Ever since its release, the glowing debut Light Upon the Lake from newly formed Whitney, from an abundance of music publications citing the album as, “The summer album you need to listen to”. Although the sentiment of bestowing Light Upon the Lake with positive critical reception is flattering, pigeonholing the band’s larger than life sound to a vague social construction as it’s inaccurate and, more importantly, lazy. What Whitney displayed last night was raw, soulful talent versus capturing what the washed out Instagram X Pro II filter embodies. This was Whitney’s first time in Texas, and they were welcomed with nothing short of gleaming glee
Michael Rault, a dazed psychedelic rock three piece band from Canada, delighted and dazzled with complete ease. Their americana pop riffs shined, and several witnesses discussed among themselves how each song in their set was progressively better. The true stars in their set, however, were Michael Rault’s slow jams with their attention grabbing solos. People were warming up and noting how complementary to sharing the same bill as Whitney. And indeed, many members in the audience were becoming more active and hyped up to their closing songs and with Whitney streamlining their fun act.
Opening with “Dave’s Song”, Whitney perfectly opened up the venue with lush instrumentation and the painfully vulnerable duality of nostalgia. With lines like “Cause I’m aching but I fell right in when you gave me up” from “Golden Days” and “I bought a trash heap two seat what did we know? / So don’t you feel lonely no matter where we go” from “On My Own”, it was moving to see how people would react to how genuine sincerity that Whitney conveyed. With people singing along and reflecting on their own grand memories, Whitney triumphantly executed every part of their band with full force of horns that would sweep you off your feet, non nonchalant drumming, singing that soared and radiated the whole room, and melodic guitar work. Throughout their set, they channeled the profoundly candid honesty of Christopher Owens mellowing in with the wholesome magic of Joh
n Prine. A Bob Dylan cover of “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” occurred, and they couldn’t have picked a better song that’s essential to what Whitney stands for. Everyone welcomed it with open arms and hearts to the tender interpretation that Whitney expressed. Whitney closed with “No Woman”, their first single from Light Upon the Lake”, which had everyone unified both physically and emotionally. Someone even told me after the show that the solo during “No Woman” made them cry, and I could understand why with how engrossing it was.
As much as Whitney capitalizes on the bittersweet past, they showed up to have a fantastic time. They were open to interaction with their fans, taking shots of whiskey (courtesy of Michael Rault) before starting a song, and confessing comical past events. That’s the hidden philosophy behind to the golden days that Whitney aches — We must not forget to celebrate life as it comes, or else as from the title track “Light Upon the Lake” evokes us to question, “Will life get ahead of me?” There will be more great times unfolding in the near future, but Whitney added one more night for the books.