Collective Soul
July 9, 2026
MGM Northfield Park, Northfield OH

By Robert McCune


Southern alt-rockers out of Georgia, Collective Soul seems more than ever to be living the symbolism of the band’s name.
On stage, lead vocalist Ed Roland tells the story of how he and his brother guitarist Dean grew up around the church, where as kids they essentially found their musical souls.
As if to bar the doors, Ed quickly dismisses any thought of proselytizing. This isn’t about religion, he says, and everyone is welcome at a Collective Soul concert.
But this concert, and their music, is and perhaps always has been about bringing people together as one Collective Soul. If only for a few hours on a summer night in Northfield, Ohio, that premise came to be.


Warming up the room as openers were The Vindys, a local band (from Youngstown, Ohio) that has made good, playing a warm and rich acoustic set.


Then Collective Soul took the crowd to church.
As much as he said that religion played no part, Ed Roland often embodies the spirit of the zealous preacher, calling on his “congregation” to stand up, raise their arms and sing in unison. In a black-and-white floral sort of suit, his long gray hair flowing from beneath a cowboy hat, and bespectacled in blue frames, he paraded the stage like a man possessed.
Possessed of what? Primarily love and gratitude.
He celebrated his family on stage with him – blood and chosen. Besides the brothers Roland, bassist Will Turpin’s son Tristan has joined the band on keys.


The fans also were treated as family, lauded for keeping this band going for 34 years. Those massed around the front of the stage particularly must have felt “in the fold,” as Ed sipped from their cocktails and posed for their selfies.
The setlist, meanwhile, was a mashup of the band’s greatest hits and songs by artists who have inspired them, like Tom Petty.
Collective Soul also happens to be one of those bands whose songs have been played so many times on the radio, they’ve entered the subconscious. It might be easy to forget how many of the songs you instinctively sing or hum along to are Collective Soul songs.
“The World I Know,” “Where the River Flows,” “December,” “She Said,” “Gel,” “Run” … the list goes on and on. You may not even know the songs by their title, but once you hear them, you might think: “THAT’s a Collective Soul song, too?”
And the good news is, this is a band that is still making music. A live Collective Soul show is more than a jukebox spinning the oldies. The band has put out 13 studio albums, the most recent “Touch and Go” just this year, and 11 of them since their breakout, self-titled second album in 1995.
Moved by the spirit of the Collective Soul they’ve created between the band and the fans, they’re not likely to stop anytime soon.
Follow Robert McCune on Instagram (@Every_Thing_After_Photo) and listen to the “Every.Thing.After Podcast” on Spotify.

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