Tip #1: Wear comfortable shoes.
Tip #2: Prepare to sing along. A lot.
Tip #3: Don’t expect slow songs.
That’s the best advice that’s been offered by Paul Smith, the Saints & Sinners chair for the 5th Annual Party on the Plaza that’s scheduled for this Saturday from 5-11 p.m. at Market Plaza. Along with three band performances, several food trucks, and beer and wine stands will operate, and the proceeds from the event benefit WVU Medicine Children’s hospital in Morgantown.
“It’s a terrific party that raises funds for a great cause, and we book incredible talent for our entertainment. All three are party bands, and that’s very much on purpose,” Smith said. “It’s called ‘The Summer’s Hottest Party’ for a reason. You won’t hear any slow songs at this event, that’s for sure.
“It’s a great, high-energy vibe,” he said. “Our three bands will keep us moving, and Tongue n’ Cheek is a local favorite who loves to have a great time with the audience. It’s going to be a great night.”
The evening’s entertainment will feature The Big Badd out of Columbus, Twan Moore & The Party Train from Pittsburgh, and Tongue n’ Cheek. Tickets for Party on the Plaza can be purchased at PartyOnThePlaza.org,
“We’re going to give the crowd 90 minutes of high-energy party music that will be the ultimate 80’s arena rock experience,” said Scott Conners, one of four members of Tongue n’ Cheek. “We’ll transport everyone back in time. It’ll be like getting into the time machine DeLorean, but instead of starting in 1985 and going back to 1955, we’ll start in 2025 and take everyone back to the middle of the 1980s.
“There’s going to be big hair, big lights, big lasers, big smoke, and big, big fire,” he said. “It’ll be the biggest arena show you’ve ever seen on Market Plaza.”
The local rockers recently celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band, and they have as much fun on stage as the audience does in front.
“We have a blast playing the songs from when we were a lot younger than we are today, and the show is a lot of fun, too,” Conners said. “It was a great era of rock n’ roll that still has a lot of fans today, and our crowds really enjoy what we do during our shows. We play the part with the hair and everything else, and the crowds love it.”
Along with the head-banging, The Big Badd will bring their infused big band style to the Panhandle Stage.
“We’re a party band based out of Columbus and we feature multiple singers and a horn section, and we play the most popular music with our own spin,” explained band member Ian Harrah. “We write different arrangements, we’ll do some mashups, and in the end, it’s kind of jazz infused with pop music.
“Our band performs at times with seven players and at other times, eleven,” he said. “This Saturday in Wheeling, we’ll have 10 members on stage with three horns, two singers, guitar, bass, drums, and keys. It’s going to be a great show and we’re all excited to come to Wheeling.”
The song list, Harrah said, will be eclectic while featuring tunes from a number of eras and genres.
“We’ll perform some Earth, Wind, & Fire, some Marvin Gaye, and some Stevie Wonder, but we’ll also do some Britney Spears, Bruno Mars, and there will some Queen in there, too,” Harrah said. “We go back to the 60s, 70, and 80s, and we also do a lot of tunes from the last 15 years, so it’s a little bit of everything with a lot of orchestration.
“We play a lot of weddings during the course of the year, so our job is to get the dance floors packed every weekend,” he explained. “So, we know which songs will get people out there, keep them there, and keep them moving by avoiding any dead times in the music. That’s something we’re really proud of when we play.”
Twan Moore & The Party Train’s song list also features the classics that’s popular with fans from most demographics.
“It’s a show people of all ages can really enjoy because they’ll be familiar with it,” Sherwood said. “We performed at a community festival and it was a family oriented event, and the teenagers were out there dancing along with the seniors,” said Barb Sherwood, the band’s manager. “So, that’s why I believe there’s something for everyone when this band plays.”
The crowd this Saturday evening, Sherwood insisted, should expect to hear the fan favorites from the last 40 years.
“Any guest that shows up is going to have a blast when we’re on stage because the band is named Twan Moore and The Party Train because it’s a party,” she said. “Twan is high energy from the first note, and they’ll play mostly 90s and 2000s RB, but he’ll be throwing in some other things as well
“So, everyone can expect a great time, and you can come out and dance, or enjoy watching all the fun. No matter what, it’ll be a perfect show for you,” Sherwood added. “He’ll even throw in some Motown, Justin Timberlake, and some current songs and some classics, too. Most people in the crowd will know the words to most of the songs they’ll perform this Saturday.”
