Five For Fighting and Edwin McCain (co-headliners)
April 13, 2026
Northfield Park Racino (Northfield, OH)
By Rob McCune
On a co-headlining tour, Five For Fighting’s John Ondrasik and Edwin McCain have true brotherly chemistry that also extends to their bandmates.
These guys clearly enjoy each other’s company.
It goes beyond respect for the music. Both are inarguably incredible songwriters, even if only taking into account McCain’s top-5-Billboard “I’ll Be” and Ondrasik’s emblematic “Superman (It’s Not Easy),” but they have between them at least a dozen hits that occupy permanent pages in the Great American Songbook. And each is quick to give the other props in this arena.
They’re also both great storytellers, which may seem inherent in their songwriting prowess, but not every great songwriter can tell a coherent story on a stage, in a spotlight, without the benefit of a backing track. And these guys are not only coherent in their stage banter; they are captivating. Funny, reflective, humble and heartfelt.
They share a similar sense of humor about it all—fame, family and everything in between.
And whether you agree with or even know their personal political viewpoints, there’s no denying their devotion to the country’s freedom-fighting military servicemen and women and veterans.
Both have enjoyed careers making and sharing music for more than 30 years. And they could easily fill an hour set with their own catalogs.
But they take time to connect with and engage the audience. Sometimes through other artists’ music. Ondrasik on piano treated the crowd at Northfield Park Racino (Northfield, Ohio) with covers of “perfect” songs by Elton John (“Rocketman”) and The Eagles (“Desperado”). And a surprise encore duo on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was a delight.
Seeing these two share a stage, it seems obvious that they should do that again, and as often as possible.
Before the show, I got 15 minutes with Ondrasik to talk about this tour for the “Every.Thing.After Podcast.” Watch that interview and read the transcript below.
Every.Thing.After: Hey, I’m here with John Ondrasik from Five for Fighting. We’re backstage at the Northfield Park Racino. John’s about to go on stage with Edwin McCain on this tour. Tell us a little bit about this tour. What are you excited about?
John Ondrasik: It’s been a blast. I mean, Edwin and his guys are awesome. You know, to hear “I’ll Be” every night, I always get a little choked up. The crowds have been great. It’s a lot of fun, kind of taking turns headlining and going back and forth. And as I said, it’s always great to be back in the bus with the boys.
ETA: Are you looking forward to anything in particular coming up on this tour? Any particular stop?
Ondrasik: Well, you know, I think I enjoy going to towns I’ve never been to before. You know, we were just up kind of at the tip of Michigan, which is really fun. And we’ll be heading to Cincinnati tomorrow, and I’m excited about Graeter’s Ice Cream, because I always go there first.
ETA: There you go. That’s a good reason to visit Cincinnati. How about outside of the tour? What’s coming up after that for Fight for Fighting?
Ondrasik: Well, we may be, we’re in the process of putting together something for USA 250. So look for us on July 4th. Looking to do something with the Navy and celebrate our troops, our sailors, and our veterans. So that’s something we’re really excited about.
ETA: I think that’s great. You’ve done a lot of work with the Gary Sinise Foundation. You’ve done a lot of work around veterans and celebrating the active military as well. I think you’ve never really shied away from messaging and music either. And your music has inspired and really been an anthem for everyone from first responders to military members, people around the world. Why do you think music has that particular power to speak to people in that way. And do you feel like that’s a responsibility that you carry as a musician and a songwriter?
Ondrasik: I think everybody can do it their own way. I don’t think anybody’s obligated to do anything. I certainly have a great love and respect for our troops, and I’ve been honored to perform for them my whole career and tell their stories and get to know them. I have no military in my family, but as you mentioned, my pal Gary Sinise and I, we understand that the blessings we have, the freedom we have. At the end of the day, it depends on our troops and their families. So they allow us the freedom of speech to get up and say whatever we want, and people can get mad or be excited about it. And so again, I think it’s easy to do. And tonight we’ll be doing a song called “Two Lights” that really recognizes our military families. We always do at least one song per show that salutes our troops.
ETA: I think that’s awesome. You’re also quite a voice in terms of human rights around the world. You speak out on issues like Gaza and what’s going on in Iran. How do you feel like the music industry or musicians in particular should be responding to the times that we’re in globally?
Ondrasik: Well, again, I think if you look back in history, you get a sense of the times from the music of the times. If you go back to the Civil Rights era and you listen to the songs, [or during] the Vietnam War, listen to the songs. … My voice is not any less or more important than anybody else’s, but I just have a certain point of view. And again, I’m not afraid to use it. I tend to be in the minority these days of certain issues. But that’s part of America. That’s part of the freedom we’re celebrating with USA 250. And whether it’s our Afghan veterans or the Jewish people around the world or the Ukrainian folks, I like to align myself with the good guys and I like to write songs that support them.
ETA: John, besides Graeter’s Ice Cream, what keeps you going at the end of the day? What sustains you?
Ondrasik: Yeah, I think musically, knowing every night there’s going to be someone out there in the audience that’s only going to see me once in my lifetime. And I feel I owe them my best effort. And the fact that, and Edwin would say this too, the fact that 25, 30 years later, people are still coming and singing our songs with us is something we don’t take for granted. It’s truly a blessing. I think as long as folks enjoy it, I certainly enjoy it. I like the camaraderie with the band and talking to folks and frankly seeing the young generation who frankly weren’t born yet when I wrote these songs singing along. So I think all of that stuff keeps me inspired. And I still feel my best song is yet to be written. I still feel that I have something to say. And as I said, as a songwriter, to have hit songs is great, but to have a 30-, 40-year career is, I think, what we all dream about.
ETA: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I love to hear that you are writing songs still. Can we expect some new music at some point?
Ondrasik: Yeah, I think at some point. I’ve been dabbling on this tour. We get the keyboard in here, and I have a few things. And I think eventually they’ll come out. I have so many obligations to so many things within music and outside of music that takes up so much of my time. But I’ve been in the studio with my daughter working on some of her music, and it’s really kind of given me the bug back to get back in the studio and that whole experience, which again is very special. I wouldn’t be surprised in the next year or two, you’ll hear some some new Five For Fighting songs, and some may be about the world, and some probably won’t be.
ETA: That’s great. I love to hear you in the studio with your daughter, too. I bet that’s a really special moment.
Ondrasik: It’s wonderful.
ETA: Growing up with you and around music and everything, that’s something that you’ve imparted on her?
Ondrasik: Yeah, she has the passion for it. We certainly didn’t push our kids into the arts, and we certainly didn’t try to dissuade them from the arts. And she’s a much better songwriter at her age than I was at her age. And she opens for us with her folk band, Lace and Lee, on the string quartet tours. But now she’s been doing some more kind of pop, esoteric music, rock, that we’ve been working on. And so it’s great. I mean, we kind of lived through her vicariously, and she works hard, and she understands that a lot of this has nothing to do with talents, but work ethic, relationships, perseverance, and I think she has all those things.
ETA: People sometimes say, “If you could go back 30, 40 years from now and tell your younger self something, give yourself a lesson, tell yourself to watch out for something that may be coming …” I mean, you sort of have, in a way, an opportunity to do that with your daughter as she’s starting out in her music career. What lessons have you imparted to her? Have you given her any kind of advice about what to avoid or what to lean into?
Ondrasik: One thing I do tell her is: “find time to enjoy what you’re doing.” I think particularly the younger generation these days, always, they want immediate satisfaction. And if you don’t have a million followers by the time you’re 22, you’re a failure. And that’s not how the world works. And especially in the arts, there’s no guarantee. You know, it’s not necessarily a meritocracy. A lot of it is fluke, fate. You know, for me, I didn’t have a hit song until I was 30 years old, which is very rare. But you do it because you love it. And there’s work, there’s bad times, there’s rejection, there’s all that stuff. But enjoy what you’re doing because it is a blessing to be able to do it. And I would tell myself the same thing: “quit future tripping, quit dwelling on the past.” But that’s what my songs are about, right? So I’m writing myself these little post-it notes anyways. And I probably would have done a little more collaborating. But you know what? I have no regrets. I wouldn’t change a thing. And again, it’s her career. She does it her way. And I love letting her find her own way. So I don’t give her a ton of advice.
ETA: Is there someone out there that you’d still really love to collaborate with? How about something with Edwin?
Ondrasik: We get up on stage and sing together every night, so we have a lot of fun together. And I mean, what a great singer he is. And one thing I see every night is what an amazing entertainer he is. He is funny. He is smart. You know, obviously the band is incredible. His bandmates have been with him for decades. So yeah, I mean, it’d be great. We did a show the other night and Brian (Vander Ark) from the Verve Pipe was actually there, too. We all kind of were reminiscing about the days where you would hear our songs back-to-back to back, you know, on the radio. But yeah, you know, as I said, I’m always looking to be inspired and find new opportunities. And, you know, maybe I’ll sit down with Paul McCartney and write something. That’s always been a fantasy of mine.
ETA: Is there a new artist, someone that’s up and coming, besides your daughter, that you’d like to call out, that you think is really doing something special right now?
Ondrasik: You know, I don’t even know what’s going on in the music world these days. To me, like, Ray LaMontagne is a new artist. That’s how out of the loop I am. But my daughter will play me stuff once in a while and it’ll be like, “oh, that’s cool.” And the nice thing about the Internet age is you don’t need a record company to find an audience. So that’s a long answer to say I have no idea.
ETA: All right, cool. John, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it. I’m going to end with the question I ask everybody, which is, John, what’s your everything after?
Ondrasik: If it’s about, what’s the big picture, and it’s sometimes it’s hard to walk the walk or talk the talk, but I think having a certain gratitude for what you have. There’s always problems. We always have challenges. Some people have very serious challenges. But for me, you know, whenever something doesn’t go well or a show goes bad or something, I remind myself how fortunate I am, not just in my personal life, but living in the greatest nation that’s ever existed and the freedoms we have. And having that gratitude, I think, gives you a perspective. We have problems, we have things that go wrong, but at the end of the day, they typically are pretty small things. And try to keep that perspective.
Follow Rob McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spotify.
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