Whenever attending a concert at Riverbend I’m reminded of a first job, working concessions a few years after the venue opened. I was on food prep behind a grill. It was hot, somewhat grueling and also? Pretty darn exciting. Live music was echoing all around. I wished I could’ve worked the registers but you had to be 18 because of beer sales—also? They got tips!
One of the cushier jobs was parking attendant, where you could spend most of the day reading books and work on your tan.
Regardless of position, the best part was getting cut early so you could watch whatever band was playing from the lawn.
I did some research to see if maybe I worked a Tears for Fears show back in the day, but alas, both those loops through Cincy brought them to the Timberwolf stage at Kings Island.
This was their first show on the tour and their first time performing since 2019. They sounded great, mixing old and new songs with a tight backing band. (And I would fathom a few pre-recorded tracks.)
Garbage opened the whole affair up and also put on a solid show, with a few new covers mixed in to lighten things up.
An outdoor show feels solid in these moments. Hope a few more shows end up on the calendar.
(No clue how the phone image got doubled above, but I wish accidents like that happened more often.)
