Five for Fighting w/Lauren Calve at Lincoln Theatre, Washington, DC
August 13, 2024
Five for Fighting, aka John Ondrasik, along with sparse, tight accompaniment by drummer Randy Cooke, bassist Sean Hurley and guitarist Peter Thorn, headlined at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC on a surprisingly comfortable August night. Comfortable weather, to be precise.
While Five for Fighting’s music flutters off the ears – catchy chord progressions, minimal, if any discord, John’s more recent choice of subject matter packs a punch. Performing in today’s America, he’s got to know that half of his audience will disagree with him. See the commentary on one of his recent shows at this setlist.fm link (setlist spoiler alert) to see what I mean – setlists should be pretty innocuous, but not this one.
A quick read about some of John’s philanthropic work and social consciousness efforts taught me that John thrives on psychic dissonance, and he challenges his audience by bringing it to his performances. His shows are about the songs, sure, but ensuring you hear his message is why he’s on that stage.
To that end, John likes to talk during his set. A lot. His current setlist boasts fourteen songs plus an encore – two or three songs shy of what I’ve seen as average for a 105 minute-or-so performance. But, that tension is why John’s hardcore fans show up – he embraces controversy, and his audiences seem to follow suit. Perhaps that’s because they are sitting in a theatre instead of behind a computer keyboard. It’s true that there was no mass exodus when he expressed his support for Israel when introducing his recent song “OK” (We Are not OK) and talked about performing it in Tel Aviv to stand with Israel in the face of Hamas’ October 7th attack, I felt an obvious chill amongst the audience members sitting around me as I applauded in support of his comments. Despite the tension, people remained engaged.
Therein lies the victory – isn’t remaining engaged an antidote to division? I think so. Bravo, John – way to use music as a force for positive change.
Five for Fighting’s focus is global – the aforementioned songs “OK,” “Can One Man Save the World?” (in support of Ukraine), “Blood on My Hands” (critical of the Biden Administration’s withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan) and “World” (which begs the question What Kind of World Do You Want?) attest to that. His musical work complements his philanthropic work in support of the USO, The American Cancer Society, Augie’s Quest (for ALS) and other charities. I’ve read that in addition to all of this, he helps, or has helped, run his family’s business.
Of course, the show had plenty of lighter moments, and Five for Fighting played all of the crowd pleasers in its repertoire along with some ambitious covers. The band’s performance was top notch, the audio and video were crystalline. While John and the band eschewed rave-ups and stage acrobatics, the show was well paced and energetic throughout.
By contrast, DC-based singer/songwriter Lauren Calve took the audience on an introspective journey. Lauren’s song choices drew heavily from her debut full-length 2023 release entitled Shift. Lauren’s work touches on universal themes: loss, growth and other life changes, in the context of intensely personal songs. Likely written on a single instrument, Lauren’s songs held up well in a live solo setting, and her performance infused the singer plus guitar delivery with the intensity that multiple instruments deliver on her album.
For more information about Five for Fighting, check out https://fiveforfighting.com/ .
For more information about Lauren Calve, check out https://laurencalve.com/ .
