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August 11, 2024

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Five For Fighting made their long awaited return to Cleveland's House of Blues on Friday night.  John Ondrasik, the man behind the name, brought his three piece rock band that features Pete Thorn on guitar, Randy Cook on drums and Why Not? on bass to support him.

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Kicking off the show with "America Town," Ondrasik led the enthusiastic crowd with many different songs from throughout his twenty plus year career.

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The fifty-nine year still has amazing range in his voice and can easily hit the high notes and proved that on songs like "'65 Mustang" and his mega hit, "100 years."

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Ondrasik mentioned his favorite memory of playing in Cleveland.  He noted that was playing when the Browns broke their record losing streak and he and the bartenders celebrated so much afterwards, that he was unable to perform his next show. 

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He also mentioned that his last three singles have been inspired by current events: The war in Afghanistan, the invasion of Ukraine and the Hammas attacks in Israel.  He said that everyone has a voice and they should feel free to use it.  He then played "Can One Man Save the World" and "Ok (We're Not Ok)."  Before that latter, he asked the crowd why more people can't come out and state that what Hammas did was wrong.  Not making a political statement, but rather a humanitarian one.

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John lightened the mood by talking about the all the great music he grew up listening to in the '70s.  He reminisced about going to a junior high dance and hearing this song as he began to play the intro to Journey's "Open Arms" which brought a laugh from the audience.  He then went into a fantastic cover of "Rocket Man" by Elton John.

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The band then ended the main set with their biggest hit "Superman" that had everyone singing and dancing along.

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They returned to encore with another great cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody."

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It was a great night of music played by great musicians on a beautiful Cleveland evening. 

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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