Jason Aldean Plays Star Lake; Cultural Trust Hosts Idina Menzel; Dirty Heads Headline Rock, Reggae, and Relief at AE (Sat., 8/10/24)

1) Slip on your cowboy boots and head down to The Pavilion at Star Lake, where Jason Aldean takes center stage. Aldean has accumulated many awards over his career, including Male Vocalist of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year at 2013’s Academy of Country Music Awards. He was born in Macon, Georgia and moved to Nashville at 21. His 2005 self-titled debut album cemented his success and “Why” became his first number-one single on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Aldean was performing in 2017 at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas when a gunman fired into the crowd. Fifty-eight people died; another 851 were injured. The following Saturday, Aldean opened “Saturday Night Live” with a rousing cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Petty had died, of unrelated causes, the day after the shooting. Aldean’s latest album is last year’s Highway Desperado. He is slated to visit Star Lake on his Highway Desperado Tour 2024 with guests Lauren Alaina, Chase Matthew, Austin Snell, and Dee Jay Silver. 7:30 p.m. 665 Rte. 18, Burgettstown. (C.M., M.V.)

Jason Aldean performing at a 2014 concert. (photo: Morgan Williams and Wikipedia)

2)Some years ago, Broadway star Idina Menzel‘s career (which was doing quite nicely already, thank you) was  unexpectedly hijacked by a song from a Disney movie. She had established herself as a top stage actress and singer with Tony Awards for her featured role in Rent and for the lead role, as the Wicked Witch, in Wicked. But when Menzel voiced Queen Elsa in the 2013 animated movie Frozen, her song “Let It Go” rocketed her to a whole new level of mass-market fame. Since then she has continued voicing Elsa in Frozen follow-ups while branching out in several directions. Showing significant range, Menzel starred in the 2022 true-crime film American Murderer and the 2023 Netflix comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, while also guest-judging on “Ru Paul’s Drag Race All Stars.” She has toured regularly as a vocalist, and in her latest album, last year’s Drama Queen, she ventures into disco-type beats and new power ballads. But you can bet the setlist will still include a certain Elsa song when Idina Menzel comes to Benedum Center on her Take Me Or Leave Me Tour. 8 p.m. 237 7th St., Cultural District. (R.H., M.V.)

3) “Hey mon, come on down to Stage AE cause we be jammin’ for Rock Reggae and Relief 2024“ with Dirty Heads, The Movement, The Elovaters, Third World, Roots of Creation, and local talents FUBAR. “Rock Reggae & Relief is a charity reggae music festival that brings people together in love and unity and raises money for our neighbors in need. RRR 24 is raising money for Pittsburgh Scholar House and their Wayfinders Scholarship Fund.” The event is produced in association with the the Piatt Family Foundation. So have a blast and help out our neighbors. And if that’s not enough fun, there’s also a free (with ticket) preparty Friday evening at Roost with Roots of Creation. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (R.H.)

4) For four Saturdays every summer and fall, Walnut Street in Shadyside shifts its focus from the usual bustling bevy of bistros and boutiques to putting a bit of music in the air, courtesy of the Shadyside Chamber of Commerce. The annual Jam on Walnut series brings some big names out for free concerts that stop traffic and pack the street. Tonight’s edition features the dance band No Bad JuJu. All of the Jams On Walnut are free to attend. 7 to 11 p.m. 5442 Walnut St., Shadyside.

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