(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) — ROCK New Brunswick - an expanded version of Hub City Sounds’ annual local music festival - will take place from Friday, September 8 to Sunday, September 10th throughout New Brunswick.  The festival will be a celebration of New Brunswick's diversity, music, history, entrepreneurship and economic development throughout five events, three of which are free.

The festival is presented by New Brunswick Cultural Center’s Hub City Sounds, Smugbug Productions and NJ Music Media Partnership in association with Volume IV, NJ Skateshop, Caroline Romanelli Presents, and Scarlet Pub.

The weekend includes:

New Brunswick Music Scene Archive ROCK New Brunswick Panel Discussion, 7:00pm to 9:00pm, Friday, September 8, Rutgers University Alexander Library, 169 College Ave. Panelists will be announced soon. 

Alcohol-free all-ages ROCK New Brunswick Warmup Party with Mr. Payday, Spowder , Glazer and Schwervon! from Kansas, 7:00pm to midnight Saturday, September 9, Volume IV, 120 Jersey Ave. $5

Alcohol-free all-ages ROCK New Brunswick Warmup Party with Neighborhood Watch DJ collective, 8:00pm to 11:00pm, Saturday, September 9, NJ Skateshop, 160 Easton Ave. (across the street from Scarlet Pub). Free show

ROCK New Brunswick festival, noon to 6:00pm, Sunday, September 10, Boyd Park, Memorial Parkway at Commercial Avenue. FREE admission with DIY Market, food trucks, busking artists, free community workshops with Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership, LEGO Play, and Brodsky Center for Innovative Print of Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, and performances by:

Noon-12:30: Killer Shrimp

12:30-12:40: Vertical Fixation aerial acrobats 

12:40-1:10: Nalani & Sarina 

1:10-1:20: DJ Don Dazzo (of Whirling Dervishes and Everlounge)

1:20-1:50: Cook Thugless 

1:50-2: Vertical Fixation

2-2:30: The Anderson Council  

2:30-2:40: DJ Don Dazzo 

2:40-3:10: Silent Knight  & The Band Called FUSE 

3:10-3:20: Vertical Fixation

3:20-4: Sharief in Burgundy feat. Sharief Hobley (John Legend, Alicia Keys, Amandla, Spy Godz) 

4-4:10: DJ Don Dazzo

4:10-4:50: Hub City Stompers 

5-6: (to be announced July 31)

ROCK New Brunswick After Party with Speed Queen, Experiment 34, and The Clydes, 8:00pm-11:00pm, Sunday, September 10, Scarlet Pub. 21 and up. $5. 

ROCK New Brunswick mainly was curated and will be co-promoted by 19 music media outlets working in conjunction and cooperation with each other. They are NJ Music Media Partnership: Carousel Arts, CoolDad Music, Danny Coleman's ROCK on RADIO, Gardenstatehiphop.com, Jersey Beat, Jersey Indie, Jersey Rock, Live from the Dining Room, Makin Waves, MyCentralJersey, MikeroMedia, New Brunswick Music Scene Archive, NJArts.net, New Jersey Stage, The Pop Break, Speak Into My Good Eye, WRAT 95.9FM, and WRSU - Rutgers Radio.

Boyd Park headliner, DIY Market vendors, food trucks and other details will be announced soon. For updates, visit their facebook page. For DIY Market info, click here.

ROCK New Brunswick sponsors include Hub City Sounds, New Brunswick Cultural Center, Smugbug Productions, Carousel Arts, CoolDad Music, Danny Coleman's Rock On Radio, Garden State Hip Hop, Jersey Beat, Jersey Indie, Jersey Rock, Live from the Dining Room, Makin Waves, My Central Jersey, MikeroMedia, New Brunswick Music Scene Archive, NJ Arts, New Jersey Stage, The Pop Break, Speak into My Good Eye, WRAT 95.9 the Rat, WRSU 88.7 Rutgers Radio, Volume IV, NJ Skateshop, Caroline Romanelli Presents, and Scarlet Pub.

Hub City Sounds is the FREE annual summer-long, multi-ethnic concert series of New Brunswick Cultural Center, mostly along the scenic New Brunswick waterfront of the Raritan River. Hub City Sounds 2017 includes (all locations in Boyd Park unless indicated):

Guelaguetza, featuring the beautiful music, cultural dances, healing traditions, and heritage of Oaxaca, Mexico, 1:00pm to 6:00pm, Sunday, July 23

2^nd Annual Indo-American Festival, 1:00pm to 6:00pm, Saturday, August 12 

2^nd Annual Caribbean Festival, noon to 6:00pm, Saturday, August 26

5^th Annual Central Jersey Jazz Festival, 1:00pm to 6:00pm, Saturday, September 16, Livingston Avenue at George Street

Raritan River Festival, 11:00am to 5:30pm, September 24, featuring live music, vendors, new Brunswick Community Farmers market, children’s activities, cardboard canoe race, and the Beez Foundation’s annual Rubber Ducky Race with prizes for winners

3^rd Annual Corazon Latino Festival, 11:00am to 4:00pm, Sunday, October 8, Joyce Kilmer Park, 294 Comstock St., part of New Brunswick Ciclovia.

Hub City Sounds is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, City of New Brunswick, New Brunswick City Market, and Magyar Bank. All events feature free parking. Boyd Park events also features free parking in the city’s Public Safety Building at 55 Commercial Ave., right over the Commercial Avenue Bridge into the park. 

New Brunswick Cultural Center is a nonprofit umbrella organization working to support, promote and develop arts, art education and community arts engagement in the New Brunswick area in partnership with resident companies State Theatre of New Jersey, George Street Playhouse, Crossroads Theatre Co., American Repertory Ballet, Zimmerli Art Museum, and Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, as well as coLAB Arts, City of New Brunswick and more.  

Visit www.newbrunswickarts.org. For more about Hub City Sounds, click here.

 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Renaissance Quartet Brings Bold Innovation and Classical Mastery to McCarter Theatre on Thursday

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Prepare to be captivated by the Renaissance Quartet, featuring violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass. Graduates of the Juilliard School and mentored by the legendary Itzhak Perlman, the Quartet brings a unique blend of classical mastery and innovative flair to McCarter Theatre on Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 7:30pm. Known for reimagining chamber music traditions, this New York based ensemble combines technical excellence with a bold, forward-thinking approach that appeals to a diverse audience.

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State Theatre New Jersey presents Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with support from New Breed Brass Band