WORDS AND IMAGES DAZZA HAGERTY
A night in the country, well not literally, but it felt it. I was excited for this show for a few reasons. I love country music and it’s my first time shooting country music.
As I arrived outside Islington Assembly Hall, the queue was a pleasant one, people with cowboy hats and boots, I thought I was in Tennessee for a minute. Only to be caught daydreaming. Regardless it set the tone and I knew we were in for a good night of country music! As I entered the hall, first impressions was it’s a really small venue, but an iconic one, the building opened in the early 1900’s, to be closed in 1980 and became a museum, only to be reopened in 2010 and has hosted many artists and bands such as Ed Sheeran, Foo Fighters, Sam Smith, Snow Patrol and more, despite the venue only holding 890 people, it’s still an epic space and great for intimate performances.
Onto the night, the first support artist of the night was Jordan Harvey a country singer from Edinburgh, Scotland. Jordan decided to take his venture across the pond and relocate to Nashville. It’s safe to say his leap of faith chose to be the right one.
He gained much experience supporting the likes of King Galaway & Garth Brooks. He also went on to feature on many national TV shows like, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Late Show With James Corden & The Kelly Clarkson Show. Jordan signed a deal with BMG and issued his debut single in 2022 ‘Alabama Girl.’ He then released his EP “It is what it is” with hits ‘Along for the ride’ & ‘Overnight.’
Jordan arrived on stage, the girls screaming JORDANNN!! I saw the appeal, whats not to love about a young, good looking country boy. His country twang and swagger really caught me. I really grew to like what I was hearing within minutes of hearing it, I went straight on Spotify and followed.
The next support artist was Alana Springsteen, from Virginia, is someone who I’m very familiar with listening to country music. I was glad I got the opportunity to get photos of her. Aged 10, her family were back and forth to Nashville attending meetings, where she got some writing sessions, until they moved to Nashville when she was 14 and officially began her career with her first publishing deal. Alana got significant recognition from performing the national anthem at the Chicago Cubs baseball game in 2019 where they also played one of her songs loud and proud in the stadium.
Alana now 22, released two EP’s TWENTY SOMETHING: ‘Messing It Up’ & ‘Figuring It Out’ before releasing her debut album TWENTY SOMETHING last month, with hits ‘goodbye looks good on you’ ft Mitchell Tenpenny & ‘ghost in my guitar’ ft the iconic Chris Stapleton.
Alana really is in her own league, she’s unique and her singing and songwriting speaks for itself. Her interaction with the fans was special, she even performed songs the fans wanted which is something I always love to see. Believe me when I say this, she has potential to be as successful as Taylor Swift.
Originally formed when they were students at university of north texas, Eli Young band released self-titled debut album back in 2002. They’ve had four US country number ones including “crazy girl” They’ve gone onto to release 6 studio albums, their latest being in 2022 ‘love talking’ After making their debut at ‘The long road festival’ last week, they bought their Break up in a bar tour to the UK.
As they entered the stage to loud cheers from the crowd, they hit the evening off with ‘break up in a bar.’ a really catchy fun song. I loved the bands energy as soon as they stepped on stage. They had plenty of charisma and were enjoyable to watch, especially front man Mike Eli who really uses the stage, swinging his Mic round and really knows how to put on a show. They went on to play many hits such as ‘drunk last night’ & ‘love anit’
Mike then went on to tell a little story about his time during the covid pandemic, being stuck at home writing music, a time where people making babies and getting divorced which he quoted ‘thankfully me and my wife did neither’ and went on to sing ‘skin and bones’ that he wrote about his wife. Further into the evening Mike quoted which really caught me ‘y’all do me a favour and keep dreaming’ They went on to perform ‘even if it breaks your heart’ where Alana joined them on stage to sing.
I really did enjoy Eli Young Band, if youre a lover of country music and see these guys back in the UK, grab your tickets you’ll be in for a good night of music and laughs!
Members:
Mike Eli – Leads Vocal, Guitar
James Young – Guitar
Jon Jones – Bass
Chris Thompson – Drums
Set list:
1. Break Up In A Bar
2. Dust
3. Where Were You
4. Saltwater Gospel
5. Always The Love Songs
6. Love Talking
7. Chances Are
8. Lucky For Me
9. Love Ain’t
10. Skin And Bones
11. When It Rains
12. Highways And Broken Hearts
13. 10,000 Towns
14. Small Town Kid
15. Drunk Last Night
16. Oklahoma Girl
17. Even If It Breaks Your Heart (with Alana Springsteen)/Learning To Fly (Tom Petty cover)
Encore:
18. Guinevere
19. Crazy Girl
20. Shut Up And Dance (Walk The Moon cover)
FOLLOW ELI YOUNG BAND
FOLLOW ALANA SPRINGSTEEN
FOLLOW JORDAN HARVEY
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
