BADLEES RETURN TO WILKES-BARRE FOR ROCKIN’ THE RIVER

WILKES-BARRE – The Badlees will perform at the third and final show of the 2023 Rockin’ The River music series on Friday, July 28. The free, all-ages concert will take place at the Millennium Circle at River Common in Wilkes-Barre. Gates open at 5 p.m. Music starts at 6 p.m. There will be food, beer and wine vendors. Also on the bill is special guests, Joe Burke & Co.

 The Badlees, a critically-acclaimed roots-rock band, spent its formative years playing in clubs throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania, including the former Jitterbugs, Market Street Square and The Staircase. In 1995, with a growing regional and state-wide following and with the release of its “River Songs” album, the band signed a national recording contract with Polydor/Atlas Records. Two tracks from the album, “Angeline is Coming Home” and “Fear of Falling,” hit the national charts. The band toured with Bob Seger and also shared the stage with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page and The Allman Brothers. The music video for “Angeline Is Coming Home,” which appeared on VH1, starred Emmy-Award winning actress Julianna Margulies and was directed by Anthony Edwards.

 “That was an amazing time, just to see everything that was happening around that band,” said Alan K. Stout, executive director of Visit Luzerne County, which presents the Rockin’ The River concerts. “I remember, in the spring and summer of ’95,  ‘Angeline’ being in rotation on four different commercial radio stations in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area, and that was before they even signed a record deal. It was unprecedented.”    

 By the mid-90s’s, in the Wilkes-Barre area, the band’s occasional homecoming shows had outgrown the clubs and were held at venues such as the Genetti’s Grand Ballroom, The Woodlands Grand Ballroom, the former Bud Light Amphitheater at Harveys Lake and The F.M. Kirby Center. In 1999, the band signed a second national recording contract with Ark 21 Records, which released the critically-acclaimed “Up There Down Here” album. Still, the group remained loyal to its Northeastern Pennsylvania roots and also appeared annually at the former “Concert For Karen/Concert For A Cause,” which raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for local charities.

“As great as a band as they are, they’re just a great as people,” said Stout, who as a former newspaper reporter and columnist wrote more than 40 articles about The Badlees and its members side projects and, as a radio show host, produced seven radio specials spotlighting the group. “And, after all of these years, their fans still feel a deep connection to the music. The songwriting is in the same caliber as Springsteen, Petty and Mellencamp. Their most recent album is just as good as their first. But they’ve also really evolved as artists. You can ask anyone that’s followed them over the years and they’ll all tell you the same thing … the songwriting, the musicianship, the vocals, the harmonies, the live performances … it’s the whole package.”

 Today, The Badlees fan base continues to extend throughout Pennsylvania, from Harrisburg to Wilkes-Barre to every town in-between. In 2021, the band was inducted in the Central Pennsylvania Music Hall of Fame and in 2022, the group released its ninth full-length studio album, simply titled “The Badlees.” In the fall of 2023, the group will be inducted into the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame.

 Stout says Visit Luzerne County is proud to be bringing the band back home for this Friday’s Rockin’ The River event.

“The Badlees have been on our radar for a few years,” said Stout. “This year, it finally worked out. And it just feels right. The band first built its following in towns all along the Susquehanna River. The Susquehanna River is actually featured on the cover of the ‘River Songs’ album. And so to be bringing the band to Wilkes-Barre for a show right along the Susquehanna … I can’t think of anything more fitting.”

 Major sponsors of Rockin’ The River are Geisinger, DiscoverNEPA, the City of Wilkes-Barre and Mountain Productions. For more info about Rockin’ The River, visit www.vistluzernecounty.com

 (Badlees photo credit: Jim Gavenus)