Shaw, 31, has been playing around Hamilton since age 12 with his former bands, Five Soul and Talis, and moved to New Orleans after earning a degree in construction management from The Ohio State University in 2007.
“We used to play at the Hamilton Music Theater and at Skunk-A-Rific Records,” he said. If you’re lucky, you can catch him playing Ryan’s Tavern’s annual Thanksgiving Eve show
“We pack about 500 people up in there, so it can get a little crazy,” he said.
The Revivalists are about to play the RiversEdge concert series for the third year in a row, having opened the summer series last year in the McDulin Parking Garage.
“There were probably about 4,000 people there, it was like a high school reunion,” he said.
Shaw remembers when he used to skateboard around the former Mercy Hospital facility, where the RiversEdge Park and Amphitheater now sit.
“It was just kind of like a dead building, basically,” he said. “I think the city did a really great job with (the amphitheater). The lights and canopy over the stage are beautiful.”
Shaw will be manning the mic stand with the Revivalists beginning at 8:30 p.m., after SOHIO, an Americana rock band straight out of Seven Mile, open the show at 6 p.m. Former RiversEdge concertgoers can look forward to six to seven new songs off of the Revivalists’ forthcoming album, due out early next year, Shaw said.
The West Side native said he sees a lot of promise in the concert series and is glad more nationally touring bands are being brought to Hamilton for the free concert series. While the Revivalists will be playing in Covington on Friday night, they plan on staying in Hamilton overnight to check out the Ryan’s Tavern after show, featuring friends from New Orleans, Naughty Professor. The experimental jazz/funk band set will start immediately after the Revivalists’ set, around 10 p.m.
“One of the things that starts a good resurgence in a city is music and entertainment,” Shaw said. “I think RiversEdge has been a really great facilitator in bringing people downtown, and not having them go to cities like Cincinnati to be downtown.”
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