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Review By Janel Spiegel
Ludacris
Saturday, August 10, 2024 at 7:00 PM
Wind Creek Steel Stage at PNC Plaza
711 E. First Street, Bethlehem, PA
Bethlehem came out to “Act a Fool” with THEE ONE & ONLY Ludacris. THANK YOU, Ludacris for the music.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania… Day nine of Musikfest. Musikfest runs from August 2nd to August 11, 2024. Z.Z. Top will be the closing act. BUT TONIGHT WAS ABOUT LUDACRIS. Ludacris spoke about his twenty-four-year career so far. He’s a songwriter, rapper, actor, he now has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It’s been a long day, a long week. As, I’m typing this article out, I decided to see if the Sphere, the eVenti Vertical SHPHERE presented by the Lehigh Valley Public Media. It was moved to the Southside of Musikfest. It drew quite the crowd as the gentleman told me the next show would start at 11:00PM, and meanwhile people who were still hungry, and still looking to continue the night were wandering around watching a band finish a set, and The Flying V had a never-ending line.
I sat with a group of people to watch the SPHERE show, and I thought about all the times in my life I’ve listened to Ludacris. How many playlists Ludacris is on, how many times, I sing all the words to “Move B*tch” while driving. I also ran into more friends as the Musikfest staff, volunteers, and Bethlehem Police once again started the clean up process to do it all over again tomorrow.
I met people from all walk of life this past week at Musikfest. I spoke with one lady, and she said, “I waited a long time to see Ludacris perform.” She looked happy, tired, and fulfilled. But let’s take it back… I arrived at Musikfest, and my friend Jeanne was perched in the Musikfest Café watching an amazing orchestra perform. She reminded me that “this is quite the opposite of Ludacris.” I thought about it for a while how different music is like us. How different we all are. That’s what makes us. Music is all different, and yet it brings so many people together.
I had to bid farewell to Jeanne until tomorrow, and make my way to the Wind Creek Steel Stage where the echoes of, “back again, huh” rang out left and right from people who I talked to, and we all just remember one another. But… yes, back again, and I already CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR! My music loving, artist friend, Paula joined me for tonight’s concert. Paula and I stopped at LOUD Radio again, and this time they had a GIANT Ludacris cutout of his head. So, we took photos with it, and they handed us cups filled with LOUD Radio merch. A cup, a very handy fan, a keychain, and a sticker. Did I stick that sticker on my phone charger? YES, I DID. No matter what’s going on in life, people gathered tonight for Ludacris.
Ludacris had terrific opening acts. Childish Major, and LG. I walked right past Childish Major who was rocking a Doug Bradley Hellraiser t-shirt. LG from Philly. (Yes, there was an E.A.G.L.E.S. GO EAGLES CHANT!) (Team Genius) gave Busta Rhymes vibes. LG reminded me of Busta with the vibrant colors, the easy flow, and keeping things at a fast yet steady pace. They were definitely two of the best opening acts. Mother Nature also decided to stop the rain. I’m pretty sure she is a hardcore Ludacris fan. The moon even made an appearance.
Music is medicine, concerts are medicine. Ludacris performed a variety of songs, joked with crowd. THE ENERGY WAS INSANE. It was beautiful and every single person was on their feet, and singing. Ludacris and his DJ tested the crowd. They passed all the tests, and our section wound up being the louder section. (I’m always proud of us.) Ludacris released albums including: Back for the First Time, Word of Mouf, Chicken-n-Beer, The Red Light District, Release Therapy, Battle of the Sexes.
He touched on playing Tej Parker in 2 Fast 2 Furious, and more of The Fast and The Furious franchise. He’s appeared in quite a few films. Ludacris also formed his own record label, Disturbing tha Peace in the late 1990s.
Ludacris could have stayed all night and performed. He has enough songs for a few months. Ludacris had the crowd on their feet, and screaming, and singing. He went through a variety of songs including, the “Southern Fried Intro,” “Welcome to Atlanta,” (Jermaine Dupri cover), “Number One Spot,” “Act a Food,” (we ONLY Kind of got a little snippet but it was enough to prove a point of how ICONIC the song is.)” Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!), “Southern Hospitality,” (another ICONIC song.) “Area Codes,” He did include the 610. “Ho,” “Holidae In” (Chingy Cover), “one Minute Man,” (Missy Elliot cover) “Growing Pains,” “Yeah!” (Usher cover) Ludacris reminded the crowd, “I don’t have Usher tonight so, you know what to do.” AND WE DID KNOW WHAT TO DO. If you watched the Superbowl, you saw all the social media videos of people losing their minds as Ludacris walked on stage to deliver his lyrics, “Watch out my outfits ridiculous. In the club looking so conspicuous.” It’s one of the best party songs ever. EVER! Ludacris’ DJ had fun with the crowd too, Ludacris asked him to play his favorite Ludacris song, and he did. DJ Infamous Talk 2 Me. He also started the show with Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy featuring O.D.B. Remix,” and Mariah Carey’s “Honey” remix.
It was insane to hear “Act A Fool” and it was also part of 2 Fast 2 Furious. The crowd went wild, and it was just insane to be part of that, and it was a blast. Ludacris also performed, “What’s Your Fantasy,” “Stand Up,” “My Chick Bad,” “All I Do Is Win,” (DJ Khaled cover). He also performed with his “partner in crime,” Lil Fate. Lil Fate performed, “Growing Pains.” It was an amazing moment.
He wound up leaving after announcing it was time to go, and they said his time was up but a chant of, “MOVE B*TCH” started, and a LUDA CHANT that New Jersey probably heard… So… Ludacris came back and shut it all down like ONLY LUDACRIS could do, he did, “Move B*tch,” and “Get Back.”
My whole soul is happy, ecstatic. Thank you, Ludacris for all the music. We also hope you come back to PA soon. Music is universal, it’s such a beautiful sentiment to see everyone just having the time of their life. Singing, dancing, happy. They forgot the week, forgot problems, bills, and life to just have fun for the night. Ludacris made our “Saturday,” and we did “Stand Up,” and we got to “Act A Fool,’ and sing out, “YEAH!” with LUDACRIS. So, thank you Musikfest, the volunteers, the staff, the vendors, food trucks, the Musikfest Café, all the stages all over Bethlehem, the EMT’s, the Bethlehem Police and the K9 Officers were also out today. Thank you always for your service. Thanks for the music.
Musikfest goes until August 11, 2024.
https://www.instagram.com/ludacris/
https://www.childishmajorofficial.com/
https://www.instagram.com/lgteamgenius/
https://www.instagram.com/djinfamous/
https://www.instagram.com/lilfatedtp/
