BANKS & St. Lucia performed for the 2nd Annual Vulture Festival in NYC!
It’s June guys and I feel fantastic! This heightened mood might be because I’m still on a high from the super talented performances I just witnessed. Or it’s due to the fact that I’ll be attending the Governors Ball Music Festival in just a few days where I’ll get to see acts like Florence + The Machine, The Black Keys, Lana Del Rey, Marina & the Diamonds, Drake, Flume, SBTRKT, Deadmau5 and more! Some of the featured acts I’ve already seen and others like, Florence + The Machine I’ve been dying to see so you can imagine how much of a happy camper I am right about now. You can see a few other acts I’m into here, here and here.
Before I get too distracted by future good times let’s talk about BANKS & St. Lucia!
Now, to be honest, when I purchased tickets to this event I was attending solely for the purpose of seeing BANKS. I had previously seen her perform last fall at Terminal 5 and I loved every minute of her set. The problem was that I was on one of the upper levels and when I’m a major fan of an artist I want to be as close to that stage as possible. I basically have the mindset where I feel like I need to be within the 1st 3 rows or I just need to try, try, again and attend as many shows until I can achieve that coveted spot in the crowd. I want to see the artists up close and personal and really get a sense of their stage presence and energy. When you’re somewhere in the back squinting to see them or hopping on one foot to try to see over the tall guy’s head in front of you that’s not really an ideal scenario to be in.
Thankfully, I was able to score a spot in the front row this time and I was more than happy about it. When St. Lucia performed I didn’t really know what to expect. I only knew them by name but I had never heard any of their music and was pleasantly surprised. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the band St. Lucia is fronted by Jean-Phillip Grobler who hails from South Africa and now resides in Brooklyn. The band sounds like something straight out of the 80s and gives me Duran Duran vibes if they had come out in 2015. Duran Duran is awesome by the way and you should YouTube that ASAP if you need a refresher! In other words, I really liked St. Lucia and they’re currently playing in the background as I write this. I just discovered their song “Elevate” and you can check out their video below!
St. Lucia put a smile on my face and put me in a dance mindset and when BANKS followed up I was brought into a much moodier sense of being. Don’t get me wrong I loved BANKS, aka Jillian Rose Banks, but her songs are a lot darker and emotional. Every lyric is written with so much soul and angst and her alternative R&B sound is just as enthralling as St. Lucia but in a totally different way. Also, I must say that her stage look was pretty spot on! My immediate reaction when she walked out in an all black cape, strappy halter bustier, high waisted pant, and metallic heeled open toed shoes was – “WHOA!” I wanted to know where everything was from and where I could find it. When I wasn’t singing along I was trying to get a good mental image of her shoes because I’m now on a mission to find those bad boys! haha
If you can’t already tell I had so much fun you guys! You can check out some of my favorite songs from BANKS below along with some footage from the show on my Instagram. I’ll be adding more clip’s throughout the week so make sure to follow along and if you’d like to see the video for her song “Beggin for Thread” you can click here.
What do you think of BANKS and St. Lucia? Share your thoughts and expect highlights from the Governors Ball Music Festival, Zella Day, The Kooks, Atlas Genius & Joywave along with other weekly Music Monday picks!