Those prehistoric time keeping devices known as calendars remind us the start of summer is still nearly a month away. But as any champion of the season knows, summer as a state of mind and a means for all kinds of outdoor recreation, kicks off this weekend.
Our neighbors to the north are smashing the proverbial bottle of champagne against the hull of the season by christening a brand new outdoor concert venue on Saturday. Well, actually it’s a little addition to a big hangout we’ve known about for decades.
This weekend marks the opening of the National City Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati. Located adjacent to Riverbend’s box office, the new venue is a smaller ampitheatre that seats roughly 4,000. That’s actually intimate when you consider the main Riverbend stage accommodates, with its massive lawn area, 20,000.
Sunday’s Sheryl Crow and Jason Mraz performance was to have been the first show in an inaugural season for the National City Pavilion that will include concerts by The Moody Blues (June 6), The Raconteurs (June 10), Stevie Nicks (June 26), Steely Dan (July 13), Merle Haggard (Aug. 7) an O.A.R. (Aug. 12).
But the venue decided to let one of Ohio’s own preside over the official grand opening. On Saturday, Over the Rhine will get the summer underway at the pavilion with a special performance program. Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler (pictured above) will perform Over the Rhine’s 2003 double album Ohio in its entirety for the occasion.
Tickets for all National City Pavilion shows are available through TicketMaster, (859) 281-6644.
Over the Rhine performs at 8 p.m. May 24 at National City Pavilion in Cincinnati. Tickets are $21.75, $31.75, $41.75.
Sheryl Crow and Jason Mraz play at 8 p.m. May 25, also at National City Pavilion. Tickets are $51.75, $66.25, $79.25.
I am a native Kentuckian and freelance journalist who has been writing about contemporary music for the Lexington Herald-Leader since 1980. I have not a lick of honest musical talent myself, just a pair of appreciative ears for jazz, folk, blues, bluegrass, Americana, soul, Celtic, Cajun, chamber, worldbeat, nearly every form of rock 'n' roll imaginable and, when pressed, the occasional tango and polka.