The Altar Concert

The dimly lit theater was filled with anxious and excited figures eager to see the musical spirit Banks – often stylized BANKS – welcome us into her own live musical territory. This concert was a continuation of the ongoing and more recent tour called The Altar Tour, which was at the time cementing its path boldly throughout West Coast. The identity of the concert can be described as a powerful, audacious, and enlivening showcase of emotional strength and confidence in those emotions – whether weak or stubbornly durable – that left me feeling like a stronger woman than the one that initially sprinted through the theater doors. It is exciting to write about this specific concert experience because of the significance that the artist applied …show more content…
The reasoning in part for this decision pays homage to the mood of her music and keeps the emphasis on her music. For example, with a song called “Drowning,” the only prevalent color seen throughout the theater was red. Banks chooses either one or two colors to light the stage to allow them to perfectly show the specific mood of the song that is being performed. In “Drowning,” the mood spectrum ranges from angry, confused, confident – emotions that can be connected to the color …show more content…
Although I enjoyed every second of each song presented, there was one performance that left me in awe of her artistic ability and creative process as a musical artist. During the song “Better,” Banks made one very touching, simple favor: for everyone in the audience to put their phones down during this particular performance. The initial thought of not wanting to put your phone down was instantly washed away when Banks immersed you into the literal creative process of how the song “Better” was born. As an introduction, Banks stated that most of her songs begin in a soothing and comforting structural process where a syllable passes through her mind and that syllable transforms into a word and that word manifests itself into a phrase, where that phrase then finalizes into an entire concept. This process is very therapeutic for her because it delicately informs her on emotions that she feels the need to address, even if she was completely unaware of it to begin with. Therefore, throughout this performance, she graciously displayed this process. With our phones down and eyes solely fixated on her elegant presence, we were able to see a melodic chant express itself into an entire song that just felt so compelling. It was invigorating to see how her creative process establishes itself and where her vision takes her throughout her songwriting