Summer. Live music, free events and a carefree attitude.
This is what summer is all about.
This summer, I went to a concert put on by Mentor Rocks, a free concert series during the summer hosted by the city of Mentor. I made so many fun memories that night, and you can too, with the limitless amounts of live events and concerts Ohio offers this summer!
Queen is one of my personal all-time favorite bands, so I knew I had to go see Queen Nation, a live tribute band for the iconic band. My friends, along with my boyfriend, came along for the ride. Seeing this was amazing for me. I went with some of my friends, and my boyfriend who are all huge fans of Queen.
I dressed up in an outfit inspired by one that Freddie Mercury wore once. It was a red and black leather jacket piece, which is my favorite color scheme. The main part was his leather hat with a chain, which I actually had (thank you Einstein’s Attic.)
When the band first came on stage, much to my surprise, the frontman playing Freddie was dressed as that exact same outfit. I was overjoyed and kept referring to him as “my twin.” It was absolutely down pouring that night, yet they kept playing.
They played my all-time favorite song: Somebody to Love. I became so emotional during it that I started to tear up. Being at the barricade and hearing your favorite song in the pouring rain is an out-of-body experience. The fact that Freddie Mercury is no longer with us, and John Deacon doesn’t tour with Queen anymore, this experience was the closest I was getting to the real thing. It meant a lot to me, as it does to many live music enjoyers.
When my boyfriend and I met the band afterwards, we swapped hats for a photo and the whole band was extremely welcoming. I had an amazing night, and I’m sure so many more did.
This summer, Mentor Rocks had tribute bands like The Prince Experience (Prince), Nirvani (Nirvana), Simply Spice (The Spice Girls) and so much more.
To finish up the summer on August 29, Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd), is scheduled to perform. If you want to see the complete roster and possibly go to some of their awesome concerts next year, as well as find info on the bands themselves, check out their website here!
Besides Mentor Rocks, there were tons of concerts all over the state of Ohio. For example, the Geauga theater hosted Experience Janis (Janis Joplin) and Kiss the Sky (Jimi Hendrix.) If you’re located closer to Geauga, check out their website. If classic rock isn’t your style, Aurora put on two Polka bands, and Tallmadge put on classical music with The Akron Symphonic Winds.
All in all, music is such a beautiful thing. It can bring people together, make wonderful memories and be a source of happiness for people. Music is super important to me, and I don’t know where I would be without it.
Live music takes that sentiment and multiplies that by 5. It adds a whole different sense of community.
Being with like-minded people listening to the one thing you adore for 2 to 3 hours and then just going back to the corporate 9 to 5 after having an ascending experience is surreal.
The memories of that night help keep you going so you can get through that shift, so you can look forward to the next concert. Plus, having these concerts be free? That makes it so everyone can enjoy the show, and that is so important and so powerful to me.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go wait for Kent’s Beatlefest in February.
Annemarie Karabinus is a photographer and opinion writer. Contact her at [email protected].
