Pop-rock singer and Columbus native Nick Niespodziani finally will get his wish.
At least a part of it, anyway.
The lead singer of emerging and nationally touring band Yacht Rock Revue recently mentioned in a Republic interview a month ago that he has long dreamed of headlining the Our Hospice of South Central Indiana Labor Day Weekend Concert in front of thousands of people at Mill Race Park.
Yacht Rock members will indeed be the featured performers for the 7 p.m. Sept. 5 free 34th annual event that raises money and awareness for the nonprofit hospice’s mission — providing end-of-life care for patients and families in 16 counties in south central Indiana. The agency was among the first in the state to do such work in the 1980s.
But, due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the show will be livestreamed, probably from Atlanta, Georgia, where Yacht Rock Revue members live. The set list is expected to include what unconventionally put the group on the national map: covers of ‘70s and ‘80s pop-rock, from Hall and Oates to The Doobie Bothers to Robbie Dupre.
Plus, it will include a few covers of the 12-year-old ensemble’s first disc of original material, “Hot Dads in Tight Jeans” — a release that earned an affirming review in Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year and landed on the Billboard charts.
“This, of course, is not ideal,” Niespodziani said Friday of the livestream plan as his family was driving to Columbus. “But then, what IS ideal these days?”
He added that the band remains excited about the concert — one that last year attracted an estimated 7,500 to Mill Race Park for classic rock group Survivor.
Yacht Rock’s seven-member lineup includes Columbus native and multi-instrumentalist Peter Olson. Early this year, the band was selling out venues ranging from 3,500 to 6,000 seats in major cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. Then the pandemic ended all that.
Yacht Rock Revue is well known to local audiences. It has performed twice in the past two years at sold-out Columbus Regional Health Foundation’s Reverse Raffle fundraisers and at Indianapolis venues.
Laura Leonard, Our Hospice president, mentioned in a news release that the agency needs the public’s support as much as ever.
“The need for high quality, palliative and end-of-life care is more important than ever and the annual concert is our largest fundraiser of the year,” she said.
Last year, via souvenir and food sales, the gathering netted $124,000.
Yacht Rock first original single, “Step,” was just beginning to be earmarked for national radio play when the pandemic hit.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About the concert” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
What: 34th Annual Our Hospice of South Central Indiana Labor Day Weekend Concert. It will be livestreamed this year.
Who: Headliner and nationally touring band Yacht Rock Revue with Columbus members Nick Niespodziani and Peter Olson.
When: 7 p.m. Sept. 5.
Where: Facebook page for Our Hospice of South Central Indiana.
Information: ourhospice.org
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