Free Throw in Cincinnati

About Free Throw

Free Throw is a pop punk and emo band from New Jersey that built a devoted following on the strength of introspective songwriting and infectious melodies. Their 2016 debut "What's Golden" introduced listeners to singer Mat Kerekes' particular brand of anxious vulnerability, where he'd examine his own neuroses with the kind of specificity that made them feel universal. Songs like "Lavender" and "Strawberry" became the kind of tracks people looped endlessly, catching new details in the production each time. The band kept releasing solid records—"Piecing It Together" and "Jet Black Jetpack"—each time refining their approach without losing the raw emotional core that made people connect in the first place. They're the kind of band that plays smaller venues but inspires genuine devotion from the people who find them.

Their crowds are engaged and vocal, singing along to every word like these songs have been soundtracking their lives. Energy is intense but intimate, the kind of show where people genuinely feel heard. Kerekes connects with the room; it doesn't feel performative.

Known for Lavender, Strawberry, Graphic, Map of the Sun, Gawker

Free Throw + Cincinnati

Free Throw has quietly built something in Cincinnati. Back in November 2025, they rolled through Bogart's and ran through eight songs that felt less like a setlist and more like a conversation—starting with "The Corner's Dilemma" and winding through "Pallet Town," "So Yeah, So," and the kind of deep cuts that only matter if you've been paying attention. "Mike Nolan's Long Weekend" landed somewhere between introspective and wry, the kind of title that fits their whole approach. They closed with "Two Beers In," which is exactly the note you want a band to end on: unpretentious, slightly self-aware, honest. It's a city that gets what they're doing—guitar-driven indie rock that doesn't need to apologize for existing.

Free Throw in Cincinnati News

• LeJuan Watts continues to show Texas Tech can trust him as JT Toppin is out Wreck'Em Red · Feb 25, 2026
• Baba Miller, Cincinnati prove too much for Baylor Reuters · Jan 28, 2026
• Riverbend, Heritage Bank add new shows to 2026 concert calendar Cincinnati Enquirer · Jan 23, 2026
• Cincinnati Men's Basketball Falls at Xavier University of Cincinnati Athletics · Dec 5, 2025
• [PHOTOS] Silverstein Bring a Post-Hardcore Surge to Bogart’s Cincinnati CityBeat · Nov 20, 2025

Live Music in Cincinnati

Cincinnati's indie rock crowd has always had a taste for the unglamorous and plainspoken. The city's produced its share of art-rock weirdos and lo-fi experimenters, but there's also room for bands like Free Throw—ones that sound like they're figuring things out in real time, guitar work that's genuine without being showy. Bogart's stays packed because people here care more about whether a band means what they're playing than whether they've got the right aesthetic. Free Throw fits that sensibility.

Cincinnati road trip to see Free Throw?

Stay in Hyde Park, Cincinnati's most elegant neighborhood, with tree-lined streets and restored Victorian homes. Dinner at The Eagle—a fine dining spot that takes Southern cooking seriously—pairs well with Stapleton's sensibility. Spend your afternoon at the Cincinnati Art Museum or walking the grounds at Spring Grove Cemetery, one of America's most beautiful cemeteries. Both offer quiet reflection before heading to the show. If you have time, catch the view from Skyline Chili's main location; the city panorama is worth the detour, even if the food is divisive.