The Samples come back to Ludlow Garage for their first Cincinnati show since 2024

The long-running jam-pop band and The Freddy Jones Band share a Thursday bill on April 8, 2027, and tickets are already on sale.

The last time The Samples played Cincinnati was July 12, 2024, at Ludlow Garage. Next spring they go back to the same room.

The band plays Ludlow Garage on Thursday, April 8, 2027, with The Freddy Jones Band as special guests. Music starts at 7:30 p.m. The date was announced Oct. 19, and tickets are $46.40–$86.75 through Ticketmaster.

Five months is a long wait for a Thursday show. But Ludlow Garage holds about 725 people, and this bill is aimed at fans who have followed both bands for decades. Crowds like that tend to buy early, so if you plan to go, don't wait until spring.

The band formed in Boulder, Colorado, in 1987, and it hasn't spent the two-plus years since its last Cincinnati visit sitting still. It has toured steadily through 2026. A May date at Garcia's at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, is one example. In 2025, a Connecticut venue preview described the band as working on *Indian Summer*, billed as its 20th album. The same piece summed up the sound as rock, reggae and folk, which is a fair description of what this band does on a good night.

Twenty albums in, The Samples are still a band people plan their week around.

The pairing with The Freddy Jones Band isn't new. The two shared a bill at Siesta Valley Bowl in Orinda, Calif. on Oct. 3, 2026, and the bands have a personal connection too: former Samples bassist Rich Ross is a longtime collaborator of the Freddy Jones Band, according to Grateful Web, which called 2025 a milestone year for the group. In that run, the roots-rockers took a packed Park West through 30 years of their album *In a Daydream*, Chicago Concert Reviews reported. With these two bands, the opener isn't a reason to arrive late. It's half the reason to come.

The room suits this kind of night. Ludlow Garage is big enough to feel like an event but small enough that the back of the room can still see the drummer's face. On a Thursday that means a crowd that came for the music, sings the choruses and still gets home at a sensible hour.

The Samples tend to draw people who first heard them on a dubbed cassette or a college-radio request line, and who now bring their kids or their old roommates. That's the real appeal of a long-gap return: the band is back, and so are the people who used to go with you.

The full listing, with set times as they're posted, is on our show page. Put the date on the calendar now. April will get here sooner than it seems.

Sources: JamBase: The Samples at Ludlow Garage, Apr 8 2027 (jambase.com); Ticketmaster: The Samples with special guest Freddy Jones Band (ticketmaster.evyy.net); The Capitol Theatre: The Samples at Garcia's (thecapitoltheatre.com); Fairfield After Dark: The Samples bring rock, reggae and folk to Edmond Town Hall (fairfieldafterdark.com); JamBase: The Samples at Siesta Valley Bowl, Oct 3 2026 (jambase.com); Grateful Web: 2025, A Milestone Year for the Freddy Jones Band (gratefulweb.com); Chicago Concert Reviews: Freddy Jones Band at Park West, 30 years of In A Daydream (chicagoconcertreviews.com); The Samples - Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)