Fans scream and dance at The Roots concert during Pepsi Jammin on Main Friday night. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Nothing personified the 2002 edition of Pepsi Jammin' on Main better than Saturday night's closing shows by Journey and O.A.R.

        The classic-rock band turned the Speedway Stage at Court and Walnut into an '80s arena, complete with ritual Bic-flicking.

        At the same time, with a crowd whose median age was at least 20 years younger, internet phenoms O.A.R. packed Central Parkway east of Main.

        Both audiences got what they came for, and both could be heard singing along with their favorite anthems: Journey's “na na na-na” song, “Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin' ” (even the cops were joining in on that one) and O.A.R.'s “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker.”

        It was a brilliant bit of counter-programming, drawing two entirely different audiences. A second rain-free night helped raise attendance above 25,000 for a two-night total of about 50,000.

        The usual problems with sound, particularly bleed-over between stages, increased with the addition of a fourth stage, but the weekend was a major success for Jammin' and its new owner the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

        The biggest loser may have been the entertainment boycott. Jammin' opened the festival season in Cincinnati and had been marked as a prime target by the boycott. But only one act canceled (the Harlem Gospel Choir), attendance was massive and the boycott was only able to field a handful of picketers.

        Along with the refusal by Friday headliners the Roots, a socially conscious hip-hop band, to honor the boycott, Jammin' may well have done more damage to the boycott than the boycott did to Jammin'.

        Besides the weather, Jammin' got lucky with its talent. Friday headliner John Mayer was booked before his Room for Squares CD broke out. The singer/songwriter played a confident, intimate set to an adoring audience that turned the rowdy festival into a real concert. Look for this guy to be headlining Riverbend-size venues before long.

        O.A.R. is the other breakout act of the 2002 Jammin'. The band started on the Ohio State University campus bar circuit, but has followed the Dave Matthews Band path.

        Today, O.A.R. is in the same place the DMB found itself a decade ago, commanding a huge college audience through word of mouth (and something the DMB didn't have — the Internet).

        Their loose-limbed, reggae inflected rock lived up to the buzz. It was perfect festival fare, made even better by Bob Marley guitarist Junior Marvin's guest appearance.

        Journey didn't fare as well. With three of the five originals in place, the band's sound was intact, particularly the distinctive lead guitar of Neil Schon. But new lead singer Steve Augeri sounds more like Rod Stewart than he does original Journey-man Steve Perry. The effect was that of a top-shelf cover band. You can't Journey home again.

        As for the home team, the local music scene is looking pretty good. Brash young ska-punk inflected Youngfellow put on a high-energy show Saturday opening the night's youth-oriented Kroger Stage; Clabbergirl front man Sean Rhiney again showed he's got the stage presence, the talent and, most importantly, the original songs, to make it as a major-league pop-rock star.

        The Jammin' youth movement extended to Saturday's Riverbend Stage, where the William Menefield Quartet, led by the 21-year-old jazz piano whiz, played a fiery set of uncompromising jazz. But there were also fine shows by scene veterans such as soul singer P. Ann Everson Price, blues guitar master Greg Schaber (the Tristate's finest slide guitarist), jazz pianist Steve Schmidt, alt-rock overlord Dan McCabe and his band, Opi Yum Yum, and the return of the Lusters.

        But there was a definite feeling of a torch being passed, with a new generation of fans and bands making their presence known. Jammin' is back, but it was a little different. This year, that change was for the good.

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