Concert Photos: Five for Fighting and Vertical Horizon Channel ’90s Hits at Mentor Rocks!

Singer-songwriter John Ondrasik, better known as Five for Fighting, played Mentor Rocks!, the outdoor summer venue twenty miles east of Cleveland on a sweltering Tuesday evening. The free concert series, showcasing a number of cover bands and national recording acts, has had artists such as Lita Ford, Leann Rimes, Uncle Kracker, and Gavin DeGraw over the past few summers.

A few nights ago, Five for Fighting and Vertical Horizon played that stage, surrounded by the faithful who braved stifling heat and difficult-to-find parking spaces in order to hear a few seminal tunes from the late ’90s and early aughts.

I was able to spend a few minutes with Ondrasik backstage prior to the show. We discussed his smash hit, “100 Years” and the effects of copyright on his song “Superman.”

Written and released in 2003, “100 Years” resonated with people due to the universal nature of its message; it connected with people because it described, beautifully, how short our lives are and that we just need to slow down and live within the moment.

“Life goes by quickly,” Ondrasik told me. “The song was meant to reflect different eras of a man’s life and how we all live for tomorrow or yearn for yesterday. Not many people take advantage of the present.”

Much of his music reflects on the small minutiae of life; one of his tunes, “65 Mustang” reflects his father’s eponymous muscle car and how it has impacted his life. “Slice” is an homage to Don McLean’s “American Pie.”

“The Riddle” is another charting tune describing Ondrasik’s relationship with his young son. His other well-known chart-topper was “Superman” from 2001. Ostensibly a tune about how difficult is must be to be a superhero, it discusses how even a metahuman is still, in fact, human. He doesn’t feel heard or even understood. After 9/11, the song became an anthem to the bravery and sacrifice of both firefighters and law enforcement.

Journeyman rockers Vertical Horizon opened the show; frontman and founding member Matt Scannell donned all black and led his outfit in an hour-long set, closing with #1, double-platinum-selling “Everything You Want” from 1999.