Yacht Rock singer plays at his dream location • Latest releases

Top from left: Yacht Rock Revue members Kourtney Jackson, Ganesh Giri Jaya, Mark Bencuya, Jason Nackers, David B. Freeman, Greg Lee and Keisha Jackson. Bottom from left: Peter Olson, Nicholas Niespodziani and Mark “Monkeyboy” Dannells

Count Nick Niespodziani among the people who will remember the Ruoff Music Center as Deer Creek.

The lead singer of the Yacht Rock Revue grew up in Columbus, Indiana, and has many fond memories of performing at the Noblesville venue, originally called the Deer Creek Music Center.

“I remember seeing the Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Lenny Kravitz and so many great concerts,” Niespodziani said. “It was a place that etched my memories.”

That’s why Niespodziani is happy that his band will be performing as the opening act for Train and REO Speedwagon at the Ruoff on July 10th at 6:25 p.m.

“I’m so excited to be playing in Deer Creek. It’s a childhood dream come true,” he said. “It’s a full-circle experience.”

Niespodziani, 45, is a founding member of the Atlanta-based band, which was founded in 2007. Six of the nine members have been there from the beginning.

This is by far the largest and longest tour of the group.

“I’m in my 40s and I’ve never been on a tour bus,” Niespodziani said shortly before the tour began on July 1. “We always flew to the region with vans and trailers, did a little tour and then flew back home. That’s over 40 shows in 2 1/2 months. This is new territory for us.”

Niespodziani said the group had to shorten their long setlist.

“People want to hear all the big hits of the ’60s and ’70s and we have 45 minutes to do that, which is very different from 2 hours and 20 minutes, so we have to be efficient,” he said. “I guess if we don’t play ‘Baker Street’ at Deer Creek, people will be disappointed. Maybe ‘Brandy’ by Looking Glass, ‘What a Fool Believes’ by Michael McDonald and ‘The Pina Colada Song.’ You start to list them all, but you want to have some surprises.”

Niespodziani said the band will play some of their original songs.

“When we get to Ruoff, we’ll be in the middle of releasing the second single from this new collection of songs we’ve recorded,” he said. “At first it was pretty nerve-racking playing our own songs, not knowing how they would react. I think we’ve earned their trust now. We try to stay within the genre and true to ourselves and give it something that you’ve never heard before.”

Before Niespodziani joined Yacht Rock Revue, she and several other band members were in the indie rock band YOU,

For more information visit yachtrockrevue.com.