Last night we caught O.A.R. at the PNC Pavilion, which is attached to Riverbend. I have never been a fan of Riverbend, but right away I knew that I would have different feelings towards the PNC Pavilion. The pavilion has only a 4,000 person capacity, which is less than a fourth of what fits in Riverbend. One of my biggest problems with Riverbend is the terrible lawn with some of the worst sight lines I have seen. The pavilion doesn’t have any of theses problems as there is no lawn, and the entire seating area is tiered really well. There is a small pit area in the front with two different levels of seating behind that. And to top it all off, the entire thing is under a roof, which is critical in the Cincinnati rain. Or as we found out last night, it works just as well to block out the sun from a really warm summer day.

O.A.R. at PNC Pavilion

The show itself was really good as well. We missed the first opener, Kelley James, but saw the entire set from SOJA. SOJA was a really fun reggae style band that I would watch play again. I was given a nine track sampler from one of the band members that I will take a listen to soon. O.A.R.’s set was high energy and full of some extra jams. Two songs had to be scratched off of the setlist due to the extended nature of some of the songs. The band is touring with an added two piece horn section that is really good. Highlights of the night included 52-50, Road Outside Columbus, and So Moved On. Be sure to catch them out of tour this summer.