In my short time at Emory University in Georgia, I have seen a diverse group of musical acts. Macklemore, Cazzette, Slightly Stoopid, and Hoodie Allen have all made stops either on, or near campus. However, no one act has been quite as good live as The Eli Young Band, a country group based out of Denton, Texas was on Monday night. Stopping by on their way to Nashville for the CMAs, they played to a crowd of hundreds of students on Emory’s McDonough Field.
In the days prior to the event, there were rumors around campus that country music was not popular enough among students to make this concert a hit. Mockingbird Son, a group from Nashville, opened the show and were very well received. The Eli Young Band then made their presence known very quickly, as many fraternities and country music fans showed their support and love for the band. After seeing groups such as O.A.R , Dave Matthews Band, and The Zac Brown band live, I thought I had seen some great live acts. But Eli Young sounds exactly the same live as they do on their records. They absolutely blow away their competition when it comes to country, and even southern rock music. The concert ended with an encore of the band’s two greatest hits, “Even if it Breaks Your Heart” and “Crazy Girl” and by this point the crowd could be heard singing the lyrics from miles away.
The band is nominated for two CMAs, Vocal Group of the Year and Song of the Year for the aforementioned “Even if it Breaks Your Heart”. If nothing else, the concert serves as a reminder that I do in fact go to school in the south (it can sometimes be hard to tell). It was nice to see Emory finally embrace its location with a Country music concert.
Go ‘Dawgs
