One night only! Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Shoshana Bean, known for her work in The Lost Boys, Hell’s Kitchen, Wicked, and Waitress, brings her Only Smoke Tour to UCPAC’s Main Stage in Rahway, NJ for an unforgettable evening of powerhouse vocals and Broadway pedigree.
Moana Sing-Along – Popcorn & Pajamas
Come ride the waves of Disney’s stunning animated adventure Moana, and sing along to its unforgettable soundtrack! With on-screen lyrics to beloved songs like How Far I’ll Go, You’re Welcome, and We Know the Way, Moana Sing-Along is an interactive, not-to-be-missed musical celebration at the Hamilton Stage, part of UCPAC’s Popcorn & Pajamas family film series.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 35mm
Raised in the sewers of New York, bathed in radioactive ooze, and trained in the art of ninjutsu by their rat sensei Splinter, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael, are heroes in a half shell! Don’t miss this totally tubular adventure screened in genuine 35mm at UCPAC’s Main Stage.
All-4-One – Mayor’s Concert Series
Mayor Raymond A. Giacobbe and the Rahway City Council present Grammy Award winning R&B and pop group All-4-One in a free concert, part of the Mayor’s Concert Series bringing free live entertainment to the community at UCPAC’s Main Stage. All-4-One is best known for their multi-platinum hit I Swear and a catalog of smooth vocal harmonies that helped define 90s R&B.
Latin Percussion Camp – August 17-21
Join UCPAC Kaleidoscope Kids Camp for Latin Percussion Week, running August 17 through 21, and check out UCPAC’s other great summer day camps for kids ages 7 to 12. This hands-on week introduces young musicians to the rhythms and instruments of Latin percussion in a fun, camp-style setting at the Hamilton Stage.
BLITZKID: Modern Hel Tour 2026 (Night 2)
Horror punk legends BLITZKID return to the road in support of their long-awaited new studio album, MODERN HEL, their first full length release in sixteen years. Formed in 1997 in Bluefield, West Virginia and led by singer-guitarist TB Monstrosity and bassist-singer Argyle Goolsby, Blitzkid quickly became one of the most influential bands in modern horror punk and has remained one of the genre’s leading exponents ever since. Known for their driving punk energy, dark atmosphere, and unforgettable melodic hooks, the band has built an international following through decades of touring across the globe, performing at festivals from Wave Gotik Treffen to Wacken Open Air. With MODERN HEL, Blitzkid enters a powerful new chapter, keeping the band’s signature haunting melodies and anthemic choruses intact while pushing their sound into more aggressive territory, incorporating a blistering fusion of thrash and hardcore they’ve never explored before. The Modern Hel Tour brings this new era to stages across the country, performing classics spanning their catalog alongside brand new material. A limited VIP meet and greet experience is available, including early entry, exclusive merchandise, and a pre-show acoustic performance.
BLITZKID: Modern Hel Tour 2026 (Night 1)
Horror punk legends BLITZKID return to the road in support of their long-awaited new studio album, MODERN HEL, their first full length release in sixteen years. Formed in 1997 in Bluefield, West Virginia and led by singer-guitarist TB Monstrosity and bassist-singer Argyle Goolsby, Blitzkid quickly became one of the most influential bands in modern horror punk and has remained one of the genre’s leading exponents ever since. Known for their driving punk energy, dark atmosphere, and unforgettable melodic hooks, the band has built an international following through decades of touring across the globe, performing at festivals from Wave Gotik Treffen to Wacken Open Air. With MODERN HEL, Blitzkid enters a powerful new chapter, keeping the band’s signature haunting melodies and anthemic choruses intact while pushing their sound into more aggressive territory, incorporating a blistering fusion of thrash and hardcore they’ve never explored before. The Modern Hel Tour brings this new era to stages across the country, performing classics spanning their catalog alongside brand new material. A limited VIP meet and greet experience is available, including early entry, exclusive merchandise, and a pre-show acoustic performance.
Gary Ho Ho Hoey – Rockin Holiday Show
World renowned rock guitarist Gary Hoey’s first break came in 1987, when Ozzy Osbourne liked his audition tape enough to fly him out to LA, and though the gig ultimately went to Zakk Wylde, Ozzy urged Hoey to relocate anyway, certain he’d get noticed. He did. In 1992, Hoey’s cover of Hocus Pocus rocketed into Billboard’s Top 5 Rock Tracks, becoming the most frequently played rock song of the year. In 1995, inspired by his mother’s love of Christmas and his own last name, Hoey released the first Ho Ho Hoey album, reimagining holiday classics with crunchy, metal-flavored electric guitar, making history as the first full length rock instrumental holiday album and selling over 350,000 copies. Now more than 30 years and 23 albums into his career, Hoey’s annual Ho Ho Hoey Rockin’ Holiday Tour has become a coast-to-coast tradition for families, blending his festive material with hits like Hocus Pocus and newer songs. His son Ian Hoey now joins him on guitar, and Gary makes a point of coming out after every show to meet fans and sign autographs. The tour also supports veterans through clothing drives and Toys for Tots.
Ours
Ours is the brainchild of singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Gnecco, born and raised right in Teaneck, New Jersey, giving this show a genuine hometown significance. Since forming the band in 1992, Gnecco has remained its sole permanent member, working with a rotating cast of supporting musicians in a format he’s compared to Nine Inch Nails. His passionate delivery and multi-octave vocal range have drawn comparisons to Jeff Buckley, Bono, and Matt Bellamy of Muse. After a lengthy major label journey with DreamWorks Records that produced the acclaimed Distorted Lullabies and the Rick Rubin-produced Mercy, the band went independent, releasing Ballet the Boxer in 2013 and New Age Heroine in 2018. In 2021, on the 20th anniversary of Distorted Lullabies, Gnecco released the expansive self-titled album Ours, a 17 track artistic revival split into three chapters. The band has toured with The Wallflowers, Marilyn Manson, A-ha, and Lana Del Rey, and in 2024 Gnecco joined Humanist as a guest vocalist on European dates opening for Jane’s Addiction and Depeche Mode.
JR Richards (Dishwalla Original Singer)
JR Richards is the original lead singer and principal songwriter of the platinum selling alternative rock band Dishwalla, whose 1996 breakout single Counting Blue Cars reached number one on the Alternative Songs chart, won the Billboard Award for Rock Song of the Year, and helped their debut album Pet Your Friends sell over 500,000 copies. Over a career spanning more than 20 years, Richards has sold millions of records and written or produced songs that have appeared in American Pie, How I Met Your Mother, Charmed, Smallville, and One Tree Hill. Since departing Dishwalla in 2008, he’s built a genuine solo career, releasing five albums including his most recent, My Darkest Hour, in 2025, along with an all-acoustic record of his Dishwalla-era songs and a covers album. Known for candid, deeply personal songwriting, Richards has said he’s constantly collecting ideas, whether lyrical fragments, experiences, or melodies, rather than sitting down to write on command. This intimate show promises a night of 90s hits alongside solo deep cuts.
Second Contact with Grunge Junkies
Second Contact, a New Jersey based cover band performing classic rock hits from the 70s, 80s, and beyond, has been electrifying audiences for over a decade. This double bill pairs Second Contact’s prog and classic rock catalog with Grunge Junkies, a tribute act built around the raw, distorted sound and flannel-clad spirit of 90s grunge. Together, the two bands offer a full evening spanning progressive rock’s technical ambition and grunge’s stripped down intensity, an unusual but complementary pairing for fans of either era.
Wendy’s 50+6: Rock & Roll Tribute and a Celebration of Life
Wendy’s 50+6 continues an ongoing tradition at Debonair Music Hall, a recurring rock and roll tribute event held in celebration of life, following past editions including 50+4 and 50+5. The afternoon gathering brings together musicians and community members for a rock and roll tribute set in the venue’s intimate room, blending live performance with genuine remembrance and celebration.
Cole Barnhill
Hailing from what he proudly calls the music capital of the world, Lubbock, Texas, Cole Barnhill kicked off his music career at just 17 years old, cutting his teeth in local bars with his band. Over the past several years, his Texas rock sound has garnered millions of streams across platforms and steadily grown a large, loyal fanbase throughout Texas and its surrounding states. Cole and his band pride themselves on putting on a high energy, engaging rock show built around striking melodic vocals and heavy guitars, bringing a refreshing sound and energy to an oversaturated music scene. After exploding onto the scene with his collaboration Daydreams alongside Texas red dirt giants Treaty Oak Revival, Barnhill has continued building momentum in the modern rock and Texas red dirt country space, with his crew coming out swinging every single show.
School of Rock Maywood
School of Rock Maywood brings its most talented young musicians to the Debonair stage as part of the school’s House Band program. Students in the Performance Program have the opportunity to audition for a spot in the school’s House Band, and once selected, these students become leaders in their School of Rock community, gaining real world experience as gigging musicians while performing live shows at NJ rock venues throughout the year. Performance is the core of School of Rock’s educational approach, and this show gives the school’s most dedicated young performers a genuine stage and a live audience, a milestone moment for students building real confidence as working musicians.
School of Rock Maywood
School of Rock Maywood brings its most talented young musicians to the Debonair stage as part of the school’s House Band program. Students in the Performance Program have the opportunity to audition for a spot in the school’s House Band, and once selected, these students become leaders in their School of Rock community, gaining real world experience as gigging musicians while performing live shows at NJ rock venues throughout the year. Performance is the core of School of Rock’s educational approach, and this show gives the school’s most dedicated young performers a genuine stage and a live audience, a milestone moment for students building real confidence as working musicians.
Jazz at Debonair: Ultrablue and Stix Bones
Ultrablue is a contemporary jazz group performing the music of pianist and writer/producer John Smatla, blending elegant contemporary jazz with Brazilian and Latin music styles, funk and R&B, and pop and rock. Known for tight, sophisticated production and outstanding instrumental performances, the group’s core all-star cast includes David Mann on sax and flute, Chieli Minucci on electric guitar, John Benitez on bass, and Romero Lubambo on acoustic guitar, with jazz luminaries like Randy Brecker, John Patitucci, and Gregoire Maret having appeared as special guests on Ultrablue songs. Sharing the bill is Stix Bones, an urban jazz artist, drummer, and music producer whose career launched with the smooth jazz album Groove Like This, which charted in the top 10 on SmoothJazz.com. Stix served as music director for the Lyricist Lounge, collaborating with De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, and Common, and leads his own powerhouse ensemble The BONE Squad, which has served as the resident house band at The Paradise Theater in the Bronx, opening for Charlie Wilson, Chaka Khan, SWV, and The O’Jays.
Gary Lucas’ Gods & Monsters
Gary Lucas has recorded over 50 acclaimed albums as a leader or co-leader and has toured in over 40 countries worldwide since cutting his teeth as a featured soloist and member of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. He may be best known for co-writing and playing on Jeff Buckley’s landmark album Grace, with Buckley thanking him in the liner notes for his magical guitarness. In 1989, Lucas formed his longtime band Gods and Monsters, a revolving cast of stellar players orbiting his incendiary electric and acoustic guitar playing, described by Rolling Stone as one of the best and most original guitarists in America and his trio as a 21st century Cream. UK bible Melody Maker calls him a true axe god, while MOJO Magazine proclaims him the psychedelic guitarist for the post-modern set, and The New York Times says Lucas plays guitar like Salvador Dali paints. Beyond his own work, Lucas has performed and collaborated with a genuine who’s who of music, including Lou Reed, John Cale, Patti Smith, Chris Cornell, Nick Cave, and Bob Weir, and has given masterclasses at Yale, Columbia, and Rutgers.
The Rockett Mafia
The Rockett Mafia is led by Rikki Rockett, co-founder and only ever drummer of the multi-platinum band Poison, which has sold over 50 million records worldwide behind hits like Talk Dirty to Me, Nothin’ but a Good Time, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and Unskinny Bop. Calling themselves rock and roll evangelists, The Rockett Mafia preaches the gospel of classic rock, reimagining the spirit of the 1970s onward as hard rock anthems delivered with a modern, fuel injected edge. The band’s lineup includes Brandon Gibbs of Devil City Angels on vocals and guitar, Mick Sweda of Bulletboys on guitar, and a rotating bass lineup that has included former Puddle of Mudd bassist Michael Adams. Their performances lean into unexpected, reimagined cover choices, and Rockett has hinted the project may soon head into original material as well. Joined by Starz and Keith Roth & The New Variants.
Parker Barrow
Taking their name from the infamous outlaw duo of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, Parker Barrow is a powerhouse, blues-infused Southern rock and roll band led by vocalist Megan Kane and her husband and drummer Dylan Turner. A chance meeting brought them together in 2019, when Turner was searching for a new singer for his band. The pair immediately hit it off, and within two weeks had formed an acoustic duo and hit the road full time, where they’ve lived ever since. In 2023, the band expanded with the full-time addition of guitarist and musical director Alex Bender, and their vintage sound, drawing from the Allman Brothers, the Black Crowes, Blackberry Smoke, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Whiskey Myers, and Led Zeppelin, remains unmistakably their own. Their 2023 debut album Jukebox Gypsies chronicled the couple’s journey from a serendipitous meeting to navigating life on the road in an RV, with the single Back to Birmingham racking up over a million YouTube views. In 2025 they released the EP Hold the Mash and toured the UK, where their debut performance was called nothing short of explosive.
twomoonsaway Album Release Show
Hailing from Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, twomoonsaway is an indie rock outfit made up of Waverly Panarese, Carlee Ahart, Frank Bason, and Jordyn Bason, with all songs written and played by the band themselves. The group first introduced its dreamy, guitar driven sound with a self-titled EP in 2020, and has continued building a devoted following through tracks like Polaroid, Like a Movie, and Doubletime. This hometown show celebrates the release of their latest music with a full set of new songs alongside fan favorites, joined by Kings & Constables, Shutter, and The Haunting for a night showcasing the region’s homegrown indie rock scene.
Will Wood – The SELF-iSH Tour 2026
Will Wood, born in New Jersey in 1993, is an avant-pop singer-songwriter and comedian known for blending genres like pop rock, jazz, disco, doo-wop, and dark cabaret into a sound entirely his own. His breakout song I/Me/Myself went viral in 2020, introducing his frenetic, piano-driven madness to a much wider audience. Will Wood and the Tapeworms began in 2015 as an experimental musical project born from Wood’s debut album Everything Is a Lot, quickly becoming notorious underground for its occasionally violent stage antics, chaotic crowd-riling, and cabaret-hippie-punk theatrics, following the release of its second and final studio album SELF-iSH in 2016. After years of quiet, the WWATT project has been resurrected for a limited run tour celebrating the tenth anniversary of that landmark album, bringing SELF-iSH back in all its grease-painted glory alongside other fan favorites. To call a Will Wood show a concert feels like an understatement, his live performances are legendary for their unpredictability, rapid-fire shifts in tone, and his ability to command a room that feels both like a high stakes production and an intimate confession.
Mess Fest II: The Refill
Medicated Mess Inc returns to Debonair Music Hall with Mess Fest II: The Refill, a multi-band local showcase in the same spirit as the promoter’s previous packed bills at the venue. Medicated Mess Inc has built a reputation in the North Jersey scene for assembling energetic, all-ages lineups spanning punk, ska, and rock, giving regional bands a real stage and a built-in crowd. Expect a full afternoon and evening of back-to-back sets in Debonair’s intimate club room, the kind of grassroots bill that’s become a staple of the venue’s community-driven calendar.
105.5 WDHA Presents: Plush
Plush is an all-female rock band on a mission to bring rock back to the forefront of the music industry. The band consists of Moriah Formica on vocals, Bella Perron on guitar, Ashley Suppa on bass, and Faith Powell on drums, all under the age of 21 when they first broke out. Their debut album featured the Billboard Top 40 charting singles Hate and Better Off Alone, and since then Plush has electrified audiences supporting Kiss, Alice in Chains, Evanescence, Daughtry, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, Bush, Breaking Benjamin, and Sevendust, along with major festival stages including Welcome to Rockville, Louder Than Life, and Rocklahoma. WDHA’s own Terrie Carr has been a fan since the band’s very first single, calling the group four amazingly talented young ladies, killer on their instruments, with a vocalist that knocked her over. Support comes from Major Moment and Hunter Road.
Joanna Connor
Known as the Queen of Blues Rock Guitar, Joanna Connor is an extraordinary guitarist and singer-songwriter whose incendiary slide guitar solos went viral in 2014, introducing her to a whole new generation of fans. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, Connor got her first guitar at age seven and moved to Chicago in 1984 at just 22 years old with little more than a one-way Greyhound ticket. She spent her first weeks in the city haunting clubs and sitting in wherever she could, quickly connecting with local blues royalty and sharing stages with James Cotton, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page, and A.C. Reed. She formed her own band in 1988, held down two separate residencies of more than 15 years each at the House of Blues and Kingston Mines, and released her debut album Believe It on Blind Pig Records in 1990. Forty years into her career, blues guitar legend Joe Bonamassa sought her out to produce her landmark album 4801 South Indiana Avenue, named for the address of the legendary Chicago blues club Theresa’s Lounge, and the record became her first ever to hit number one on the Billboard Blues chart.
Imagine Lennon Live
This tribute is not about what was, but rather what would have been. John Lennon on tour, accompanied by a superstar rock band including a full brass section, performing not only his Beatles classics but his newly written and current hits as well. An onstage celebration of the music that would define a decade, featuring songs from John’s entire career including Imagine, Just Like Starting Over, Revolution, I Am the Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever, Come Together, Instant Karma, Twist and Shout, Give Peace a Chance, and many more. Scot Michael Arch, who performs as John Lennon, performed with original cast members of Beatlemania, the Tony Award winning Broadway show. After the show closed in 1982, he formed and produced his own presentation, Beatlemania Now, a reprise he continues to this day. In 2014, Scot and Beatlemania Now were selected from the most elite Beatles tribute acts in the country to recreate the Beatles’ very first concert in America at the Washington Coliseum Arena, for the occasion’s 50th anniversary. Scot’s portrayal of John is so spot on that he was chosen and filmed against a green screen backdrop to serve as the template for John Lennon in the 2009 official The Beatles: Rock Band video game.
