(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- State Theatre New Jersey presents 38 Special – 50 Year Legacy Tour on Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 7:30pm. Celebrating 50 years together, 20 million albums sold, and more than 15 albums of guitar-driven southern rock, stacked high with hits like "Hold On Loosely," "Caught Up In You," "If I'd Been The One," "Back Where You Belong," and "Second Chance." Opening the night is singer-songwriter Steven Keene.
Formed in 1974, the band toured tirelessly from the start, sharpening the explosive live show that's been 38 Special's calling card for a half-century. Along the way, the Florida natives fine-tuned their sound, too: a blend of muscle, melody, and arena-rock pop hooks that would soon become staples of FM radio. As 38 Special enters its sixth decade together, the music continues with Milestone. It's the band's first studio album in more than 20 years, and it shows a group of road warriors with plenty of miles left in the tank. Fueled by snarling guitars, anthemic melodies, and the desire to break new ground, they update their sound for the 2020s, bridging the gap between past and present, without forgetting their rock & roll roots.
"After all this time, we wanted to create a more modern 38 Special album," says frontman and co-founder Don Barnes. "This is a fresh, updated approach to the sound we've been making together for so long. Why not make a big statement after all these years? When you're reintroducing yourself to the world, 'good enough' doesn't work anymore. If you're gonna do it, you might as well go big."
Go big, indeed. Milestone opens with the larger-than-life roar of Barnes' voice, delivering a line that might as well be the band's mission statement—"Don't wanna ever slow down!"—over amplified guitars and a booming backbeat. The song itself is called "So Much So Right," and it's a kinetic, riff-heavy anthem that splits the difference between Robert Palmer's aggressive stomp and modern rock's heavy swagger.
To revisit—and reimagine—the tightly-constructed sound that turned 38 Special into platinum-selling artists, the band turned to an old friend.
Decades earlier, they'd struck up a partnership with Jim Peterik, founder of the band Survivor. Sitting around his kitchen table in 1980, Barnes and Peterik co-wrote "Hold On Loosely" with 38 Special's original guitarist Jeff Carlisi. One year later, the same trio wrote "Caught Up In You." Those songs became defining songs not only of a decade, but of an entire genre, and Milestone gave the band a chance to work with Peterik once again.
Barnes has been putting in the work ever since he formed 38 Special in Jacksonville, Florida, joining forces with co-founder Donnie Van Zant—the younger brother of Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant—as well a talented vocalist who left 38 Special's lineup in 2013 due to inner-ear nerve damage. The group had dedicated itself to the long, steady climb from small clubs to big arenas. "We had rehearsals every night, working for four hours after our day jobs were done," he recalls. "We sacrificed everything: birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. We felt like we had to be five steps ahead of ourselves. We were fiercely committed." Years later, that dedicated spirit is alive and well on Milestone, but Barnes isn't looking to repeat himself. Instead, he's turning a page.
"I'll always respect and revere the original guys in this band," he says. "We went through hell together. We suffered, starved, and ultimately triumphed. We risked it all, rolled the dice with nothing to fall back on, and ended up rocking arenas around the world. Through the bleakest of times, all we had was each other. We were our own support group. Let me tell you, those guys are the finest people I could've gone through my youth with and we're still friends. In my mind, they are legends and kings. We love each other and stay in touch. And we all can't believe that it's been 50 years!"
Tickets start at $58 and are available for purchase online or by calling State Theatre Guest Services at 732-246-SHOW (7469). State Theatre Guest Services, located at 15 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, NJ, is open by phone and email only, Tuesday through Friday from 11:00am to 5:00pm. For in-person purchases, Guest Services is open Tuesday through Friday from 12:00pm to 4:30pm. Additional ticket and transaction fees may apply.
After major renovations, State Theatre New Jersey celebrated its 100th Anniversary in December 2021 in a fully renovated theater. Originally built as a silent film and vaudeville palace, State Theatre's historic significance was honored by PBS by featuring it in its documentary series, Treasures of New Jersey, in the fall of 2018. "Treasures of New Jersey: State Theatre New Jersey" can be streamed online.
Today, State Theatre is the largest performing arts center in Central New Jersey and has welcomed more than 6.5 million people through its doors since reopening as a nonprofit performing arts center in 1988. State Theatre New Jersey is a cornerstone of the cultural vitality of Middlesex County and averages a total economic impact on New Brunswick and the surrounding area of more than $18 million a year. The mainstage programs have featured high-caliber artists such as Diana Ross, Tom Jones, Kevin Hart, Ringo Starr, Melissa Etheridge, John Leguizamo, Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Program offerings include Broadway, orchestra, family, dance, comedy, rock/pop, jazz, Performances for Schools, and Sensory-Friendly Performances.
State Theatre New Jersey's programs are made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. For information on events, go to MiddlesexCountyCulture.com.
