ATLANTA — John Ondrasik, the man behind Five for Fighting, hit it big in the early 2000s courtesy of his breakthrough song “Superman,” which became an anthem of sorts after 9/11.
More than two decades later, at the outset of Russia invading the Ukraine, Ondrasik felt inspired early on to write a song for a man he saw as a Superman of sorts: Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Dubbed “Can One Man Save the World,” the song led him to travel to Ukraine to record the song with the Ukraine Orchestra just weeks after the war began.
“I was doing work with NGOs during the Afghanistan withdrawal,” said Ondrasik, who is opening for Barenaked Ladies June 30 at Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain with a tight 10-song set. “Many of them moved to the Ukraine when the war began. The Ukrainian ministry wanted me to come.”
