Guns N’ Roses will perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, Aug. 12.
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Aug. 13.
MUSIC
• Two of the most audacious debut albums by any group, at any time, were Guns N’ Roses‘ Appetite for Destruction, and Public Enemy’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Both were released in 1987.
It would have seemed impossible, at the time. But those two groups are now sharing a bill. In a stadium. Guns’ N Roses will perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, Aug. 12 at 6:25 p.m., with Public Enemy opening.
Guns N’ Roses has not released an album since 2008’s Chinese Democracy, though they have released songs, including last year’s “Nothin’ ” and “Atlas.” The band’s current lineup includes co-founders Axl Rose (lead vocals), Slash (guitar) and Duff McKagan (bass), along with keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese, guitarist Richard Fortus, and drummer Isaac Carpenter.
BUDDY GUY
• Legendary bluesman Buddy Guy turned 90 on July 30, and the day after that, played his first show as a nonagenarian at Ovation Hall at Atlantic City’s Ocean Casino Resort. He also performed at BergenPAC in Englewood, Aug. 4, and he will be at The State Theatre in New Brunswick, Aug. 8 at 8 p.m.
Guy released his latest album, Ain’t Done with the Blues, in 2025. The same year, he made a memorable appearance in the Oscar-winning film “Sinners.”
• Ten contestants will compete in this year’s edition of the free, annual My Way Sinatra Sing-Off, taking place at Sinatra Park in Ol’ Blue Eyes’ hometown of Hoboken, Aug. 13 at 6:30 p.m. The event will also include a performance by last year’s winner, John Rinell.
• The Americana group Jackson Pines will perform in the free, outdoor Summer Concert Series at The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, Aug. 6 at 6 p.m. The series will run through Aug. 20, and will take place at the Klose Amphitheater outside the museum, which is on the campus of Monmouth University in West Long Branch; Jake Thistle is up next, Aug. 13.
Lawn chairs or blankets are recommended for the shows. Also, since they will take place on Thursdays and the Center is open until 8 p.m. on Thursdays, you can see the museum beforehand. (While the shows are free, regular museum admission will be required for those who are interested.)
From left, G.E. Smith, Larry Campbell and Jim Weider.
• Three great guitarists — G.E. Smith, Larry Campbell and Jim Weider — will perform together, under the name Masters of the Telecaster, at Roy’s Hall in Blairstown, Aug. 7 at 8 p.m. Smith has played with Hall & Oates, Bob Dylan, Roger Waters and the “Saturday Night Live” band. Campbell has performed with Dylan and Levon Helm, and toured and recorded extensively with his wife, singer Teresa Williams. Jim Weider is best known as a member of The Band and now performs The Band songs and more with the group The Weight Band.
• New wave and power-pop hitmakers of the ’80s are touring together in the Totally Tubular Festival, which will come to The Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m. The lineup will include Thomas Dolby & the Lost Toy People, A Flock of Seagulls, Men Without Hats, The Escape Club, Tommy Tutone, The Producers and Animotion.
• Anthony Almonte, percussionist for The E Street Band and Stevie Van Zandt’s Disciples of Soul, released an album of his own, Conversando Con La Luna, in May, on Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool label. Check out “Caminando,” which features Van Zandt on guitar, below.
Almonte will present a show titled “A Wicked Cool Latin Soul Summer Party” at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m.
A Grateful Dead “Meet-Up at the Movies” event will take place Aug. 8 and 10.
FILM
• The Aug. 8 and 10 “Grateful Dead Meet-up at the Movies” will feature the band’s June 17, 1991 concert at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. To see a list of participating theaters, visit meetupatthemovies.com.
The screenings will also include a preview of “Shakedown Street” from the upcoming Merriweather Post Pavilion (June 30, 1985) release, and an introduction by archivist David Lemieux.
The “Meet-up at the Movies” screenings began in 2011 and have taken place annually (with a few exceptions) since then.
Among Grateful Dead fans, the period of Aug. 1-9 is known as “The Days Between,” honoring the period between the day on which Jerry Garcia was born in 1942 (Aug. 1) and the day on which he died in 1995 (Aug. 9).
THEATER/MUSIC
• The Two River Theater in Red Bank will present “¡Festejo! Celebrating Latine Stories Onstage” — an annual festival formerly known as “Crossing Borders (Cruzando Fronteras)” — from Aug. 6 to Aug. 9.
The festival will start with a “Kick Off Celebration,” outside the theater at 5 p.m. Aug. 6, featuring music by Chilean guitarist Erick Avila, food and more.
There will then be play readings, inside, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. and at various times Aug. 7-9, plus a concert, featuring the New York-based band Jarana Beat, whose songs are inspired by Mexican folk and Afri-Amerindian music, Aug. 8 at 8 p.m.
All of the events are free.
Karen Thornton will star in The Theater Project’s production of “Alabama Story.”
THEATER
• The Theater Project will present the New Jersey premiere of Kenneth Jones’ “Alabama Story,” Aug. 6-16 at The DMK Black Box Theatre in Union Township. The story, which blends fact and fiction, is about the battle between a librarian and a segregationist state senator over a 1958 children’s book, “The Rabbits’ Wedding,” which tells the story of a white rabbit and a black rabbit marrying; the play’s parallel plot, meanwhile, concerns the friendship between a white woman and an African-American man. Jones has said the play takes place in “the Deep South of the imagination.”
Karen Thornton plays Emily Wheelock Reed, the Alabama public library worker who inspired the play. She is joined by seven other actors in the cast.
(For a chance to win two tickets to one of the following performances — Aug. 6 or 8 at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 7 at 10 a.m., or Aug. 9 at 2 p.m. — send an email to njartscontest@gmail.com with “Alabama” in the subject line. Please specify which show you would like to attend.)
• Centenary Stage Company will present “Closer Than Ever,” the 1989 musical revue featuring lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. and music by David Shire, through Aug. 9 at The Kutz Theatre at The Lackland Performing Arts Center Hackettstown, New Jersey. And following the 7 p.m. Aug. 6 performance, Maltby will appear in a talkback moderated by theater critic Peter Filichia.
The musical’s songs, which are not connected by a storyline, looks at different aspects of love, friendship, work, family dynamics and more. In his original New York Times feature on the musical, Stephen Holden wrote that the songs “examine people’s personal changes over more than two decades. Especially in the more serious ballads, the characters’ reflections on their choices and changing personal values carry a bittersweet sting.”
JOHN BOUDOUVAS
FAMILY
• This year’s edition of the free, annual New Brunswick Heart Festival will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. Aug. 8, on Livingston Avenue in downtown New Brunswick. Attractions will include The B-Side Band (performing songs by Bruno Mars, Aretha Frankin, Michael Jackson, Beyoncé and others) the band Warehouse Collective (playing R&B, soul and funk hits by Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire and others), the street dance group Dance Warz, The New Brunswick Brass Band, The New Brunswick Brass Band, Grupo de Danza Folklórica La Sagrada Familia, and tap dancer John Boudouvas (the winner of The State Theatre’s 2026 Jersey Talent contest).
Princeton Ballet School will offer workshops and an open house, and there will also be craft and food vendors, children’s activities, and a health and wellness area.
_____________________________
REVIEWS
“In Conversation: Will Wilson” at Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit. (Through Aug. 23)
“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. (NJArts.net Review)(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)
_____________________________
_____________________________
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
