Parmalee bring out the hot-n-heavy at Bluestone

By: Amanda Langley

Sunday October 30, Parmalee played at The Bluestone in Columbus and proved that they know how to turn an average, cold Sunday night into a party! Parmalee also brought their friends Hillbilly Way and Mitch Kirkpatrick along with them to get the night started. Picture the night like those small parties you went to in high school, in a corn field with beer, good music, and your favorite friends vibe to it, but instead of a corn field we were in an old church turned music venue.

Mitch Kirkpatrick started off the show around 8. At this point the venue wasn’t even close to being half full, and people were just starting to show up. The songs the band played were all acoustic, and while they sounded good they were a little somber for this type of a crowd. For the majority of their set the music was really just background music for the crowd to listen too while they talked among themselves and started getting drinks from the bar in the back of the room. For this being their first time in Columbus, their set was good; I just think it would get a better reaction from a crowd that wasn’t looking to party all night, like this crowd was.

Next up was The Hillbilly Way; now I won’t lie when I heard they were opening the show, I thought it was going to be all banjos and older country music. But when the band came out on stage and played the first song, I was pleasantly surprised because they were nothing like I had envisioned in my mind, in the best way possible. Throughout The Hillbilly Way’s entire set, people were line dancing, drinking, laughing and having an overall good time. Shout out to the one guy dancing by himself like no one was watching and he was having the time of his life, up in the balcony section! The band made it feel more like a lively Saturday night where you didn’t have a care in the world, than a Sunday night when everyone has to get up and go to work the next day.

At one point the band brought fans up on stage to dance with them which ended up with one lady leaving before the chorus, one star-struck fan that just stared the entire time at the lead singer, and one guy awkwardly standing there as another girl danced and shook her hips in front of him the entire time. The crowd had the best reaction to an old school ’80s medley the band performed halfway through their set, which started off with the classic “Jesse’s girl.” After they performed the last song of the night, their newest single “Best Night of Our Lives” written by country duo Thompson Square, I found myself wanting them to stay and sing one more song.

In between sets there was R&B, Hip Hop, and Rap playing through the speakers, which was an odd change from the country music that had been playing that night so far. So picture a bunch of people, who are pretty drunk, dressed in plaid and cowboy boots, dirty dancing and making out to rap music. Yeah, that was an interesting site; I felt very out of my element in that moment. This goes back to that high school party feel I talked about earlier.

Parmalee definitely knows how to show everyone a good time, and play the best music. For being on such a small stage in a smaller venue with less than 200 people, you would have thought they were in an arena with a huge audience! Their presence filled the venue that much. They truly captivated the audience, though most of them were drunk at this point in the night. I know personally, I had a hard time taking photographs and not just stopping to enjoy the music and atmosphere around me. I found myself singing along to their song “Close Your Eyes” as I was taking pictures, and smiling at the reactions of the crowd to the band on stage. I watched couples wrapped in each other’s embrace, staring into each others eyes and dance to the music of the song “Already Callin’ You Mine.” Parmalee, made me get lost in their music for a few hours Sunday night. I forget for a while that I felt out of place in the crowd full of people who live and breathe country music, while I’m just now starting to like certain country artists in the genre. INSERT PIC HERE Overall the night was definitely fun and one to remember. It had that small town party feel to it, with people dancing and singing to country music, and beer being spilled everywhere. If you want a night where you can just let go, have fun, listen to good music, and forget your worries for awhile, I would definitely recommend seeing Parmalee in concert! Check out a photo gallery of the night here!