It’s a chilly Thursday, December 12, 2019 evening as we enter the warm and inviting lobby of South Orange, NJ’s SOPAC for a special holiday season concert by Five For Fighting.
Five for Fighting is the stage name of singer, songwriter, and pianist John Ondrasik. Ondrasik was born in Los Angeles into a musical family. As a child, he learned to play the piano. In his teens, he learned to play guitar and started to write music.
After college, Ondrasik spent the early 1990s playing singer-songwriter gigs around Los Angeles, where he was discovered by a music publisher, Carla Berkowitz, whom he later married.
In 1995, John signed with EMI Records. At the request of EMI executives who found his surname difficult to pronounce, Ondrasik, a hockey fan, chose for his stage name, “Five for Fighting,” an ice hockey term that means a five-minute penalty for participating in a fight.
Following the release of his debut album, Ondrasik partnered with Columbia Records for his second album, America Town, which featured the single, “Superman (It’s Not Easy”).” The song became an anthem after the September 11, 2001 attacks and earned Ondrasik his first Grammy nomination in 2002.
He followed that up with his 2003 hit, “100 Years,” which rocketed to #1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart and earned a Platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over a million copies.
Inside the SOPAC lobby, as we wait for the auditorium doors to open, we check out the Five for Fighting merchandise table. Here, we meet John Ondrasik’s lovely wife, Carla, who tells us, “I was an executive at EMI where I was Vice President of Creative Writer Development. One day, I heard a cassette tape of John singing and I said, “Who’s that?’ and quickly signed him to a publishing deal.”
Continuing, “After that, we fell in love, but we still continued to work together until we had our son,” Carla reveals, “but now that both our son and daughter are grown, I’m happy to be able to go out on tour with him.”
The lobby lights dim and we take our seats inside the sleek and modern SOPAC auditorium as tonight’s opening act, singer/songwriter Marie Miller, takes the stage.
Starting off with the holiday classic, “Let It Snow,” Miller’s country-style voice impresses as she deftly accompanies herself on the guitar.
After welcoming the packed house, Miller says, “This is a song I wrote about not being picky about who you date.” Launching into “Six Foot Two” — a number which was featured on TV’s Dancing with the Stars — Miller’s personality shines through as she sings, “I’m not particular/So if he has green eyes/That would be fine/Or brown hair/That’s quite alright/Now six foot two is my favorite height/But Lord, I don’t care.”
Miller switches over to the mandolin saying, “This is for all the brave people who are not afraid to leave home.” Her powerful soprano cries out on “Homeland,” an uptempo country tune which features fancy picking that inspires warm applause. She follows that up with “Back in Time,” fast-picking on the mandolin on this bluegrass-inspired number.
After announcing, “I thought I’d bring a little Virginia with me to South Orange, NJ,” she takes to the piano for a lovely solo version of George Michael’s “Last Christmas” before switching back to acoustic guitar for “I Love You More Than Christmas Now.”
Following a lovely rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Miller says, “I love New Jersey! One time, we had to get off the NJ Turnpike and drive through New Jersey and it was like being on a Gilmore Girls set for six hours!”
Miller concludes her set playing the mandolin on a rhythmic rendition of “You’re Not Alone,” a song she performed for Pope Francis’ 2015 visit to Philadelphia. After she sings, “I’m not gonna stand here when my friend’s down and out/I’m not gonna run when it’s hard to figure it all out/If there’s anything I’d say/I will tell you right now/You’re not alone/You’re not alone/You’re not alone,” the crowd responds with avid cheers and applause.
Following a short intermission, the members of a string quartet — violinists Katie Kresek and Melissa Tong, violist Chris Cardona, and cellist Dave Eggar — take seats on the stage. John Ondrasik enters and begins to sing an a cappella rendition of “Hope.”
With his iconic light tenor voice, Ondrasik performs with passion, “You gotta have hope/You gotta have something/There’s always a reason to break/You’ve gotta have hope/Cause nothing less/Will save the day.”
The strings enter one at a time with a haunting melody before John goes to the piano to join them. Here, the arrangement builds in dynamics and intensity, Ondrasik singing with emotion on this moving and dramatic piece.
Following the ensemble’s rendition of “In the Bleak Midwinter,” a Christmas poem set to a melody by composer Gustav Holst in 1906, Ondrasik performs his composition, “The Riddle.”
With his beautiful falsetto, Ondrasik sings, “There was a man back in ’95/Whose heart ran out of summers/But before he died, I asked him/‘Wait, what’s the sense in life?’” The strings add a special flavor and movement to this folk-rocker which elicits cheers from the crowd.
After acknowledging the support of his fellow musicians, Ondrasik introduces his favorite Christmas song saying, “Here’s my little take on it.” Dave Eggar plays smooth and legato cello lines with his bow to Ondrasik’s piano chords on a gentle arrangement of “Silent Night.”
Ondrasik follows up with “Christmas Every Day of the Year,” a song he wrote for A Perfect Christmas, a Hallmark Channel television movie, which brings cheers from the crowd.
Announcing, “Songs are gifts,” Ondrasik recalls, “For this next one, I sat at the piano and after an hour, I had the whole song.” Adding, “It’s a gift to be playing this 20 years later,” he thanks the crowd before presenting “Superman (It’s Not Easy).”
Accompanying himself on the grand piano, Ondrasik sings, I can’t stand to fly/I’m not that naive/I’m just out to find/The better part of me/I’m more than a bird, I’m more than a plane/I’m more than some pretty face beside a train/And it’s not easy to be me.”
His flawless falsetto floats above the audience telling his story before the strings enter, creating layers of sound that wash over the stage bringing audience members to their feet cheering at the conclusion.
Ondrasik comes center stage and straps on his acoustic guitar for a rendition of his rhythmic rocker, “Easy Tonight.” Katie Kresik is featured on the violin before all four string players add to the mix while Ondrasik’s sweet falsetto pops up and around with ease.
Ondrasik features the string quartet on his next number, “Ocean.” Waving and wiggling his bow over the strings, Dave Eggar makes his cello echo the sound of seagulls and, then, the sound of a whale. As he changes over to playing pizzicato on the cello like he’s playing a bass, Ondrasik strums his guitar singing, “Take me to the bottom of/Take me to the bottom of/Take me to the bottom of, the ocean.”
Moody and moving, his voice crying, Ondrasik turns to face the strings on the rising instrumental interlude before he returns to the mic and sings while the strings create an ocean of sound with their instruments.
The crowd cheers and Ondrasik says, “This is my favorite part of the show,” announcing, “From our holiday hearts to yours… Four for Fighting!”
Here, the string quartet is featured on a medley of mostly holiday tunes including “I Have a Little Dreidel,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “I Saw Three Ships,” and “Arabian Dance” from The Nutcracker. Knocking on their instruments as they play, Ondrasik reenters conducting the strings as the musicians segue into Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.”
The audience reacts with a standing ovation and Ondrasik jokes, “I’m exhausted watching that!”
Here, he launches into his song, “Chances,” from the film, The Blind Side. With his rolling, arpeggiated piano part, Ondrasik sings, “Chances are we’ll find a new equation/Chances roll away from me/Chances are all they hope to be,” his effortless falsetto in the spotlight on this anthemic rocker.
A highlight of tonight’s program is the ensemble’s rendition of “Symphony Lane.” Announcing, “This song was inspired by some symphony tours I did,” Ondrasik jokes, “It lets us go crazy for a few minutes.”
Starting out with just piano and voice, Ondrasik sings, “Symphony Lane is a private court/That runs away from you/Symphony Lane is made out of notes/Silent as they’re true.” As the piece unfurls, the kaleidoscopic sound of the quartet echoes the feel of a classical orchestra on this dynamic composition. The strings layer their parts on the instrumental interlude which may remind some of the orchestral soundtrack to La La Land and prompts whistles and cheers from the fascinated crowd.
Following the rhythmic rocker, “What If” — where audience members are invited to put themselves in someone else’s shoes — Ondrasik tells the humorous story about how his wife, Carla, sent him to an Ashram after his first tour in order to become inspired to write songs.
According to Ondrasik, even though the visit didn’t inspire him, a phone call home to his four-year-old daughter, Olivia, did, when she said him, “Daddy, I just love you. I don’t know why but I do.”
Audience members can’t help but be moved to Ondrasik’s stirring rendition of “I Just Love You” when he sings, “I’ll never stop being amazed/How my four-year-old girl knows exactly what to say/I, I just love you/I don’t know why, I just do/When are you coming home?/I’m coming home soon/‘Cause I just love you too.”
Following cheers, whistles, and applause, Ondrasik dedicates his next song to all of America’s troops and veterans as he sings, “Christmas Where You Are,” a beautiful song with lilting strings that he composed with Jim Brickman.
The crowd reacts with enthusiasm, and Ondrasik jokes, “I wish I had a song to talk about years gone by.” The audience chuckles as he launches into a powerful version of “100 Years.”
Sweetly singing in his controlled vibrato, Ondrasik cries, “Fifteen, there’s still time for you/Time to buy and time to lose/Fifteen, there’s never a wish better than this/When you only got a hundred years to live.”
The crowd stands and cheers as Ondrasik says, “It’s been great playing for you SOPAC — thank you and good night!”
The audience continuing to whistle and applaud, Ondrasik retakes the stage to perform “World.” Communicating his story as he accompanies himself on the piano, he sings the song’s powerful chorus, “What kind of world do you want?/Think anything/Let’s start at the start/Build a masterpiece/Be careful what you wish for/History starts now,” while the strings’ lilting lines and tremolo effects accent his legato vocal.
After Ondrasik introduces the members of his string quartet, cellist Dave Eggar moves over to the piano for a holiday sing-along version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” On this honky-tonk arrangement featuring pizzicato strings, the crowd joyously sings out, filling the SOPAC auditorium with holiday cheer.
For his final encore, Ondrasik invites Marie Miller to join the ensemble for the evening’s last song, “Winter Wonderland.” John’s wife, Carla, and his sister-in-law take the stage, too, where they hold up lyrics so everyone can easily join in.
The happy crowd sings along with the talented crew before the show ends with Ondrasik wishing everyone, “Happy Holidays!”
As audience members filter out of the auditorium, we take a moment to catch up with violinist Katie Kresek and ask her about performing at SOPAC, to which she replies, “We love it here — everyone is so nice!”
We also chat with cellist Dave Eggar, who says about working with John Ondrasik, “We love playing with John — he’s a very powerful story teller.”
Continuing, “As a string player, it’s great to feel essential to the structure of the music,” Eggar explains, “I love the interaction and counterpoint,” before concluding, “It’s gratifying to play with this group — and it’s different every night; there’s a lot of variety.”
We also chat with several music lovers in the SOPAC lobby who share their opinions about tonight’s performance.
Comments Stacey from Ocean Township, “This was such an amazing and great show. This is my first time seeing John Ondrasik, and I’ve wanted to see him for a long time. He has such a clear voice, and the strings complimented it so well,” before noting, “Their performance of ‘Chances’ was my absolute favorite.”
Whereas Emily from Whippany contends, “The orchestra tonight was just amazing,” her mom, Anne, tells us, “Since Emily was in the fifth grade, we’ve loved listening to John Ondrasik’s music together.”
Bridget, 16, a viola player from Livingston, says, “This concert was fantastic — I loved the strings, and the cello was just crazy,” exclaiming, “I’m so glad I came!” Bridget’s mom, Colleen, agrees adding, “I cried at ‘I Just Love You’ — the song about his four-year-old daughter — and ‘World’ was an emotional song for me, too.”
Next, we chat with a family of three from Middletown. Comments dad, Mark, “This is my third time seeing John. I’ve listened to him for quite awhile. His music is great — good lyrics, good writing, and good story lines — and his personality shines through,” before concluding, “For me, his music really strikes a chord.”
Mark’s son Ross, 16, agrees adding, “My dad plays Five for Fighting’s music at home, and John Ondrasik sounds exactly like he does on his recordings.” Noting, “He has that distinctive high voice,” Ross acknowledges, “I would definitely see him again.”
Ross’ mom, Paige, remarks, “In addition to the music, I really like John’s personality. He is approachable, and every song is a story.” Continuing, “He seems to enjoy performing at smaller venues,” Paige concludes by stating, “I would love to come back to this venue again — I enjoy seeing concerts in small venues and this one is very intimate.”
Lastly, we take a moment to chat with John Ondrasik himself who is in the lobby meeting and greeting fans and taking selfies with them.
When asked how he enjoyed performing here in New Jersey this evening, Ondraski — ever the hockey fan — passionately replies, “I love this city, I love this state, and I love your hockey team!”
To learn more about Five for Fighting, please click on fiveforfighting.com. For information on upcoming performances at SOPAC — including Masters of the Telecaster with Jim Weider, G.E. Smith, and Larry Campbell on February 7; Jim Messina on March 5; violinist Damien Escobar on March 29; and Aaron Neville on April 16 — please click on sopacnow.org.
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