CINCINNATI -- A no-show from Fantasia didn't mean no show. Tamar Braxton, Boyz II Men and Charlie Wilson brought the beat to Paul Brown Stadium Friday for the second night of the 2018 Cincinnati Music Festival, following up on DJ Jazzy Jeff and MC Lyte's Thursday opener.
The Cincinnati Music Festival, founded in 1962, is the second-largest rhythm and blues festival in the country. Organizers expected over 60,000 people to visit the Queen City over the weekend to enjoy the tunes, spend some money -- its overall economic impact measures about $107 million -- and cruise through overlapping events such as Vibe Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Soul Festival.
Over 80 percent of concert attendees come from out of town, including Atlantan Yvonne Reed, who had two words to describe the festival. First: "Vibrant"
Second: "Expensive."
Terry Bray is in the relative minority who live in Cincinnati full-time.
"It's part of our culture," Bray said. "We love music; it's the history."
The Cincinnati Music Festival will conclude Saturday night with performances from Bootsy Collins, Common, The Roots and Jill Scott.
