'A little bit of everything': 2023 a busy year for downtown Johnstown's music scene

Dec. 30—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A vibrant and diverse musical scene existed in downtown Johnstown this year.

A total of about 65,000 people attended concerts at either 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial, The State Theater of Johnstown or Peoples Natural Gas Park.

They came to hear the sounds of many genres — classic rock, "newgrass," hippie jams, Irish punk, polka, heavy metal, rap, country and contemporary Christian.

Most of the fans were from the local region. But others came from all across Pennsylvania and neighboring states.

"I think that one of the cool things about these types of music events is that they draw from a huge crowd in terms of diversity — young and old, Black, white, all different backgrounds," said Eric Reighard, the State Theater of Johnstown's executive director. "I think music is one of those paramount things that speaks to people of all ages, all ethnicities, all backgrounds, all socioeconomic classes."

Shows are also occurring much more frequently than in the not-too-distant past, due in large part to increased activity at the War Memorial.

Visit Johnstown's director of advertising and sales, Jayne Korenoski, who puts together the musical lineups for Thunder in the Valley and 1st Summit Bank PolkaFest, described the abundance of live music as "a bright star for Johnstown."

'Put a spotlight on my hometown'

Musicians from as close as Cambria County and as far away as Mongolia entertained fans in Johnstown.

Johnstown native Eem Triplin, a nationally touring hip-hop performer, held a release party for his EP "Still Pretty" at the Johnstown Area Heritage Association-owned Peoples Natural Gas Park in August.

"Doing this show in Johnstown means a lot to me because there were never many opportunities for me as an artist growing up here," Triplin told The Tribune-Democrat at the time. "I'm excited to be able to put a spotlight on my hometown and provide a fun event for the local community that made me who I am today."

More than 1,000 people attended the concert. JAHA director of marketing and communications Shelley Johansson said there was a "very diverse audience and an extremely young audience, a bunch of teenagers."

A few weeks later, The Hu, a band that blends heavy metal and traditional Mongolian folk music, played at the War Memorial.

Band member Temuulen "Temka" Naranbaatar, through a translator, spoke about what it meant for him to share his nation's music with the people of Johnstown.

"They have a mission to spread Mongolian culture around the world," the translator said. "They take it very seriously. They got the Order of Chinggis Khaan, one of the highest medals bestowed. They got that and they were like cultural ambassadors. They're trying to live up to expectations set by Mongolian people to spread our culture around."

'To increase the profile of the city'

The Hu opened for Asking Alexandria, an English rock band.

That show was one of 18 music concerts held in 2023 at the War Memorial, which is promoted by Jean Desrochers, the general manager, and Chad Mearns, the box office and marketing manager.

Seven of the concerts sold out — the Rockzilla Tour, featuring Falling In Reverse and Papa Roach; Whiskey Myers; MercyMe; Foreigner; REO Speedwagon; the Rock Resurrection Tour with Skillet and Theory of a Deadman; and the Kiss of Death Tour with In This Moment and Ice Nine Kills.

Other notable acts were Dropkick Murphys, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd tribute band Brit Floyd, and the Summer Jam featuring Ja Rule and Ashanti.

That is in contrast to a few years ago, when, under different management, the arena would host a handful of shows each year, mostly limited to classic rock, country or Christian genres.

"One of the things that we were really pleased about for this past year was not just the amount of shows, but the variety of shows that we were able to bring in. ... We're really trying to have a little bit of everything," Mearns said.

"The scale of show, too — we were able to have some really large sold-out concerts and then also some really nice smaller intimate shows, too, that were very well-attended, and people had a great time at those as well."

About 45,000 people attended concerts at the War Memorial, many spending money downtown at hotels, bars and restaurants.

"It's fantastic to be able to add to the tourism of the city and to increase the profile of the city in that way," Mearns said. "We hope it really makes an impact for local businesses, restaurants, hotels, all of them."

Amanda Artim, owner of Balance Restaurant, 411 Main St., said there is a noticeable increase in business on days when concerts take place at the War Memorial or other venues.

"The biggest impact that we've seen is if there's a concert over at the War Memorial — typically, our rush is maybe around 5:30, 6:30 p.m. — we are booked from 4 p.m., the second our dinner menu is available, until the concert starts," Artim said. "It's a significant impact because we're picking up an hour and a half of heavy dining, versus still having some tables during that time. But when there's a concert, you know it. The whole place is completely full by 4 p.m."

Reighard added: "The downtown for a very long time had a 5 o'clock problem. ... I think the theater is just a venue that provides an opportunity for people to come downtown after the 5 o'clock hour, enjoy a show or a movie."

'Wonderful ... to see people down there'

The 1st Summit Bank PolkaFest, the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival and the Thunder in the Valley motorcycle rally have been centerpieces of the Johnstown music scene for years.

The AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival has its roots in a street fair held in 1989 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1889 Johnstown Flood. It has grown to be an event for national festival touring acts, with this year's lineup including Los Lobos, Trouble No More, Keller Williams' Grateful Grass featuring The HillBenders, Dogs in a Pile and Doom Flamingo.

Other events, among them a Juneteenth celebration and the Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Free Concert Series, also took place this year at PNG Park.

"JAHA built Peoples Natural Gas Park for our own festival, but also to increase the number of concerts and other special events available in Johnstown — produced by JAHA and other entities," Johansson said. "It's gratifying that the park is so heavily used for public and private events, helping in the revitalization of downtown Johnstown. ... For us, to have the park is mission-related and it is a wonderful thing to see people down there enjoying a concert on a lovely summer evening. It's just a really special thing."

PNG Park was also home to Thunder in the Valley and PolkaFest. This year's Thunder lineup featured Buckcherry, Warrant, Kentucky Headhunters, Jasmine Cain and Colt Ford.

An estimated 8,000 people watched Thunder concerts, according to Korenoski, even with heavy rain falling at times.

"Being in the concert world is exciting and frightening at the same time," Korenoski said. "Absolutely for us, it's the weather. You're praying from the minute that you spend thousands of dollars to get entertainment here; you're counting on the weather."

Putting together multi-day events such as Thunder and the music festival involves finding performers who can make the dates work and budgeting limited funds to fill out an entire schedule.

"It's like a puzzle to get all the pieces," Korenoski said.

Thunder's future is uncertain, with Visit Johnstown announcing earlier this year that it no longer plans to put on the event after hosting it for 25 years.

Korenoski has already completed the PolkaFest bookings for next year.

The city's 2024 musical lineup is also expected to include the continuation of The Classic Vinyl Concert Series, in which Jeff Webb and the Classic Vinyl Concert Series Band plays well-known records in their entirety at the State Theater.

There were two different vinyl shows this past year.

The band put on a two-night stand in the spring playing the songs of "The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1" and "Chicago IX: Chicago's Greatest Hits."

They then performed a Halloween-themed event with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Prince's "Purple Rain."

All total, four sellout shows drew a combined 1,656 fans.

"It's brought about a lot of fandom where people are just chomping at the bit, can't wait to get the next Classic Vinyl concert announced and what the artist is going to be," Reighard said.

Meanwhile, the War Memorial has also already announced some acts for 2024, including Scotty McCreery and Brit Floyd.