Eli Young Band returns to Sioux Falls for the first time since 2019

Two records and a documentary after their last stop at The District, the Denton, Texas band is back on Saturday, Jan. 23.

The last time Eli Young Band came through Sioux Falls was June 8, 2019, a summer night at The District. A lot has happened since, to the band and to everyone else, and they are coming back to the same room in the dead of winter. Eli Young Band plays The District on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2027, with the show at 7 p.m.

The date was announced Oct. 26, and tickets are on sale through OpenDate. The District holds about 1,500, a good fit for a band that can fill a fairground but sounds best when the crowd is close.

If you know one Eli Young Band song, it's probably "Crazy Girl." The single, co-written by Liz Rose and Lee Brice, came off 2011's *Life at Best* and went on to 5x Platinum, one of the biggest country hits of its decade. It's part of a run that has made them, by their own tour billing, an 18-time RIAA Gold and Platinum-certified act.

The band started in Denton, Texas, where singer Mike Eli and guitarist James Young met as freshman roommates at the University of North Texas. The lineup of Eli, Young, Jon Jones and Chris Thompson has stayed together since.

What's changed since 2019 is how they work. Their most recent album, *Strange Hours*, arrived Aug. 1, 2025, and it was the band's first independently released album, on their own UnLevel Records. They made it at Panhandle House Studio in Denton, the same place their debut album *Level* was born. After years in the major-label system, going home to make a record on their own terms is about as clear a statement of intent as a band can make.

After years in the major-label system, they went home to Denton to make a record on their own terms.

They've also been looking back. A documentary, *This Is Eli Young Band*, now streaming, covers a career of more than 25 years. And this year they marked 15 years of *Life at Best* with a deluxe reissue featuring demos and alternate versions, alongside the Keep On Dreaming Tour that Pollstar reported in July and that MusicRow said would launch in August.

So expect a set that moves across both ends of the catalog: the hits that made them radio fixtures, and the looser, more personal songs of *Strange Hours*. The genre tags on this one are country, rock and pop, and that blend has always been the band's sweet spot: Texas roots, a rock band's volume and choruses built for singing along.

For Sioux Falls, the appeal is simple. A band with this many hits playing a 1,500-capacity room on a Saturday night is a good deal of value, and the fact that it's their second stop at The District says the room worked for them the first time.

Late January on the prairie is not anyone's idea of touring weather, which makes it a good time to have something on the calendar. Tickets are on sale now.

Seven and a half years is a long wait. Saturday night should make up for some of it.

Sources: Crazy Girl – Songfacts (dev-www.songfacts.com); Eli Young Band – Afton Tickets (aftontickets.com); Eli Young Band launches new era with Strange Hours album, headlining tour – The Music Universe (themusicuniverse.com); This Is Eli Young Band documentary now streaming – antiMusic (musicpressbox.antimusic.com); Eli Young Band announces Keep On Dreaming Tour – The Music Universe (themusicuniverse.com); Eli Young Band Announce Keep On Dreaming Tour – Pollstar (news.pollstar.com); Eli Young Band to launch Keep On Dreaming Tour in August – MusicRow (musicrow.com); Eli Young Band at The District – JamBase (jambase.com)