Photo Gallery and Review: Leith Ross at Brooklyn Steel
Photos by Morgan Loftus
On October 29th, Leith Ross brought their I Can See the Future tour to Brooklyn Steel. Just days before Halloween, fans in the crowd sported their costumes to get a head start on the festivities. Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” played over the speakers while fans sang along, setting the scene for a relaxed, intimate evening.
Emma Harner took the stage first, immediately captivating the audience with her powerful vocals and excellent stage presence. Her banter with the audience was hilarious, and she built a great rapport with fans. Although her performance consisted of only her and a guitar, her vocals beautifully filled the room. A special shoutout to her acknowledgement of pet chicken death—all pets matter!
The fans themselves brought a phenomenal energy to the night. Between sets, I even spotted a few fans in the crowd playing cards, which encapsulated just how great a community Leith Ross’ fans are. Each person in the audience was fully engaged, united by a common love for music.
After an excitedly anxious waiting period, Leith Ross and their band finally took the stage. Immediately, their vocals and the band’s instrumentation transported me to some sort of religious experience—and I’m an atheist. As a casual listener of Ross, who was only truly familiar with their most popular tracks, I was immediately blown away by their ability to take full control of the audience through their voice alone.
At times, it felt almost as though I was sitting in a jazz bar. Ross’ music is simultaneously so relaxing and so raw, and keyboardist Keiran Placatka’s solos helped transport me to an intimate show at Dizzy’s Jazz Club, as opposed to the balcony of Brooklyn Steel. Leith Ross’ vocals, buttery smooth in nature, scratched an itch in my brain that I didn’t even know existed. Each member of their band built off one another’s energies, displaying their abilities to improvise and build a world of their own onstage. The crowd heavily leaned into this as they followed the energetic cues given by the band.
Bassist Zoe Sparks was not restricted to bass alone. Instead, their harmonies blended flawlessly with Ross’ lead vocals. The violin, played by Soona Lee-Tolley, sounded almost cinematic, like an underlying score to a fantasy film.
Although Ross is widely known for their slower, intimate works, the show’s tempo picked up a few times during their more upbeat songs. There was a major energy shift here, allowing the full band to feed off the crowd’s energy. While most of the audience was on the floor, a few were higher up on the balcony, but Ross made them feel included by pointing to them mid-song.
Due to their typical reserved and calm nature, Ross seemed more at home when performing their slower songs. However, during the second-to-last song of the night, “(You) On My Arm,” they seemed to enjoy the ability to let loose for a more upbeat track. Their dance moves, entirely unchoreographed, made it feel as though we were watching them dance around in their bedroom.
Ending with their most-streamed track on Spotify, “We’ll Never Have Sex,” the night concluded with only Ross standing on stage with a guitar. Returning to their bedroom-pop roots, this encore felt like a full-circle moment, showcasing just how far Leith Ross has come.