The euphoric sounds of Washed Out arrived in Houston, Texas on Saturday night, November 9th, to play the intimate crowd at Fitzgerald’s. Ernest Greene (QRO interview) has been taking his group of musicians around ever since he began gaining success in 2009 with his hit single “Feel It All Around”. Now if you had to ask a fan who Washed Out was or what Washed Out sounded like, you might get something like, “It’s like making love on a beach with an ‘80s new wave soundtrack playing behind you”… or at least that’s what a fan next to me said. Sensuality was a heavy theme in Washed Out’s music with evoking album covers and song titles such was “Eyes Be Closed”. Ernest’s latest work, Paracosm (QRO review), had hints of earlier material but definitely had an altogether new approach with the content. I took my place in the crowd and waited to see what new tricks Greene had in his bag.
Starting the show off with “It All Feels Right” off of his latest album, Greene and friends began to lace the crowd with melodic melodies. Washed Out is one of the few groups where you didn’t need to know the lyrics to understand the music. Greene was all about feel with his music, and he was definitely doing a number on me and everyone else in attendance. Each song took me away to a different place. One didn’t even need to open one’s eyes to enjoy the music. Greene moved down the play-list and continued to bathe our souls following up with “It All Feels Right”, “Belong” and “New Theory”. Washed Out definitely had a place among this urban Houston crowd.
A few of favorite moments of the night happened during songs like “Feel It All Around” and “Amor Fati”. You could definitely feel a universal mindset amongst the crowd as we all continued to be blown away by the sweet sounds coming out of the PA Systems. If music was a drug, then Ernest Greene has done his best at bottling it up. Ending on a personal favorite “Eyes Be Closed”, Greene took one last smile at the Houstonian faces and made his departure onto Austin. I don’t know how the following Fun Fun Fun Fest show compared to the intimate Houston crowd, but one thing is for sure… YOU NEED NOT TO MISS WASHED OUT!
