Through the Veil: 070 Shake’s Cinematic Soundscape at the Petrichor Tour

The 070 Shake concert on February 19 at the Oakland Fox Theater marked another stop on the tour for the artist’s newest album Petrichor (2024). With one of us, Bailey, being a long-time Shake fan and one, Mary, never having listened to her, we were both excited to share this experience from different perspectives. A line was forming as we went to the box office to get our physical ticket stubs (a big deal for girls who only ever receive digital barcodes and emailed receipts). As we walked in the theater the roof seemed to extend to the sky. The crowd below was sheltered by a gold plated, adorned ceiling, and watched over by a shrine-like set up of giant gold Buddha statues on either side of the stage.

As we entered, the first opener, Johan Lenox, had just started his set. We went to the pit and secured our spot for the night. Lenox (also the keys player for Shake) was conducting a cellist and violinist on stage, both of whom he announced were local players reading the music on stage for the first time. Though it was hard to tell if he was actually conducting the two string players or just motioning as part of the act, they both kept their eyes transfixed on him as they created a serene opening to the evening. The smokey blue lighting of the stage cast over him as he used pedals to alter his voice, which he then looped. He sang over the loop, creating layers and layers of his own voice as a song seemed to appear out of nowhere. 

The second opener, Bryant Barnes, wore all black, with an entrance dramatic enough to almost convince the crowd it was Shake herself. He was bathed in alternating blue and red lighting during his performance of songs that focused largely on heartbreak and heartthrob through long, drawn out notes. Though he announced to the crowd that it was likely no one knew him, the girl next to us was freaking out over him, as she knew all of the words to every song, and nearly died when he announced he’d be playing an unreleased track. His set was very personal, as he checked in with the crowd, and incorporated fun introductions to his songs with stories and anecdotes. Before the last song he picked out a girl from the crowd, asked for her name, and dedicated the song to her. Through the smoky atmosphere and moody lighting, genuinity, warmth, and honesty shone through his set.

Large amorphous shadows seeped into the white veil that hung from ceiling to floor as 070 Shake and her band began their set while hidden behind it. The backlit sheet projected the black shadows of reaching hands, the silhouette of a guitar, and Shake’s head thrown backwards as her vocals to “Sin” spilled through the fabric.

As 070 Shake emerged from obscurity, white strobing lights mirrored the bass whose ear shattering punches sent us into dizzying disorientation. The setlist showcased the evolution of her sounds as songs from her debut album Modus Vivendi (2020) and those from her sophomore album You Can’t Kill Me (2022) were woven throughout a Petrichor heavy set. Even from someone watching the set without knowledge of where or when the tracks were from, a notable divergence in genre and sound could be detected as she switched between the albums. Despite her diving into new sounds, the alluring voice she’s carried across the many shifts in her discography remains undoubtedly recognizable. Her sound has now drifted into a more experimental, grimy one with tracks like the third of her set titled “Elephant” reminiscent of the 80s post punk sounds of The Cure or New Order. Where her older work on Modus Vivendi seemed to transport the listener to an otherworldly place above the stars with tracks like “Flight 319,” tracks from the newest album seem to bring the listener on a darker exploration into the mud.

A white spotlight poured over Shake as she performed a rendition of her track “Lungs” stripped of the fast pulsing beat, instead relying on ambient synths paired with a heavier spoken-word version of the lyrics. Following Shake fishing a cigarette out of the audience and smoking it onstage as the pianist and guitarist filled the space with instrumentals, she went into the track “Into Your Garden.” The classical tones of the piano and Shake’s soft vocals were a contrast to the previous moodier tracks as they melted together like two waves meeting and slowly rolling away as one. Shake effortlessly showed her range blending melodic, yearning ballads swollen with piano, to hard hitting tracks like “Cocoon,” which caused the crowd to erupt in synchronized jumping. Shake dove into her debut album for a version of “Nice to Have,” which adopted an alternative melody backed by guitar, a personal favorite of the set purely based on the nostalgia that it invoked. 

The visionary artist stunningly paired the sounds of her album with visual components, like that of a spot of red that formed in the center of the white veil before slowly expanding in size to consume the fabric in a blood stained mess as the lyrics of “Blood On Your Hands” rang out. The solo guitarist emerged from the veil for the first time of the show like a maniacal villain bathed in red light as he murdered his guitar solo while running around the stage, and shredding the guitar behind his head. Rain washed out the red, as she transitioned to the next song while standing beneath the veil that displayed heavy rainfall, a fitting visual for the title of her album, the word for the smell left behind after rainfall. 

Nostalgia washed over the audience, yet again, as purple lights poured over the stage for one of her most popular songs “Guilty Conscience,” before concluding the set with the final song of Petrichor titled “Love.” The song was an appropriate finish to the set, as Shake took every moment she could throughout her set to express her love for the fans, and gratitude for them staying along her journey as she explored new genres and evolved as a human. Before “Love” began, she took the time to address her audience by saying that, “Love is the ultimate force in the world. Just between all of us there’s going to come a day where we’re not here anymore, so I think it’s very important to love while we can.”

After thanking the audience and leaving the stage, curiosity steamed off the crowd as everyone anticipated which track would take the encore slot. With the first word uttered from behind the veil, it was revealed to be her famed verse in Kanye’s Ghost Town. The crowd shouted the lyrics back to her as her verse looped again and again until she threw the microphone to a fan who continued the lyrics until the guitarist and Lenox would stop playing. 

The Petrichor tour will continue through the next couple of months for 11 more stops, with the final show taking place on April 1 in London.

Article by Bailey Schroerlucke and Mary Frances Luce

Photos by Bailey Schroerlucke