Riverbend Blog Home

With The Moody Blues on Saturday, our second season here at PNC Pavilion has come to an end. Since our little Blog wasn’t up for most of the concerts this season, I’m going to try to do a little recap with some of my comments on the shows and also share some pictures and videos with you. I hope you enjoy. Please also comment with your stories from the season! I’m not sure if you can post pictures in your comments…but if you can please do! Either way we would love to hear your feedback and comments. Thanks!

So we begin with Kings of Leon, the first SOLD OUT show at PNC Pavilion, on May 12th. I wrote a pretty lengthy test Blog on this show, but I will give you now a clip from YouTube of the show…enjoy…

On June 13th we had O.A.R. with The Wailers. O.A.R. was here the previous year and I heard very good things about them as musicians and as people. I was fortunate enough to talk briefly with a few of them while helping with their meet & greet and they were definitely some very nice guys; very sweet and very humble. They’re great personality made me enjoy the show even more. My favorite part of the night: the acoustic version of “Love and Memories” and well, their entire acoustic set in general. Here are a couple of pictures from a friend.
 

Next up was quite possibly the coolest week of shows ever for me (personally). I’m a huge punk fan so having Rise Against and Rancid on the 22nd and then The Offspring and Dropkick Murphys on the 24th was very amazing. My best friend also came up from Tennessee to spend the week with me. That’s probably irrelevant to the rest of you, but exciting for me. Anyway, needless to say I thought both of these concerts were killer. I spent the night (after work of course) in the pit and loved every minute. I can’t tell you why I love punk so much, I think it’s the energy and connection between the bands and the fans. Whether it’s the collective fists in the air during Rise Against or singing along to “Kiss Me..” with the lead singer of Dropkick Murphys IN the crowd, it’s a great feeling, and makes for an excellent week of concerts.
Rise Against and Rancid photos by Keith Klenowski:
     
     
Dropkick Murphys photos from (my lovely friend) Dorothy Montague:
 
Offspring photos by Facebook Fan, George Mandos Jr.:
   

On June 29th we had our second SOLD OUT concert at PNC Pavilion, The Fray and Jack’s Mannequin. Both of these bands are really easy to listen to, and also have many many popular songs, so it turned out I knew (and enjoyed) nearly every song this night. I was really impressed at Andrew McMahon of Jack’s Mannequin. It’s difficult enough for me to play piano…and to sing, let alone do them both at the same time WHILE rocking out more than most guitarists do during intense solos. The Fray was really impressive as well. Each song sounded just as good, if not better than they do on the radio. I also especially loved the four video panels over the stage that showed shots of each member via their personal camera. That was a very cool touch. Actually, all of their lighting rigs were very cool. Agree? Here’s a few pictures…from several people.
  
  

I’m going to stop here for now. This gets us through the month of June. More reflections to come tomorrow! Let me know your favorite moments from these shows and if you remember mine! Until next time…

Amy

This summer, like always, we’ve had the pleasure of hosting many many amazing acts. We’ve also been able to host many artists in 2009 that have stood the test of time, whether it’s keeping the band together over decades like Chicago, Heaven and Hell, and Def Leppard, or bringing a band back from the dead like Blink-182, Stone Temple Pilots, and Creed.

Last night Creed played their very anticipated first show in Cincinnati in 7 years. You could tell on each members’ face that they felt so humbled and so blesssed to be performing again. After every roar of applause and cheer singer, Scott Stapp, would very genuinely thank the crowd with is hands held close to his chest in gratitude or arms reached out (arms wide open, if you will?) as if you try to give the crowd back a piece of the joy they were giving him. Seeing the sheer happiness on each of the members of Creed’s faces last night was enough to make anyone in the room feel lucky to be there and be able to share in such a great moment.

Creed definitely earned their appluase and respect. I personally had never been a big Creed fan, I always thought their radio hits sounded like any number of songs on the radio. Maybe 7 years ago they did sound mediocre or maybe I just never noticed, but last night at Riverbend they were amazing. When I heard the soundcheck from my office I was even surprised that it was Creed. I then ended up sticking around for the entire show. Hits like “Higher” and “Arms Wide Open” which I would have immediately turned the radio dial on years ago made me excited to sing and dance along to. Even their new single “Overcome” impressed me, especially Mark Tremonti’s awesome guitar solo that was an amazing opener to the night. I saw so much excitement in the fan’s faces last night and so much energy on stage that I’m sure Creed will be sticking around for many more years. I’m not sure what happened to these guys in their 7 year hiatus but whatever it was, was definitely for the best. Creed is back, and I definitely think, better than ever.

I have a few fan cell phone pics from last night that at least give you a great idea of the crowd and the excitement in the room. We also had our friendly photographer, Keith Klenowski, here last night so he should have some great photos up soon from the show. Check out Keith’s website  for updates and past photos.
  

See you at the next show!
Amy

This past week was filled with a variety of very different shows. Tuesday we had Heaven and Hell, Wednesday Nickelback, and Friday Kathy Griffin. I wouldn’t say any of these three are on my top ten list, but I had a surprisingly good time at each show…

First, Heaven and Hell. I don’t know much about the metal bands like Heaven and Hell, or Black Sabbath for that matter. I can probably tell you who’s in the band, and sing along to a few of their songs, but I honestly predicted this to be a boring night for me. However, seeing Ronnie James Dio rock as hard as (I imagine) he would have 20 years ago was amazing. The minute they stepped on stage I saw an energy in the crowd that I never see with some of the younger crowds and with modern bands. Not that I think people who came to Blink, Coldplay, or Dave Matthews weren’t genuinely excited, but I think there’s a lot to say about a crowd that can be just as excited if not more so about a band as they were decades ago. And while I’m sure PNC Pavilion is a much smaller venue than what Black Sabbath of years passed was used to playing, the four members of Heaven and Hell put on an amazing show and connected with their fans in a way that really made me excited. I think everyone in the room that night could feel their energy, and it definitely proves that these guys aren’t passed their prime and definitely have many more years of rocking left in them.

Nickelback on Wednesday was a much different experience…a much larger one as well. It didn’t occur to me just how many Saving Abel, Papa Roach, Hinder, and Nickelback songs I knew until last Wednesday. I’ve generally thought up until this point that all four of these bands would sound exactly the same and be very unappealing. As the night progressed I really did notice each band’s individuality and was surprised at how much I enjoyed each of them. Saving Abel’s “18 Days” is a song I had heard a few times, really loved, but never knew who it was by, so I was really excited to hear that and thought they did a great job. Next was Papa Roach who I think surprised me the most. They came out a delivered an amazing set, getting into their music more than a lot of bands I’ve seen this year. I especially loved Jacoby Shaddix’s run through the pavilion during their third song. It’s hard to feel like you’re part of the show sometimes when you’re in the back of the pavilion or the lawn at Riverbend and I loved how he wanted to make sure each person there got their money’s worth and enjoyed the concert. Hinder and Nickelback played great sets as well. Both were filled with tons of songs that the whole crowd could sing along to (myself included) and an awesome presence that kept the crowd on their feet all night. It was a long night, but definitely a great one.

And Friday we had Kathy Griffin, our first comedian at PNC Pavilion. I also wasn’t expecting to enjoy this show as much as I did either. I generally dislike stand up comedy…I don’t understand why if you could be listening to music you would turn on stand up in the car, and I don’t understand why if you could be watching a movie or tv show you would turn on stand up on the tv. I suppose that’s just me…but luckily I was talked into listening to Kathy Griffin and (not that I didn’t know this already) she is hilarious! I guess one person, wearing black, standing alone on stage can be entertaining! I was having such a good time that the entire night passed by so quickly I almost forgot I had to leave to meet people that night! I love that having the smaller building enables us to have different shows like this one. The crowd was awesome that night and I’m sure we’ll be looking to bring some more comedians to the Pavilion next season!

If you had a chance to catch the shows last week let me know what you think. I would be very interested to see if true fans were just as impressed as I was with these three performances! And if you didn’t get a chance to check out Heaven and Hell, Nickelback, or Kathy Griffin, we’ve got Chicago with Earth, Wind & Fire coming up on Wednesday, Creed with Hoobastank on Friday, and The Moody Blues on Saturday! Should be another great week, hope to see you here!

Amy

So, as you can see we haven’t posted since our first show. The blog was barely up and running by then and I just wanted to test it out. Now things are looking pretty good so I’ll make a point to update on all of our shows left this season and hopefully this will lead to bigger and better things for 2010!

We had a very exciting past couple of weeks! Blink-182 on Thursday marked our sixth SOLD OUT show in a row! First was the 15th anniversary of the Vans Warped Tour on July 29th followed by Crosby, Stills & Nash at PNC Pavilion, Jimmy Buffett (always a great show) at Riverbend, Tool (sold out in less than 15 minutes!!!) at PNC Pavilion, Rascal Flatts, and Blink-182 at Riverbend. Having the new PNC Pavilion has defninitely given us a lot of new opportunities. We can bring a much wider variety of bands to Cincinnati and every seat in the bulding has a great view. And of course Riverbend shows are as rockin as always. Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks…

Warped Tour: The Devil Wears Prada, Anti-Flag, and All Time Low (Photos by Keith Klenowski)
 
    

Jimmy Buffett (Fan Photos)

Blink-182 (Photos by Keith Klenowski)

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. There are many more on our Facebook page. I’ve been keeping that as well as our Twitter page updated very regularly. So if you’re not already a fan or a follower, head over to those pages and check us out. We also do some pretty regular giveaways too. I’ll be updating our fancy new blog here regularly for the rest of the season, so if there’s something you’re wanting to see (pics from other shows we’ve had this season, reviews, etc.) let me know and I can hopefully scrounge up some more things and find a way to unarchive the memorable moments from my brain. I hope you’ve had a good summer, ours has been the best yet! See you soon!