We’ve been big fans of Drake White ever since he released his debut album ‘Spark’ back in 2016, impressing us with his soulful sound and powerful vocals. Since then he’s released three EPs and a second full-length record – 2022’s ‘The Optimystic’ – which seems even more remarkable after a rare brain disorder and stroke left him paralysed down one side in 2019. Thankfully he’s since recovered and has returned to touring in recent months, including sensational sets at The Long Road festival and Islington Assembly Hall last August. Now he’s back in the UK on a run of shows around his performance this weekend at Black Deer Festival, including an appearance at London’s Scala last night.
White and his four-piece band The Big Fire arrived on stage shortly after 9pm to huge cheers from the packed crowd and kicked off their set with ‘American Thunder’ from ‘The Optimystic’. It’s a funky, slinky number which showed off the distinctive drawl and depth in White’s voice and had the audience getting their groove on from the off. Throughout the performance White could be seen jamming out with his band (something he did regularly during the show) and with a huge grin on his face. It’s clear he’s very happy to be back performing in the UK and the deafening audience reaction at the end suggests the feeling is very much mutual. They followed that with ‘It Feels Good’, which saw White encouraging the audience to clap, count them in and sing along in a call-and-response, as well as him and his bandmates Graham and Devon two-stepping whilst playing their guitars at the end!
One thing which stood out me throughout the set was White’s clever choice of covers. From a fiery take on the soul classic ‘Hard To Handle’ which saw him hit just one of many impressive huge notes of the evening, as well as a wicked guitar solo from Devon, to mixing Tom Petty’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’ into the hopeful ‘Hurts The Healing’ (where he told the crowd, “tonight we’re all goin’ to church… can you be the choir?” and they happily obliged) and adding a singalong to ‘This Little Light Of Mine’ into ‘The Coast Is Clear’ as the audience lit up the room with their phones, he showed that he’s very astute at picking songs that work well for his voice whilst also showing off the wide range of influences on his sound. For me the standout of these was his blend of ‘Heartbeat’ with the Kings of Leon’s ‘Use Somebody’. The soaring original with its detailed imagery blends really well with the cover and saw White show off the belt in his vocal to perfection.
That said, there were plenty of original tracks for fans to enjoy too. ‘Back To Free’ provided a nostalgic, laid-back moment , whilst the lush, soulful ‘Power Of A Woman’ saw White namecheck audience member Bonnie and ‘Mix ‘Em With Whiskey’ and ‘Story’ had everyone dancing and stomping their feet with White showing off his harmonica-playing on the latter song. Whilst he was up on stage, he found time to crack a few jokes about spilling his beer and hold the last note on ‘Makin’ Me Look Good Again’ to chuckles from the crowd, and also spoke very openly about recently becoming a dad and how the love from his fans made him determined to come back. That honesty is one of many reasons why he’s won over his fans and you could really feel the positive energy coming off him throughout his entire time on stage.
For me the absolute highlight of the evening was ‘The Optimystic’, which White performed acapella with Devon and Graham. Their harmonies sounded absolutely beautiful and they had the room absolutely spellbound throughout – you could honestly have heard a pin drop. I also loved ‘All Would Be Right With The World’, which White played at the request of an audience member whilst encouraging the crowd to join in before hitting a massive note at the end, and new song ‘Spirit’ (out later this month), a hopeful song which mixed blues and rock stylings with a big chorus and once again showed off White’s incredible vocals.
White and his band closed the main portion of their set with ‘Livin’ The Dream’. The fun, playful number with its quick vocal delivery really gave them all the opportunity to show just what they can do, including a very impressive outro, and it was great to see them all jamming out together. After leaving the stage to stamps, whistles and shouts of “we want more!”, they returned shortly afterwards to play ‘Giants’, followed by an atmospheric, rocking combination of ’50 Years Too Late’ and Hank Williams Jr’s ‘A Country Boy Can Survive’. The very last song of the night was White’s take on ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, which saw him tipping the microphone stand back as he dropped to the floor and dragging it around the stage, whilst the crowd took their job very seriously as they sang and swayed along. As White left the stage for the last time he could be spotted shaking hands and waving to the audience, reinforcing just how much these UK shows mean to him.
Overall Drake White delivered an excellent performance with incredible vocals, his trademark mix of blues, soul, country and rock, and a real sense of being uplifted. He’s always been a fantastic showman and you could feel the charisma oozing out of every pore throughout the night, but there’s a renewed determination and fire about him in his recent performances (as he declared himself, “wasn’t no stroke gonna keep me from the stage”). As he left he promised that “if y’all keep coming we’ll keep coming back” and based on the audience reaction hopefully it won’t be too long before he’s back over here in even bigger venues. In the meantime though, we’ve got that new music to look forward to…
Set list: 1. American Thunder 2. It Feels Good 3. Hard To Handle (Otis Redding cover) 4. Back To Free 5. Hurts The Healing/I Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty cover) 6. Power Of A Woman 7. Makin’ Me Look Good Again 8. The Coast Is Clear/This Little Light Of Mine 9. Spirit 10. The Optimystic 11. Mix ‘Em With Whiskey 12. Heartbeat/Use Somebody (Kings Of Leon cover) 13. All Would Be Right With The World 14. Livin’ The Dream Encore: 15. Giants 16. 50 Years Too Late/A Country Boy Can Survive (Hank Williams Jr cover) 17. With A Little Help From My Friends (Beatles/Joe Cocker cover) Performance date: 19th June 2023
See Drake White on tour in the UK this month:
Wednesday 21st June – Academy, Manchester
Thursday 22nd June – SWG3, Glasgow
Saturday 24th June – Sage, Gateshead
Sunday 25th June – Junction, Cambridge
