School of Rock Mason and Washington Park are teaming up to celebrate Woodstock’s 50th anniversary with a huge free concert in the park on Sunday August 25, 2019 starting at 6pm.
About 60 students from School of Rock Mason’s youth and adult performance programs will perform some of the music that was performed at the legendary three day music festival in 1969. “We have condensed three days of music to a three hour show to celebrate Woodstock’s 50th,” said Tom Shriver, one of the directors of the show. “It will be 3 Hours of Peace & Music.”
The concert is for all ages. Concert goers are encouraged to bring blankets or lawn chairs. Picnickers are welcome. There will be food trucks ringing the park, and The Porch in Washington Park will be open for refreshments.
Concert goers are encouraged to dress in their best 1960’s style. Melissa Fairmount and Dana Hamblen of The Fairmount Girls will be wandering the crowd to see who embodies the 60s the best and will hand out prizes.
Preparing for the show has been a major undertaking at the school. “We have set up two different show casts with our kids to cover all the music. Each cast has its own weekly rehearsal,” said Stephen Kuffner, another director of the show. “Our kids will perform music from Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez, Canned Heat, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Joe Cocker, Melanie, and The Band. In addition, students from our adult program will perform a set of songs by The Who.”
School of Rock Mason was founded in 2012 in Mason, Ohio . The school teaches guitar, bass, drums, keys and vocals to more than 240 students ranging in age from 7 to 67. Most students participate in its performance programs, which get students playing live on real rock stages throughout the area. The school performs several seasonal concerts every four months; it has produced more than 100 different seasonal shows since opening. In addition, its House Band, a band made up of some of its best young musicians, has played out more frequently at such venues as Fountain Square, the MidPoint Music Festival, and Summerfest in Milwaukee, the world’s largest music festival.
School of Rock Mason is a franchise and part of a network of Schools of Rock that span the globe. Another school in the network, School of Rock Cincinnati, opened in Madisonville late last year. That franchise is owned and operated by a different management from School of Rock Mason.
The Woodstock Anniversary Concert in Washington Park is part of the OTR Performs Series. Washington Park thanks the sponsors who have made programming in the park possible: DBL Law, The Segoe Foundation, GBBN Architects and the Cincinnati Enquirer. OTR Performs is produced by 3CDC and a part of the First Financial Bank Summer Series at Washington Park.
