Glass Animals Rock a Sold Out White Oak Music Hall
Live music is something that has been missing from our lives for far too long. As a society we are still negotiating with how to reintroduce live music gatherings and we may have found the answer. This past week we got to hear some synth-drenched pop music from Glass Animals at White Oak Music Hall in Houston, Texas. All attendees of the sold-out concert were required to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test. Additionally the concert was held on the outdoor Lawn space, decreasing risk of viral transmission.
The Venue
White Oak Music Hall (“WOMH”) is a five-acre, three-stage indoor/outdoor live music complex, located just north of downtown Houston. The venue originally opened in 2016 and has hosted diverse acts from up and coming local talent to grammy winning international tours. This was our first time catching a show at the venue and we LOVED it. There is an upstairs room that fits 300, downstairs area for 1,000 fans and the outdoor stage welcomes some of the most legendary names in music for a performance to more than 3,000 fans. We got to see Glass Animals on the outdoor stage in what felt like a festival atmosphere.
The Opening Act
It was the perfect late summer evening with a cooler-than-normal late summer backdrop as the youthful and lively crowd trickled in for opener Binki.
Baraka Ongeri, better known by his stage name Binki, has seen a brisk rise with millions of streams from the momentum of TikTok and Spotify playlists. The Pennsylvanian musician is someone whose music could only exist in a world where a DIY approach is possible – his sound is pop, indie, dance, hip-hop, and R&B. He charmed the crowd with Heybb! and even threw in some magic tricks into his set.
Glass Animals
And then it was time. Glass Animals walked onto the stage to an atmosphere that felt like ACL. Their set was colorful, lit with neon lights, and even had a basketball hoop draped with some Air Force Ones – all in theme with the cover of Dreamland.
Ground-shaking 808s topped with wispy vocals and driving synth lines rocked Houston. They opened the show with the “Dreamland” intro, quickly followed by “Life Itself,” and the dancing ensued. The colorful set added to the psychedelic feel of the show. The screen at the back of the set played everything from music videos to Pac-Man. All this, while Dave Bayley flew around the stage in his Houston shirt taking the audience to new places. What some may not know is that Dave grew up in College Station, Texas, and stated during the show that he is the closest he’ll ever have to a hometown show.
Their newest funky single ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)’ is proof that Glass Animals are better than ever. Bayley said of the single “I want people to switch their devices off, put this song on, close their eyes and have that release for a moment.” and thats what we did.
The band left the stage briefly and then came back for their encore. “Tokyo Drifting” dropped and for their finale, “Heat Waves” had us dancing and singling along as the lyrics flashed on the screen capping off a dreamy concert experience on a September night in beautiful Houston, Texas.
