Whitney + Emma Ogier @ Beanfield Theatre▪

The day that Ella Langley’s Choosin’ Texas scores a 23rd week at No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 seems like the right time to see someone like Emma Ogier live, and find out what this country craze is all about; to my untrained ear, they sound remarkably similar. The Nashville-based singer-songwriter is playing Montreal for the first time, and is clearly relishing it, chatting regularly with the Beanfield crowd in an awkward-yet-always-endearing manner. Don’t be surprised to see her on a Lasso stage in the near future; her mellow country vibe is ready for bigger stages than this.

Fly 1111, the title track of her upcoming new album (unless I really misheard something), features immaculate harmonies from her guitarist brother and a bass player who looks exactly like actor Joshua Jackson (it’s unreal, honestly), and it sounds wonderful, a little more Snail Mail than the country that came before. Malcolm Brown from tonight’s headliner joins on keys for Baby Don’t Hurt Me, and his Wurlitzer complements the triple vocal perfectly. Penultimate song Believing starts out with just Emma and her acoustic guitar, and sounds majestic, with the band slowly joining mid-song, before the 45-minute set wraps up with the equally lovely Taillights.

Chicago’s Whitney will always hold a special place in my heart as one of the last shows I saw before the COVID-19 pandemic, in this very same room. Malcolm alludes to it during the show too; asking who was here that night, before adding, “we’re older…” Got that right. 6½ years; where does the time go…

Wistful detour done; back to the show. The show is a stripped-down affair, the 6-piece illuminated by just 6 scattered bulbs on stage as drummer Julien Ehrlich actually starts the show on acoustic guitar, strumming through Silent Exchange in a dim-light campfire vibe. A few more lights flare up above the stage for Won’t You Speak Your Mind as Julien goes into full Don Henley mode, singing and drumming simultaneously, as Malcolm and guitarist Ziyad Asrar lay down perfect harmonies before Will Miller’s trumpet solo wraps up the song. It merges seamlessly into No Matter Where We Go, a perfect summer soundtrack to match the incredible weather which finally arrived in Montreal the last few days, before running into Giving Up.

And that’s a theme of a Whitney set, individual songs melting together to form more extensive pieces, and happens a few times tonight. It’s so cohesive though, you’d never know if you just wandered into the show blindly. Dandelions runs into Friend of Mine, Polly runs into Darling, and it works perfectly every time; the noodles and slides of guitarist Max Kakacek sound particularly good on the latter. An anthemic Golden Days / The Falls hybrid closes out the main set.

After a minute of the Nintendo-64 Goldeneye home screen music (oh the nostalgia!), the band return for a 5-song encore, with Julien promising “we’re gonna play a sad number, then we’ll ramp it up!” Islands (Really Something) is the sad one in question, and is swiftly followed by the glorious trio of Dave’s Song, Valleys (My Love), and a stop-start No Woman, which culminates in huge roars from the crowd, who evidently loved it as much as I did. Back to the Wind is an exquisite finale to the 75-minute set, and closes out a triumphant Montreal return. No global pandemic this time though, please?!