Black Stone Cherry, We As Human, and Fifth Freedom: Hard Drive Tour

We took a nice family vacation a couple weeks ago and drove from Atlanta to New England and back. As part of the drive I managed to make sure we were in Cincinnati, OH on July 20th so that I could go see Black Stone Cherry's (BSC) Hard Drive Tour. I had recently started listening to their Magic Mountain album and really enjoyed their sound. Rock music is broken down into so many categories these days but to me this is just good fun rock and roll and I had heard BSC was great live. I didn't know it when I bought the tickets but two bands were opening for BSC: Fifth Freedom and We As Human. I wasn't familiar with them but more about them later....

Why did I want to see them in Cincinnati? Well, they weren't coming to Atlanta for starters. I also went to high school just across the river from Cincinnati in northern KY and spent many a night going to a place called Bogarts to see hard rock and heavy metal shows in the late 80's. Bogarts is still there and that was exactly where BSC was playing. I was pumped about the opportunity to go see some new music in my old haunts with some great friends I still have in the area.



Folks getting in line for the show!

I haven't been to Bogart's in about 25 years. I was so happy to be back. It is amazing how little it has changed. It was like going back in time to my mullet days :). I don't remember if this sign was there back when I was moshing it up in the 80's but I had to take a picture. Sorry it's a bit blurry.

So how was the show? In a word - great. As expected BSC was great live and they did 3 or 4 songs off their new album. BSC is also from across the river in KY and the place was packed with folks from both sides of the river (OH and KY) who clearly love BSC and were singing along. I picked up the Magic Mountain CD signed by the whole band which was really cool.

As I mentioned earlier, two bands opened for BSC. I wasn't familiar with Fifth Freedom or We As Human before this show so I had never heard their music before. It is quite a different experience when you hear a bands music for the first time live vs recordings. Both bands rocked and had great energy on stage but for me on this night I was particular impressed with We As Human. I was digging their music, great energy live, and their lead singer (Justin Cordle) had a great presence on stage that was very engaging.  Both Fifth Freedom and We As Human were by their merchandise tables after their shows so they could meet with the fans - I love that! I ran up to get the We As Human CD just as BSC was getting started and took a selfie with Justin Cordle. He couldn't have been cooler and more patient. A 43-old trying to take a selfie isn't a pretty thing (at least in my case) but I managed a decent shot on the 2nd try. My daughter (a tween) is embarrassed by my selfie skills :)

I was surprised to find out that We As Human is a Christian rock band. I was never a big fan of that label since it really doesn't describe the sound and I think most people would not associate the style of hard rock We As Human plays with Christian music. Well, don't judge a book by it's cover because these guys rock hard -  I would never had guessed it. Great hard rock, great guys, great message. Win Win Win.  Their CD is # 1 on my rotation at the moment.

I'm so glad I got to see this tour in Cincinnati. And if this tour or any of these guys come to Atlanta I'll definitely be going to see them. Hope to see you out there!