The Constellations light up Athens!

Saturday was indescribably incredible! As all of my Twitter followers know, I've been dreaming of seeing the Constellations rock the stage again ever since I first saw them at Atlanta's Summerfest several months ago. Well, it seems that dreams do indeed come true! Their much-awaited show at Tasty World Uptown just after UGA's win against Arizona State was simply spectacular.

Openers SolShakr and Kite to the Moon started things off rather awesomely. SolShakr got everyone excited with a taste of their lovely southern rock. Great stuff. Then Kite to the Moon, a local psychedelic rock pop trio, stepped onstage. Playing custom-made guitars in a variety of shapes and wearing hot dog suits, animal ears, and crazy rocker wigs, this band had a humorous style all its own. With the Tiger Girlz of Athens swinging on a trapeze beside the stage dressed as anything from pregnant nerds to Hooters girls in heels, there was no shortage of visual stimulation during their set. The members of the audience hardly even knew where to look!

Minutes before midnight, the Constellations, much-buzzed about Atlanta band who just signed with Virgin Records and has been heard all over the radio airwaves during the past year, appeared in front of us ready to show Athens how it's done. And boy, did they show us! Once again, they were completely amazing. The band rocked everyone's favorite tunes with a fantastic amount of energy, and the fans just couldn't stop dancing! Then Elijah Jones, lead singer for the eight-member power group, decided to make it personal. Jumping straight off the stage and into the audience, he belted out the songs while leaning on people in the crowd and rocking out with them. And just like at the Summerfest show, he didn't shy away from feeling the music and writhing on the floor during a particularly wild rendition of the band's ode to Atlanta, Step Right Up. The rest of the band members, too, took over the whole stage with their rock making the show a sight to behold!

Best of all, though, this band's relationship with their fans was nothing short of wonderful! Between songs they wished several girls in the crowd a Happy Birthday and even had them come up on stage to sing along with the clap squad, the band's lovely duo of backup singers, during their hit Felicia. And then, the coolest thing ever happened. Shab, one of the girls in the clap squad, recognized me from my Twitter picture and gave Echoreyn of Athens its first ever shoutout from the stage! WOW! My memory is a jumbled mess of what happened next, but I think I got a high five from one of the members, and I know I got to say the full name of the blog into Elijah's microphone. So freaking crazy! This was something I totally would never have expected. What an end to my Saturday night! I still can't believe how amazing it all was.