Concert Wrap: Eli Young Band and Corey Smith, Aug. 20 @ AMP
August 21st, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Mike Eli, left, and Chris Thompson of the Eli Young Band
Friday night (Aug. 20) was a remarkable night at the Arkansas Music Pavilion. Not so much for the quality of the music, although it was plenty good.
No, this has to do with those hard-to-define qualities of star power and appeal and of palatability and commonality.
Perhaps, it’s better explained like this: I think you could walk down Dickson Street and ask three dozen people — and maybe even more — before you found one that knew either the Eli Young Band or Corey Smith, the two artists who topped the bill in a co-headlining performance at the AMP.
Corey Smith, left
But most of the 1,000 or so who showed up on a warm evening were not there to hear either of these band’s radio singles. They were there to sing every word to every song at the top of their lungs.
It’s even a more remarkable proposition because Smith, a 33-year-old Georgia native, doesn’t even have songs on the radio. Yet, he rarely got past the first chord of a new song without the crowd screaming at him in recognition.
Although Smith was the technically an opener, I’d argue he got the biggest responses of the night and that the bulk of the crowd was there to see him, considering how many people had exited the venue by the time the Eli Young Band finished their set just past 11 p.m. last night.
Fans of both were treated to exactly what they came to see: middle-of-the-road, country-tinged rock about girls and dirt roads and drinks that are cheap and plentiful.
Mike Eli
Despite the crowd’s casual shuffle out the exits during their set, the Eli Young Band never faded in their enthusiasm for their own material. Although the band has both an independent release and a forthcoming album, the group concentrated heavily on the tunes from “Jet Black & Jealous,” the group’s 2008 major label debut.
Eli Young Band can be somber, almost depressive, like on the opener, “When It Rains,” and another highlight, “Highways and Broken Hearts,” with an accompanying sad lament of a brief guitar solo. But they also picked up the pace at spots throughout the evening, including with a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps,” which EYB lead singer Mike Eli says is part of a country music tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd. EYB is a band well-suited for such an endeavor, with its two guitar-bass guitar-drums rock band setup and Southern rock leanings.
The two new songs the band played, “Crazy Girl” and “Even If It Breaks Your Heart” fall right into those paths, and the fans responded generously. They’ll likely be singing them the next time the group comes around.
Corey Smith sang just as much as the crowd did, meaning that every word to every one of his songs was repeated by someone in the audience. He got the biggest responses to a song we can’t print the title to here (it’s a family blog, after all) about his extreme dislike for three police officers in his hometown of Jefferson, Ga. and the song “21,” which is about wishing you were 21 years of age. Smith, now 33, has written an alternate last verse to the song which he told the crowd he was singing live for just the second time. The new last verse talked about seeing 21-year-old girls and wishing he were that age again.
It was indeed a very young crowd who showed up for the concert. Smith’s cover of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” fell flat, due in equal parts to the fact that he stole song’s angst and snarl away with his delivery and also because a 20-year-old Corey Smith fan would have been 2 years old when “Come As You Are” and the album it came from, “Nevermind,” were released. Think about that for a moment.
Smith’s ballads are those written with a collegian in mind, with tales of drinking and hangovers and fake IDs. It dodges between folk and rock and country, certainly, but also occasionally hip hop and soul, especially in Smith’s vocals.
None of it was particularly spectacular, but you couldn’t have told that to the crowd. They were too busy singing.
A note about the opener: According to the AMP website, the show was scheduled for a 7 p.m. start. But I know from someone at the concert that Ingram Hill started at 6:30 p.m. and were done by about 7:15 p.m. They were done by the time I arrived at the venue.
Eli Young Band Setlist: 1) When It Rains; 2) Jet Black & Jealous; 3) American Girl [Tom Petty cover]; 4) Radio Waves; 5) So Close Now; 6) Crazy Girl; 7) Bottom Line; 8) Enough Is Enough; 9) That’s The Way; 10) Even If It Breaks Your Heart; 11) Throw and Go; 12) Level; 13) Gimme Three Steps [Lynyrd Skynyrd cover]; 14) Guinevere; 15) Highways and Broken Hearts; 16) Everything Is You; 17) Oklahoma Girl; 18) Always The Love Songs
Encore: 19) Small Town Kid
Corey Smith Setlist: 1) I Can’t Help Myself; 2) did not catch this title of this song; 3) $8 Bottle of Wine; 4) Maybe Next Year; 5) Keeping Up With The Joneses; 6) It’s Over; 7) Come As You Are [Nirvana cover]; 8) Medley: Harmony and This Little Light of Mine; 9) Something To Lose; 10) Drinking Again; 11) Broken Record; 12) I Love Black People; 13) 21; 14) If I Could Do It Again; 15) Um… it’s something about the police. Real title here, if you don’t mind swear words; 16) If That’s Country; 17) Let Me Love You On A Backroad