March is nearing its end and spring, at least by the calendar, is here. While the days may be few, there are still a handful of rock concerts coming to the Buckeye State before April arrives that are worth checking out!
This Saturday night, at my favorite small venue, is Brother Cane. They will be making a stop at The King of Clubs. These guys released three albums in the 1990’s and are led by their vocalist Damon Johnson. You may also recognize him as one of the three guitarists in the current Lynyrd Skynyrd band. Tickets can be purchased here. I’ve not seen this band live, but I’ve yet to be disappointed by a show at The King of Clubs.
Wednesday night, Poppy will visit Cleveland’s House of Blues on her They’re All Around Us tour. The pop-metal-internet sensation is fresh off of a performance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show in support of her album that shares the tour’s namesake. Tickets can be purchased here, and range from $39.50-$69.50. I’ve seen her once and found her show to be very entertaining and I enjoyed it. The House of Blues is also a cool, historic venue to see a concert in.
March 29th, the last Saturday of the month, brings two big time bands from the “nu-metal” era for a pair of arena shows.
In the capital city of Columbus, Deftones will be performing at Nationwide Arena. They’ve never been my thing and I haven’t been impressed by their live shows in the past. However, their recent career resurgence has them playing at one of the larger venues in the state, so I must acknowledge their relevance. The Mars Volta will be opening the concert and tickets can be purchased here. It does appear that the show is sold out, so you’ll unfortunately need to be prepared to pay re-sale prices.
The other arena show going on that night will take place in the Queen City of Cincinnati. Coming to Heritage Bank Center is the band Disturbed. Tickets are available from $29 to $182 and can be purchased here. Daughtry and Nothing More are the opening acts for this show. I’ve seen Disturbed live several times and have always enjoyed them. The Chicago metal act has been active since 1994 and have been touring pretty relentlessly for the past ten years or so. I’d vouch for this one, of the remaining March concerts coming to Ohio, as the best bang for your buck. If these aren’t your jam, don’t fret, Ohio is welcoming a jam packed April and it is sure to have a little something for everyone!
Well, I’m going to start this one with the elephant in the room. The first Buckeye Motorcycle and Music Rally festival in Columbus, OH (at least on Saturday, I didn’t attend Friday) was horribly attended. I don’t know who dropped the ball. I don’t know if this was promoted poorly or if tickets were too expensive or if there were just too many other things to do in Columbus on this day, but I genuinely felt bad for all involved. I felt bad for whomever put this event on, because I don’t see any way that they made any return on their investment to host this event. I felt bad for the dozens of pop up shops and food trucks that had nobody to serve. I felt bad for the three great bands that likely haven’t played to crowds this small in ages.
With that said, each of the three bands that I took in, remained professional and put on great shows. At 6 p.m. Fuel took to the stage. The Pennsylvania rock band had played this venue before at 2014’s Rock on the Range Festival, which was the last time I had seen them perform. At this point in the evening there were only a few hundred people in the massive stadium to catch their set, and that’s a shame because they were on top of their game. The people in the pit area to the right of the band was spirited and engaged and I believe kept the band inspired to put on a good performance. Honestly, with as poorly attended as this was, the event’s organizers should have began massively discounting ticket prices a month ago to try to recoup some cost and they also should have allowed everyone on to the stadium floor yesterday as it became apparent that dividing the fans into areas made the crowd size look even smaller. At one point the band even remarked that they didn’t care if they were playing to 5 people or 15,000. Most importantly, the band sounded great and were able to debut a new song from an upcoming album release that they seemed genuinely excited about. Of course, their late 90’s and early 2000’s anthems “Shimmer” and “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)” were very well received by the fans in attendance but the prospect of new music is always welcome by fans and band alike.
Fuel performing “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)”.
I was very excited for the next performer of the night; Oliver Anthony. I believe that this was his first visit to Columbus. I don’t do many reviews of country artists or go to many country shows. Country music has become so commercial over the past twenty years with so many of the radio friendly artists honestly being the farthest thing from country. In recent years, however, there has been an uptick of talent being exposed that is more representative of real country music. Oliver Anthony fits that mold. His band was fantastic and brought their brand of foot stompin’, back porch sittin’, Blue Ridge Mountain music to life. After a brief Bible reading and a performance of “Amazing Grace”, Anthony would also remark about the scarcity of the crowd; commenting that “I guess tonight will be an intimate affair” or something to that effect. When their set began at 7:30 the crowd may have been pushing 1,500 spectators. While the attendees were few, the ones that came enjoyed the band in a steady rain for the majority of the set. Obviously, the highlight was their 2023 anthem “Rich Men North of Richmond”, a song that resonated with millions of Americans from every sort of background that are fed up with being sold out by the suits in Washington, D.C. However, if you haven’t dug into the rest of their catalog yet, you are sorely missing out. Songs like “Cobwebs and Cocaine”, “Ain’t Gotta Dollar”, “I Want To Go Home”, and “I’ve Got To Get Sober” as well as a cover of Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen” were all highlights as well as many more. These are the types of songs that I mean when I say real country. These are the types of songs and the type of music that depict the kind of struggles that those rich men North of Richmond know nothing about. The band concluded their set with “Rich Men North of Richmond” and had three minutes left of stage time when it concluded…so they played it again, much to the delight of the rain soaked yet raucous crowd. Normally, they would also include a cover of “Free Bird”, which was requested from the crowd but Anthony quipped that “someone else had to play that one tonight.”
At 9 o’ clock it was time for the event’s headlining act, the iconic Lynyrd Skynyrd, to make their first appearance at Crew Stadium and their first visit to Columbus since 2012 when they opened the city’s Columbus Commons venue in downtown. That show was the first time that I was able to officially review this legendary group and photograph them as they toured in support of their Last of a Dyin’ Breed record. As they have every time that I’ve been fortunate enough to see them (I believe last night was #12 since the 2006 tour with 3 Doors Down and Shooter Jennings), they brought their best effort. This was my first time seeing them since the passing of guitarist Gary Rossington last spring, and while Damon Johnson has mighty big shoes to fill, he served admirably and the band is now able to continue on and keeping some of the greatest music ever written alive and relevant in the live setting. I’d imagine that by the time that Skynyrd took the stage that the crowd had probably reached a few thousand strong and the rain held off for the rest of the night. The Jacksonville band played their pretty standard 14 song set and while there weren’t many surprises, I imagine it is nearly impossible to find the perfect set list unless they were going to play until 3 a.m. Alas, they wrapped up around 10:30, sounding as good as ever. I hope that at some point Columbus gets another shot to see this band before they hang ’em up for good. If I don’t get a chance to see them again, I was glad to be there throughout the years. They always made sure to “play it pretty” for Cincinnati, Columbus, Cuyahoga Falls, Toledo, and Dayton in all of the different venues that I saw them play. Not only did I get to see them all of those times, the supporting acts that they’ve brought out on the road has also been the stuff of legend: Hank Williams, Jr., ZZ Top, Bad Company, 3 Doors Down, Justin Moore, Shooter Jennings, Black Stone Cherry, Blue Oyster Cult, The Marshall Tucker Band, and .38 Special are just some of the groups that I’ve also seen along the way as a touring partner of the Lynyrd Skynyrd band.
Lynyrd Skynyrd. Few bands throughout the history of time have carried the weight that the group from Jacksonville, Florida has had to endure. Their history is well known. One of the biggest bands of the 70’s were tragically cut down in their prime when their plane ran out of fuel and crashed in a Mississippi forest. They were on their way from South Carolina to Louisiana for the next show of their 1977 tour. Their lead singer, Ronnie Van Zant, and lead guitarist Steve Gaines would perish in the accident. Steve’s sister and backup vocalist Cassie Gaines as well as their assistant road manager and both pilots would also succumb to the crash. The surviving passengers, including the rest of the band, were very seriously injured.
Gary Rossington performing with Lynyrd Skynyrd in Columbus, OH in 2012. Photos by Chad Hobbs.
Over the course of time, the band would begin to put the pieces back together with Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny taking over on lead vocals. As if Death had some sort of vendetta against them, tragedy would strike this band over and over and over again throughout the next 45+ years. Many other members that have graced this band have gone on to pass away since the plane crash. No matter the circumstances, the surviving members have always continued to forge a path forward and carry on the legacy of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s music.
That legacy was already rock solid before the plane crash, but with yesterday’s news of Gary Rossington’s passing, it feels like the final chapter of this epic will soon be complete. Rossington was one of the band’s lead guitarists and was the last remaining original member of the band. He wasn’t the flashy, look-at-me, guitar virtuoso type. The songs that the band wrote were good enough to stand up on their own. I always respected that about him. His bandmate Rickey Medlocke is a fine guitar player himself and plays with an intense enthusiasm that often puts him in the spotlight, but Rossington’s underrated songwriting and steady playing from the shadows are a fitting metaphor for this hard working, mysterious band. Lynyrd Skynyrd has been in the midst of their farewell tour for the past several years, trying like hell to visit each city that put their music on the map one last time. Their plans had included wrapping up their touring days this year. I imagine that they may finish their scheduled dates before gracefully bowing out and leaving behind one of the most beloved musical legacies, shrouded in heartache and mystique, secure in the fact that they did things the right way. In the wise words of both Ronnie and Johnny Van Zant beckoning to Gary Rossington, before playing “Free Bird” to close out their concerts: ‘Play it pretty for….(every city they have played).‘ One thing I hope is certain, now that he’s made it home to the rest of the band, the heavens are surely getting a concert for the ages that hasn’t been seen since 1977.
I first saw Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2006 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Skynyrd has always held a special place in the heart of my family, so I made sure that that gig was a family affair. I was fortunate to catch nearly every tour, since then, whenever they made stops in Ohio. To give you an idea of just how well respected Lynyrd Skynyrd is, ponder the following artists that I’ve seen support them on tour: 3 Doors Down. Hank Williams, Jr. .38 Special. Blue Oyster Cult. ZZ Top. Justin Moore. Alex Winston. Shooter Jennings. Bad Company. Black Stone Cherry. The Marshall Tucker Band. Are you kidding me? Most of these bands have iconic legacies of their own, but from the up and coming bands of the future all the way to classic rock royalty; nobody minded opening up for Lynyrd Skynyrd. And can you blame them? Could you imagine being the band that had to try and go on after them just playing “Free Bird”? Get outta here.
A few highlights included seeing them from the front row at the small venue now known as KEMBA Live, being an approved photographer and concert reviewer of their 2012 and 2013 shows in Columbus and Cincinnati, and lastly seeing them (likely for the final time) in an arena show in Toledo where I was able to take all of my children to see the mighty Lynyrd Skynyrd band. That Toledo show happened to be the 41st anniversary of the plane crash, and as always, they left everything out there on that stage that night. I will truly miss seeing this band when they leave the stage for good.
I leave you with my ranking the Top 15 Lynyrd Skynyrd songs that Gary Rossington wrote or co-wrote:
Rock Lives Here 