Ed Sheeran will perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, Sept. 4-5.
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Sept. 10.
MUSIC
• It’s not Bruce Springsteen, or Taylor Swift, or U2. Ed Sheeran holds the record for attracting the biggest crowd, ever, to a concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, having drawn 89,106 people to New Jersey’s largest concert venue on June 11, 2023. (An in-the-round stage configuration helped maximize attendance.)
Sheeran — who released his most recent album, Play, about a year ago, and kicked off his Loop Tour in January — will perform at MetLife two more times, Sept. 4-5 at 5:30 p.m., with the rapper Macklemore, the Danish pop band Lukas Graham and the all-female Irish folk group BIIRD opening.
• Veteran singer-songwriter Willie Nile will present a free concert at The Matawan Municipal Center, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. The concert, part of Matawan’s Summer Concert Series, was postponed from Aug. 20 because of the threat of bad weather.
• The avant-garde jazz musician Sun Ra died in 1993, but his Sun Ra Arkestra continues to play his wildly innovative music under the leadership of saxophonist Marshall Allen, who began playing with the group in 1958, and is now 102. They will perform at The Berlind Theatre at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
jOHN McMURTRIE
Iron Maiden (from left, Janick Gers, Adrian Smith, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, Simon Dawson and Dave Murray).
• Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison — the home of The New York Red Bulls of the Major League Soccer league, and Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League — will present its biggest rock concerts yet with Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Anthrax, Sept. 5-6 at 6:15 p.m.
Iron Maiden’s current tour celebrates the band’s 50th anniversary, and also coincides with its induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which will take place in November).
Frontman Bruce Dickinson is joined on the tour by bassist Steve Harris (the only co-founder remaining; Dickinson became a member in 1981); guitarist Dave Murray (a member since 1976); guitarists Adrian Smith and Janick Gers; and drummer Simon Dawson. Drummer Nicko McBrain is still considered a band member though he no longer participates in tours.
KATHY MATTEA
FESTIVALS
• Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music will present the 54rd edition of New Jersey’s biggest annual bluegrass event, The Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, Sept. 4-6 at The Salem County Fairgrounds in Woodstown, with artists including Kathy Mattea, The Traveling McCourys and Junior Sisk (all on Sept. 4); The Dan Tyminski Band, Tuba Skinny and Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass (all on Sept. 5); and Special Consensus, Blue Highway and Black-Eyes Suzies (all on Sept. 6).
Overall, there will be about 15 artists on the main stage (many of whom will perform at two different times), plus smaller jam sessions, workshops and classes, a children’s stage and camping.
• The 51th annual New Jersey Friends of Clearwater Festival will take place at Sunset Park in Asbury Park, Sept. 5 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with music by The Matt O’Ree Band, The Wag, Poppa John Bug & the Experience, Hunter & the Cold Hearts Club, The Black Ties, Spook Handy and others; environmentally themed educational displays; crafts and food vendors, children’s activities and more.
There will be no admission charge; lawn chairs or blankets are recommended.
Founded in 1975, the festival was inspired by the work of folk musician and environmental activist Pete Seeger, and the Hudson River Clearwater movement.
THE DOO WOP PROJECT
• The vocal group The Doo Wop Project, Bill Haley Jr. & the Comets, Jukebox 45, Jim Barone’s Elvis Presley tribute and Who’s Johnny will be among the musical acts at the Lead East Festival (which bills itself as the “World’s Greatest Oldies Part”), taking place at the Hilton Hotel in Parsippany, Sept. 2-6.
Other attractions will include classic cars, drive-in movies, celebrity autograph sessions, line dancing, a prom, wedding renewals, children’s activities, karaoke, pool parties, and vendors.
• The 39th annual Scanfest, celebrating Scandinavian culture, will take place at Vasa Park in Budd Lake, Sept. 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with music, crafts and cultural demonstrations, speakers, children’s entertainment, food vendors and more.
Performers will include the Norwegian-American group The Ringling 5, Ellen Lindstrom and her band The Swedish Meatballs, the accordion groups SmorgasBand and Spirit of Scandanavia, a jazz duo featuring Swedish saxophonist Anders Lundegård and pianist Monika Mockovčáková, Danish singer Hanne Ladefoged-Dollase, the Norwegian folk group The Daughters of Scandinavia, the Celtic folk duo House of Hamill, storyteller Jonathan Kruk and others.
Antoinette LaVecchia will play Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison, Sept. 5-27.
THEATER
• The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will present Edward Albee’s Tony-winning 1962 play about a married couple who viciously spar with each other, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” — which was made into a hit 1966 film co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton — at its F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre at Drew University in Madison, from Sept. 5 to Sept. 27, with the official opening night on Sept. 11. (see preview video below)
• Music Mountain Theatre in Lambertville will present “The Cher Show” from Sept. 4 to Sept. 27. The jukebox musical, which ran on Broadway in 2018 and 2019, features three actresses portraying the singer, actress, variety show host and worldwide celebrity at three different phases of her life (’50s/’60s, ’70s, and ’80s/’90s)
• Cape May Stage will present José Rivera’s “Your Name Means Dream,” which I reviewed at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch in 2024; it will have a preview on Sept. 9 and then run from Sept. 10 to Oct. 18. It is set in the near future, and is about an elderly woman who is starting to have trouble taking care of herself, and is assisted by a robot (played by an actress) who has been hired by her son.
I wrote in my review that Rivera “brings up a lot of meaty topics in the course of the play’s two acts, including the inevitable one: Is it possible for a robot to really take on human qualities?”
The cover of “Lil Lizzo Meets Sasha B. Flootin’.”
WORDS
• Singer-songwriter, rapper and flute player Lizzo has written her first children’s book, “Lil Lizzo Meets Sasha B. Flootin’,” and will sign copies of it at the Bookends bookstore in Ridgewood, Sept. 9 at 4 p.m.
The book’s publishing company sums up the plot this way: “When a bubbly little girl who just wants to belong meets a smart and brassy flute who can’t find her tune, they wind up on a wild adventure to places filled with incredible sounds — a jungle, the ocean, and even outer space! But Lil Lizzo and Sasha B. Flootin’ will discover that making a true friend can fill your life with magic and help you discover who you are — and the very best song you can sing is your own.”
• Also at Bookends in Ridgewood, actress Jaclyn Smith will sign copies of her new book, “I Once Knew a Guy Named Charlie: A Memoir,” Sept. 8 at 6 p.m. In the book, Smith focuses on her experiences co-starring in the hit TV series “Charlie’s Angels” in the ’70s and early ’80s but also shares stories from her life before and after then.
JOHN CAVANAUGH
Vini Lopez, shown performing at The Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, on Sept. 3.
• Original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez will appear in the first installment of the “Oral History Series” at The Powell Soundstage at The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m. The event is free, though advance registration is required.
FILM
• The 1994 documentary “Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King”— about the experimental indie-rock band that formed in Maryland in the ’70s, and was most popular in the ’80s and ’90s — will be shown at The Highland Park Outdoor Movie Theater, at the Municipal Parking Lot on Raritan Avenue, Sept. 5 at 9 p.m. The screening will take place after vintage cartoons that will begin at dusk.
Director Jeff Feuerzeig will also be on hand to discuss the film. One subject that will surely come up is the recent death of band co-founder David Fair.
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REVIEWS
“Claybash” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 6)
“Bascha Mon: Mindscapes” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 6)
“Valerie Huhn: The Wound Is the Place Where the Light Enters You” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 6)
“Steamroller Group: Uncharted Territories” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 6)
“Henri Matisse: Beyond Color” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Sept. 13)
“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1)
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