Banks Kicks Off Sold-Out Three-Night Run at Brooklyn Steel on Saturday

Banks – Brooklyn Steel – September 7, 2019

L.A.-based Jillian Rose Banks, or better known simply as Banks, gained fame across the pond before achieving notoriety in her home country. On the radar of DJ Zane Lowe, Banks’s single, “Before I Ever Met You” catapulted into the BBC universe and led to her being featured on numerous 2014 artists-to-watch lists. Armed with her third album, III, released in July, the American singer-songwriter attempts to break away from the hype of the indie-pop earworm to be an artist with a unique voice all her own. Banks revealed in a Time interview her transformation for the recent EP, drawing from heartbreak to narrate personal lessons learned. “The more experiences you have and the more pain you’ve gone through, the wiser you become,” remarked the matured singer.

In support of her latest release, Banks played the first of three sold-out shows at Brooklyn Steel on Saturday night. Opening with III’s first track, “Till Now,” the West Coaster stepped onstage enshrouded in red light as her backing dancers, Allison Fletcher and Nadine Olmo flanked the singer creating a covenlike trio. Large crimson scarves served as exclamations to the choreography on “Stroke,” but Banks shed her dancers briefly to command the stage alone on the oldie “Drowning,” twirling and bobbing to drummer Derek Taylor’s beats. She welcomed a string quartet for new fan favorite “Contaminated,” which veered away from the more Auto-Tuned album version.

Although you wouldn’t be able to tell from her impassioned performance, Banks confessed that she still gets nervous performing in New York City. The crowd mollified any jitters by dancing the entire evening and even sang along with the “yeah, yeah, yeahs” chorus on back-catalog gem “Better.” For an encore, she performed  “Look What You’re Doing to Me” on a trunk next to the sound board, treating fans in the back of the venue to a closer encounter, before returning to the stage to conclude the show with “Beggin for Thread.” —Sharlene Chiu | @Shar0ck

Photos courtesy of DeShaun Craddock | dac.photography

@deshaunicus