As Musikfest winds down, the best way to end the festival is with a Musikfest staple, The Slicked Up 9’s. As far as I can remember, every year The Slicked Up 9’s play towards the end of Musikfest and can be seen in front of Hotel Bethlehem for two days with about three hour set times. They do take a break during their sets, but when they are playing it is nonstop swing, jazz, and rock with little to no talk in between songs.

The crowds each year have progressively gotten bigger to the point where you need to go off the street to get around them. There is usually seating and most people are standing, but there is always a constant flow of people dancing through the majority of their set. The Slicked Up 9’s fill their set with originals from their album Nine Lives, but also do great renditions of covers like “Watts Local”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and other big band along with modern songs with their own twist.

For a band that calls Bethlehem their home since 1998, Slicked Up 9’s may be the longest original running local band in the Lehigh Valley. There are plenty of cover bands in the Lehigh Valley that have been around for some time and maybe longer, but Slicked Up 9’s aren’t just a cover band. They are far from just a cover band, and year after year they always bring a massive crowd to their Musikfest shows. I don’t know what main act headliner would match their style on the main stage, but maybe one year we will see them perform on the main stage at Musikfest.