Inspired by the courage of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy, John Ondrasik is hoping the new version and video of his song — recorded recently in the war-torn country with the Ukrainian Orchestra — can make a difference.
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“(I) Can’t fly a plane, can’t drive a tank, I’m not a politician,” Ondrasik said. “But as I’ve seen in my career, sometimes songs can move the needle.”
The song, “Can One Man Save the World?” is a call to action, asking listeners to stand up for freedom and justice. Proceeds from the song and video will benefit Save Our Allies and humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
“It was an incredible experience and I hope the video puts the spotlight back on Ukraine and raises some money for Save Our Allies and is really a cultural salvo in the war,” said Ondrasik, who is known for performaning in the band Five For Fighting. “And I look forward to playing it in Des Plaines and throughout this tour and also sharing my experience, which was certainly once in a lifetime.”
Five For Fighting will perform at 5 p.m. July 24 at the Des Plaines Theatre in Des Plaines. Also performing is The Verve Pipe.
“For the first time in 10 years, the Five For Fighting rock band is back on the bus. I’m so excited I got my 18 players and my dear friends. I never thought I’d be back in the bus but I think this pandemic has maybe refocused us on things we love and things we treasured in the past and reminded us that tomorrow is not guaranteed,” Ondrasik said. “So I really felt this need to play again and not just do these string quartet shows and symphony shows and get out and do it how we started 20 years ago.”
Audience members will hear Five For Fighting’s hits including “Superman (It’s Not Easy) and “100 Years” along with new songs and some surprises, he said. They will also hear the new song, which Ondrasik recently spoke to Tribune Media about and recording in Ukraine.
While arranging strings for “Can One Man Save the World?” Ondrasik thought about recording it with a Polish orchestra. Soon though, he received an invitation from the Ukrainian Orchestra and government to go to the country and film the video. After talking it over with his wife, he decided to go.
“It was surreal going there. I went with a group called Save Our Allies who I met through doing evacuations in Afghanistan. They evacuated more people than anyone — 17,000 people — so I was working with them with on evacuations and when Ukraine happened they moved many of the operations over there,” he said. “”They have great relationships with Zelenskiy and the military and are running a lot of humanitarian aid.”
Traveling with an American production crew led by Save Our Allies co-founder Nick Palmisciano and filmmaker Hollywood Heard, the journey there took two days, he said.
“You feel safe, but there’s a reason you only sleep two hours a night,” Ondrasik said. “There’s always an anxiety that at any time something can happen.”
Ondrasik met Save Our Allies after recording the song “Blood on My Hands” about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
While there Ondrasik and the crew had a chance to go to the presidential palace and meet Zelenskiy, who was aware they were recording the video and “blessed it.”
“But to be honest with you, he’s busy. He’s fighting a war. He’s leading the nation. He’s dragging the rest of the world to the right side of history. He’s Churchill,” Ondrasik said. “So I had no interest in going there for a photo op. I was there to try to create a cultural salvo in this war.”
The video, available to view at youtu.be/Bm3XEsIXJaI, was shot with the Ukrainian Orchestra, conducted by Victoria X, at the Antonov Airport in front of Antonov An-225 Mriya, the biggest cargo plane in the world. The plane, which was destroyed by Russian troops, holds great meaning for Ukrainians.
“When Putin invaded Kyiv in the early days of the war, he intentionally destroyed this plane because he wanted to have a psychological punch in the gut to the Ukrainians, so he literally blew the plane up at the airport,” Ondrasik said. “So we thought it would be a powerful image to have the orchestra and me play in front of this plane to show ‘all right Putin, you can blow up their plane, but you’re not going to take these peoples’ will.'”
It was hours later that Ondrasik realized that most of the orchestra members did not speak English.
“They didn’t understand the words. But they understood the intent and the music and the common humanity of playing. That moment, I’ll never forget. And that moment really validated what we were doing. And my dream is that I go back in year, when Ukraine has won this war, and I play with the same orchestra, with the general, and play this for President Zelenskiy,” Ondrasik said.
Ondrasik is calling on his colleagues in the arts to join him in holding a Live Aid type of concert for Ukraine.
“That’s my end goal with this. This is not just one song and a blip, There’s a further mission for other artists to do exactly what I’m doing and hopefully we can put that together and really show the Russian people they are pariahs, not just economically, politically, but culturally,” he said. “And they have a choice to go down with the ship with Putin and sell their soul or stand up and rejoin the rest of the free world. Hopefully this song can play a small part in helping that happen.”
Five For Fighting with The Verve Pipe
When: 5 p.m. July 24
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Where: Des Plaines Theatre, 1476 Miner St., Des Plaines
Tickets: $29-$49
Information: 630-962-7000; desplainestheatre.com
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.