the late Mortimer Levitt, who founded the Levitt Foundation that fund it, said at opening ceremonies for the pavilion Saturday.
“As a daughter, I want to say how proud Bethlehem makes me.”
Hirsch’s mother, Mimi, who also spoke, said, “I love everything I have seen here. It’s absolutely perfect.”
Thought it’s hard to judge from one performance and one style of music, the sound was excellent on the entire lawn. In the west rear corner, toward the parking lots, there was a slight echo from the brick buildings behind you.
But once you leave the lawn and go onto the Town Square plaza, there was significant bleed over from the concert inside Musikfest Café.
Saturdays sunlight on the lawn, even at 7:30 p.m., was pretty brutal, even with sunglasses. But by 8 p.m. the sun had dipped low enough so that it was fine. Even on a 90-degree day, the heat on the grass wasn’t oppressive, and there was an occasional cool cross-breeze.
The atmosphere was great — very relaxed, with people dancing and children playing. Once the music started, people were respectful enough to keep conversation down.
Maybe I’m directionally challenged, but that crowded lawn made it just a bit hard finding my way back to my spot after leaving to get a drink or use the rest room at the ArtsQuest Center.
The concern about Musikfest arises because of how full the SteelStacks campus was Saturday. While it made the campus everything ArtsQuest hoped, you can’t help but think what it will be like when Musikfest’s main stage also is erected there – cutting deep into the parking lot (that’s where it will be erected) and bringing 7,000 more people to the site.
Despite the campus being more full than ever before Saturday, parking was fine. But with 11,000 people there at a time and less parking, it seems like it could be really crowded and parking a problem.
I’m open to assuming ArtsQuest has all that figured out – they’ve done well so far – but be assured, there will be a lot of people there come Aug. 5.
In opening remarks Saturday, Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan said, “the last thing you want to do is throw a party and have nobody show up. But Bethlehem’s always up for a party.”
Saturday showed that, indeed, is true.
A&C LaBanda plays at 7:30 p.m. today.
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