Rock band Graham Colton returned to GW for the third time this year Friday night as part of the Ballroom Series in the Marvin Center’s Grand Ballroom.

With a mellow crowd, Graham Colton’s repertoire ranged from the upbeat melodic tunes “Jessica” and “Save me” to “Matthew,” a song lead singer Graham Colton wrote for his friend who died at age 17 in a car accident.

By the end of the night, fans were screaming and jumping to the finale,
“Cigarette,” and demanded an encore, which the group produced.

“There’s a lot of momentum for (Graham Colton) right now, and the crowd has always shown a great reaction,” said senior Brett Kaplan, head of WRGW. The radio station co-sponsored the event with the Program Board.

Graham Colton opened for a GW John Mayer performance as part of last semester’s Welcome Week, and later played at the November Counting Crows show at the Smith Center.

Colton told the crowd the band has played in Washington more than any other city, and dubs the District “our new home.”

The concert drew about 500 students from GW, other D.C. universities and area high schools.

Fans said they were happy to see Graham Colton as a headlining act after opening for two more well-known groups earlier this year.

“I saw him first at John Mayer and have been listening his music ever since,” freshman Deena Asadi said. “His music is really chill.”

“He reminds me a lot of the early ’90s music,” freshman Ryan Connelly said. “He really feels what he writes about, which is refreshing in this modern music era.”

Some publications have compared the band’s music to groups including Oasis, Evan and Jaron and Vertical Horizon, and Colton’s voice to Edwin
McCain.

The evening began with a performance by Emocapella, GW’s only all-male a cappella group, followed by jam band Stepanian.

“We were here with Busta Rhymes during Welcome Week in the fall and we love the GW crowd,” lead singer Eric Stepanian said.
-Julie Gordon contributed to this report.