Blackberry Smoke will perform at the 2026 Rock, Ribs & Ridges festival.
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through July 2.
FESTIVALS
• Blackberry Smoke, 38 Special and the Queen tribute band Almost Queen will co-headline the 16th annual Rock, Ribs & Ridges Festival, taking place June 26-28 at The Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta. Other performers will include Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, The Artimus Pyle Band, Gary Hoey and Matt O’Ree.
As the festival’s title implies, both music and barbecued food will be featured, and camping will be available on the nights of June 26 and 27. The “Ridges” refers to the festival’s scenic location.
Here is the band schedule:
JUNE 26
7:15 p.m.: Super Trans Am (’70s tribute)
8:30 p.m.: Almost Queen (Queen tribute)
10:30 p.m.: Dead Äire (performance is for campers only)
JUNE 27
1 p.m.: Matt Coffy Band
2:15 p.m.: Matt O’Ree Band
3:45 p.m.: Gary Hoey
5:30 p.m.: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
7:30 p.m.: 38 Special
9:45 p.m.: Sugar Mountain, Neil Young tribute (performance is for campers only)
JUNE 28
1 p.m.: Triple Rail Turn
2:30 p.m.: Robert Jon & the Wreck
4:30 p.m.: Artimus Pyle Band
6:30 p.m.: Blackberry Smoke
JOE BONAMASSA
• The fourth annual North to Shore Festival — produced by NJPAC, and co-sponsored by The New Jersey Economic Development Authority — has been extended to July 19, with most of the shows in Newark and Asbury Park, though there are also three at the new ParkStage venue in Freehold. As usual, the bookings are very eclectic, and the size of the shows will range from huge to tiny.
Here are some of the shows scheduled through July 2:
June 25: Jimmy Eat World, The Wonder Years, Girls Against Boys at Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park.
June 25: Jesse & Joy at Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark.
June 25: David Cross at House of Independents, Asbury Park.
June 25: Felix Hernandez’ Rhythm Revue Dance Party, Horizon Sounds of the City at Chambers Plaza, NJPAC, Newark.
June 26: The Head and the Heart, Wilderado at ParkStage at East Freehold Showgrounds.
June 26: Streetlight Manifesto, The Aquabats, A Wilhelm Scream at Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park.
June 26: Jessica Kirson at Victoria Theater at NJPAC, Newark.
June 27: Bouncing Souls, Less Than Jake, others at Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park.
June 27: Iliza Shlesinger at Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark.
June 27: Lucas Zelnick at Victoria Theater at NJPAC, Newark.
June 28: Joe Bonamassa at Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark.
June 28: The Church at Stone Pony, Asbury Park.
June 28: Jordan Jensen at Victoria Theater at NJPAC, Newark.
MAREL HIDALGO
• The Asbury Park Jazz Fest, which ran for many years before going on hiatus more than a decade ago, will return with a show on June 28 from noon to 8 p.m. at Sunset Park, with sets by teenage guitar phenom Marel Hidalgo plus Ultrablue, Antoine Knight, Reza Khan, Nick Steffanaci, Dee Brown, Ragan Whiteside, Paula Atherton. There will be no admission charge.
MUSIC
• New Jersey Symphony traditionally presents a series of free park concerts during the summer, but there will be only one this year: June 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Branch Brook Park in Newark. According to a press release, the mobile stage that the Symphony uses for its summer park concerts needs to be replaced. It was “deemed beyond reasonable repair after an electrical fire and a subsequent hydraulic failure” after the 2025 concerts, according to the press release, which also states that the Symphony is seeking funding to replace it and “will continue to search for funding support from many sources and hopes to deliver the entire series of much-loved summer parks concerts again in 2027.”
The concert will feature conductor Kyle Ritenauer, and the program will include John Stafford Smith’s The Star-Spangled Banner (arr. Walter Damrosch); Leonard Bernstein Overture to Candide; Duke Ellington! A Medley for Orchestra (arr. Calvin Custer); Igor Stravinsky “Infernal Dance” and “Finale” from The Firebird Suite (1919); Valerie Coleman’s Seven O’Clock Shout; Aaron Copland’s “Variations on a Shaker Melody” from Appalachian Spring; John Williams “Main Title” from Star Wars; Armed Forces Salute (featuring works by various composers); and John Philip Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever.
• As part of The Montclair Jazz Festival‘s annual Soundcheck Series, The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra, conducted by trumpeter and composer Jon Faddis, will give a free concert from 6 to 10 p.m., July 1, at The Wellmont Arts Plaza in Montclair. The event will start with a swing dance lesson given by instructors from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Ailey Extension program.
BARRY MANILOW
• Barry Manilow’s postponed April 14 concert at The Prudential Center in Newark will take place at 7 p.m. June 26. Manilow, who turned 83 on June 17, is calling this year’s tour his farewell, and the Newark show is billed as “The Last Newark Concert.”
Manilow, who recently had surgery to have a cancerous spot on his lung removed, released a new album, What a Time, on June 5. It is his first collection of new, original studio material since 2011’s 15 Minutes.
• The free Rev, White & Blue concert taking place at SHI Stadium at Rutgers University in Piscataway, July 2 at 7 p.m., will feature Nick Jonas of The Jonas Brothers; Naughty by Nature members Vin Rock and Kay Gee; and Tony-winning singer-actress Ali Stroker. According to the concert’s website, the event will feature “educational programming, historical tributes, family-friendly activities” and fireworks, in addition to the music.
It is one of many events commemorating the nation’s 250th birthday that is being organized by RevolutionNJ, in partnership with Choose New Jersey. RevolutionNJ describes itself as “a partnership between the New Jersey Historical Commission (NJHC), a division of the New Jersey Department of State, and the nonprofit Crossroads of the American Revolution Association to plan the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in New Jersey.”
• Early this year, Wynton Marsalis announced that he would end his 21-year run as the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in July 2027, though he will continue to serve as an advisor through June 2028, and continue to play trumpet with The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, at least occasionally. So the current shows by Marsalis and the 15-piece orchestra represent something of a farewell tour. They will perform at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, June 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Corey Glover, left, and Vernon Reid.
• Corey Glover, frontman of the band Living Colour, will bring his Soul Experience band to Crossroads in Garwood, June 26 at 7:30 p.m. Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid will join the band as a “special guest,” and also perform an acoustic set with Glover.
Soul Experience’s repertoire is dominated by R&B and soul classics though it also plays Living Colour songs, material from Glover’s solo albums, and more.
• The Troubadour Concert Series‘ “Comedy Song Night” — taking place at The Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, June 26 at 7:30 p.m. — will feature humorous material by singer-songwriters Carla Ulbrich, David Roth, Rob Paravonian and Todd Chappelle. A live webcast will be available for those who can’t make it to the venue.
• George Street Playhouse will present Alli Mauzey and Dee Roscioli — whose Broadway credits include playing Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in “Wicked” — in a show titled “Good Witch Bad Witch: The Broadway Witches” at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, June 25 at 3 and 7:30 p.m. In it, they will perform songs from “Wicked,” as well as other show tunes and pop hits.
THEATER
• The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey‘s Acting Apprentice Company, designed to train young actors, will present one of Shakespeare’s comedies, “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” at The F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre at Drew University in Madison, June 26 at 7:30 p.m., as the culmination of a one-month training program.
RICK ATKINSON
OTHER
• Friends of Jockey Hollow will present a free talk on “The War for America, Morristown & Jockey Hollow, 1777–1780” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and military historian Rick Atkinson, June 25 at 7 p.m. at The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown. Jockey Hollow is an area of Harding Township and Mendham Township that housed thousands of American Revolution soldiers during the severely harsh winter of 1779-80.
• The Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee will present a series of film and music events, July 2-17, titled “America 250: Celebrating Independence, Resilience, and Community,” and featuring the following:
FILMS
July 2: “The Right Stuff”
July 3: “Summer of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
July 5: “Jazz on a Summer’s Day”
July 5: “Apollo 13”
July 15: “Satchmo the Great” plus a talk by Ricky Riccardi, the musician, author and director of research collections at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, New York.
MUSIC
July 9: Carolyn Montgomery’s “girlSINGER, A Celebration of Rosemary Clooney”
July 17: Danny Jonokuchi & the Revisionists, swing music
• “A Taste of Ireland,” a family-friendly celebration of Irish music and dance featuring former cast members of shows such as “Riverdance” and “Lord of the Dance,” will be presented at The Sitnik Theatre at The Lackland Performing Arts Center in Hackettstown, June 25 at 7:30 p.m.; and BergenPAC in Englewood, June 27 at 7:30 p.m.
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REVIEWS
“Alexandra Schoenberg: Shifting Perspectives” at Hillside Square Gallery, Montclair. (Through June 26)
“Elephant Shoes” at Two River Theater, Red Bank. (Through June 28)
“Newsies” at Vanguard Theater, Montclair. (Through June 28)
“The Vienna Lessons” at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch. (Through June 28)
“Willem de Kooning: The Breakthrough Years, 1945–50” at Princeton University Art Museum. (Through July 26)
“Allan Rohan Crite: Neighborhood” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through July 31)
“Henri Matisse: Beyond Color” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Aug. 9)
“In Conversation: Will Wilson” at Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit. (Through Aug. 23)
“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1, 2027)
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