Your Weekend: Ke$ha, Darius Rucker at Musikfest

The Patch Musikfest 2013 Guide

5 Tips for Your Musikfest Visit

How Not to Get Arrested at Musikfest

The Weather: More showers and thunderstorms are likely Friday with a high in the low 80s. But the chances of rain fall the further we get into the weekend. Temperatures drop to the 60s Friday night. Saturday is partly cloudy with a high of 83.

The Headliners: Darius Rucker, best known for his days fronting Hootie and the Blowfish, plays the main stage at 8:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $54 and $39. Painted-and-glittered pop party girl Ke$ha is the featured act Saturday, also at 8:30. Tickets are $59 and $34.

The Highlights: Friday night is Latin Night at Festplatz. It kicks off with the Hispanic American League of Artists Dance Expo at 6:30 and continues when veteran New York salsa outfit, the Alex Torres Band hits the stage at 8. Saturday is British Invasion Day at Festplatz from opening at noon til closing at 11. The Wholigans, a Who tribute band, gets things started. They are followed by The English Channel at 2:30, The Blue Meanies at 5 and Beatles tribute band, Strawberry Fields at 8.

For the Little Ones: Outer Space is the craft theme Friday, Monster Madness on Saturday. The Billy Kelly Show plays family friendly music at neighboring Plaza Tropical from noon to 2 p.m., Friday. Erin Lee and the Up Past Bedtime Band has the same time slot on Saturday. Trout Fishing in America, a duo that blends, folk, rock and children’s music, play sets Saturday at 1:30 at Volksplatz and 7 at Liederplatz.

The Classical Musikfest: Quattro Due from Virginia Beach, Va. performs the final Vesper Concert at 5 p.m. at Central Moravian Church. Muriel Anderson plays folk, jazz and classical guitar at the Moravian Church Old Chapel at 7:30.

The Best of the Free Platzes: The Dustbowl Revival from Venice, Calif., plays a mixture of bluegrass and jug and swamp blues at Liederplatz at 5 Friday and noon Saturday. Fright Barker & Sons from New York play a combination of jump blues and Dixie punk at Plaza Tropical at 6:30—an interesting warmup for Bethlehem’s Hector Rosado whose 10-piece band will play salsa, merengue and make you want to dance. Moondog Medicine Show (Friday, noon at Volksplatz) and John the Conqueror (Friday, 7:30 at Main Street) certainly have names that intrigue a blues fan. Finally, Los Straitjackets are worth checking out for their antics, which include the wearing of Mexican wrestling masks, poorly pronounced Spanish song introductions and decent surfer music chops.

The Late Night Musikfest: On Friday night, get some laughs with The Associated Mess, a local improv comedy group, performing at the Banko at 11:15. Bethlehem’s Lucky 7 plays the R&B dance hits from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Musikfest Café. For something a little more eclectic, check out avant-soul cellist Trever Exter at the TD Bank Community Stage in front of the ArtsQuest Center at 11.

Click here for the full Friday and Saturday Musikfest schedule.