The Mayor’s Summer Concert Series returns with four free outdoor concerts to be presented this August. The concerts will take place outside the Union County Performing Arts Center, 1601 Irving Street, Rahway, NJ, each Thursday night in August. All shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. In the event of inclement weather, the concerts will be held inside the Union County Performing Arts Center on the venue’s mainstage.
The City of Rahway welcomes all to attend and join the free family fun!
The series kicked off on Thursday, August 2nd with VoicePlay. The cast of VoicePlay has taken the timeless sound of vocal music and turned it completely on its head. Re-imagined as a full stage show, amazing, humorous, and vertigo-inducing harmonies pepper VoicePlay’s music-without-music sound. Their performance ping-pongs between eras and styles, channeling the breadth of the musical landscape, and lacing it with inventive and often hilarious on-stage theatrics. Fit for all ages, VoicePlay’s recordings and concerts are an impossible to miss hit which have to be heard to be believed. Day One, Rahway’s local 90’s-2000’s rock cover band, opened the show.
On Thursday, August 9th, Steel Union will perform with Shotgun Wedding. Steel Union is a fresh country trio, made up of Rachel Potter, Donny Fallgatter and Josh Matheny. These three friends are making waves in Nashville and across the country, hooking audiences with their catchy melodies, impressive vocals, and infectious harmonies. Though they have only been playing together for three years, they joined forces with fruitful careers behind each of them. Shotgun Wedding isn’t from the South. They’re two of New York City’s finest professional musicians who got together out of reverence for country music’s lineage and out of a desire to further the tradition. On Shotgun Wedding’s debut release, South Of Somewhere, the duo reimagines country’s genre geography with swaggering musicianship and honest accounts of city living.
The third concert this year will feature Brother Josephus and the Love Revolution on August 16th. Brother Joscephus and the Love Revolution has been on a musical mission to make the world a more righteous place. The two main visionaries of this 12-piece explosion of love – Brother Joscephus and his eccentric cohort, the Right Reverend Dean Dawg – dip heavily into a gumbo rich with the powerful rhythms of New Orleans, old school funk and soul, classic rock and a healthy dose of feel-good gospel music. BroJo combines all this with a message of righteousness, urging us towards acceptance and loving one another. When you combine the music and the message with a one-of-a-kind, high-energy stage spectacle, you got yourself a revolution on your hands. Taye McQueen, the 2017 ICON 2017 Winner, will open the event along with select members of the cast of RENT opening September 6, 2018 at the Hamilton Stage.
The last concert will be on August 23rd with Sheila E., an American percussionist, singer, author, and actress. She began her career in the mid-1970s as a percussionist and singer for The George Duke Band. After leaving the group in 1983, Sheila began a successful solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed debut album, which included the career-defining song, “The Glamorous Life“. She became a mainstream solo star in 1985 following the success of the singles, “The Belle of St. Mark,” “Sister Fate,” and “A Love Bizarre,” with the latter becoming one of her signature songs. She is commonly referred to as The Queen of Percussion. Miss Ohio will open the evening with their crunchy style of alternative rock.
(above) August 2nd VoicePlay.
(above) August 9th Steel Union with Shotgun Wedding.
(above) August 16th Brother Josephus and the Love Revolution.
(above) August 23rd Sheila E.
