Jake Owen Show Review

Chart-topping Artist, Jake Owen, brought his Days of Gold tour back to his home state of sunny Florida on Thursday night. He packed the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on the University of Florida’s campus and managed to bring a beachy atmosphere into the well knows “Swamp” territory.

The show began promptly at 7 PM with The Cadillac Three. Their southern rock sound helped pump up the audience by getting everyone dancing. My personal favorites on their set list were “The South” and “Party Like You”, which happen to be their most recent singles!

Once The Cadillac Three wrapped up their set, the amazingly talented Eli Young Band took the stage! One thing that really stuck out about these guys, aside from their killer music, were their humble attitudes. Mike Eli, made note several times throughout the night that they felt beyond blessed to be able to play music for a living. He even dedicated their song “Prayer For The Road” to all the men and women serving our countries overseas. They played an array of crowd favorites including “Dust”, “Drunk Last Night”, “10,000 Town”, “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”, and “Just Add Moonlight”. They knew exactly how to get the audience loud and rowdy. The music started building and Mike Eli asked what seemed like one of the simplest questions possible. He asked, “How many CRAZY girls do we have here tonight?” All at once the crowd went insane and Eli Young Band began to play one of their most recognized singles from 2011, “Crazy Girl”.

Next up was the performer everyone had been waiting for, the one and only Jake Owen! He surprised the crowd by popping up on a smaller stage near the back, which made fans go insane! He started the night out by rocking his song that inspired the name of the tour, “Days of Gold”. He then made his way to the main stage in his barefoot blue jean attire and sang “Anywhere With You”. A fan in the pit area had her friend on Facetime when Jake Owen grabbed her phone and sang the rest of the song right into the camera! That wasn’t the only surprise Jake had in store. One little girl was able to sing and dance with Jake onstage while he played “The One That Got Away”. It was absolutely adorable! Jake continued to show us his goofy side when he did his own rendition of Drakes “Hold on, We’re Going Home” and Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby.” These weren’t the only surprises Jake had in store for the night though. His family and friends were in attendance so he wanted to do something special. He brought a good buddy of his on stage with him and performed “I Love This Bar.” He then took a moment to thank his parents for everything that they do. Jake told the crowd that his father had just recently beat cancer and that this was the very first headline tour show his dad had ever seen him play. He then dedicated his song “What We Ain’t Got” to family and left the audience in awe. After a few more songs he went on to say how happy he was to be back in Florida. He said he was a little worried that Gainesville wouldn’t be so welcoming (considering Jake is a Florida State Seminole), but that wasn’t the case. When it came time for the encore, Jake stepped out in an orange and blue Gator Tank top and sang “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” which definitely earned him some brownie points!