OneRepublic’s Aug. 5 Starlight concert is more of a variety show
OneRepublic. // Photo by Lauren Textor
The last time NEEDTOBREATHE opened a show, it was for Taylor Swift’s Speak Now tour in 2011. A decade later, they’re making headlines with OneRepublic. Initially successful in the Christian rock genre, they’ve moved away from that branding while keeping true to their roots.
Behind the band, beautiful panels of a desert night sky provide a Southwestern summer vibe that’s accentuated by their lightweight button-downs and black jeans.
Lead singer Bear Rineheart wears a cowboy hat and dark sunglasses to add to his “redneck credibility.” But their sound doesn’t match up to the aesthetic of canyons and wild horses. It’s more like attending a service at a snake-handling church in rural Appalachia… but, like, in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re going to end up on Dateline.
NEEDTOBREATHE. // Photo by Lauren Textor
Rineheart leans into this. He introduces each one of his band members in a deep, twangy voice that’s looking for a reason to laugh. About drummer Randall Harris, he says, “He’s country in a sense. He loves his mama, but he will cut you if it comes to it.”
Keyboardist Josh Lovelace plays a saxophone solo during “MONEY & FAME,” then tosses the instrument high up into the air. A tech catches it effortlessly, a perfect example of how the band and crew work in tandem.
OneRepublic. // Photo by Lauren Textor
The OneRepublic set is less cohesive. Crowd pleasers like “Secrets” transition into the official tempo of the Kansas City Chiefs. The regularly scheduled programming of the concert is interrupted by a twenty-minute medley of frontman Ryan Tedder’s greatest hits… that he wrote for other people.
For the first two minutes, I am impressed that Tedder co-wrote “Halo,” but then it all starts to feel like lore to me. If I love an artist enough, I’ll look up their background on Wikipedia. I don’t need to hear about it during a live performance.
Tom Cruise makes a video appearance to thank the band for its Top Gun: Maverick song “I Ain’t Worried.” Tedder takes several minutes to attempt to get the audience to form the biggest choir in Kansas City by assigning us to different notes.
He announces that the band is partnered with International Justice Mission (IJM) to end modern-day slavery and sex trafficking. He attempts to explain that slavery still exists, but stumbles. He says, “And, yes, some of it is our beloved Africans —African Americans—” and then settles on “people from Africa.” Regardless, $1 of each ticket sale has been donated to IJM.
OneRepublic. // photo credit Lauren Textor
The band launches into “I Lived” in a more familiar falling action, complete with confetti guns for the last song.
The stars of this show—the ones without an oral resumé interlude—are cellist and bassist Brent Kutzle and violinist Ashley Clark. Using classical instruments for pop music is what distinguishes OneRepublic from its contemporaries. In the early 2000s, there were a million boybands with a similar sound, but few of them could fuse styles with the effortlessness of OneRepublic.
It feels like the band—specifically Tedder—is attempting to engineer a new wave of concert style. It’s fun, it’s visually stimulating, and it keeps the audience guessing, but it also carves away from the experience that most people have come to expect when buying tickets.
