070 Shake performs at Fox Theater in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2025. Michael Chan/STAFF.

OAKLAND — About two-thirds of the way through her concert Wednesday night, singer and rapper 070 Shake thanked fans for their continuing support for her as an artist.

“I’ve evolved coming out of hip-hop, and now I want to create all kinds of different things,” Shake (born Danielle Balbuena) said.

It wasn’t idle chatter, either. The concert’s defining characteristic was the New-Jersey-born artist’s deft movement between musical genres like hip-hop, pop, rock and even industrial noise. From the dramatic piano of “Sin,” which opened the concert as well as Balbuena’s most recent album, Petrichor, to the Depeche-Mode-tinged synthesizers and huge slabs of bass on “Elephant,” the early musical juxtapositions were signs of the genre-hopping to come.

At the outset, Balbuena appeared as a dark silhouette projected on a gauzy curtain at the front of the stage. Eventually the singer emerged clad in paramilitary garb with green pants, black jacket and a beret. The backing band, which appeared to consist of a keyboardist and guitar player, remained behind the curtain for most of the concert, visible only as shrouded blurs.

070 Shake performs at Fox Theater in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2025.

As 070 Shake introduced “Vagabond,” from her latest album, she talked about leaving home and trying to find her way in the world as a musician.

“I went to a bunch of different houses that didn’t feel like home. I related to a vagabond in some way,” Balbuena said, before singing, “Think I’m moving out west for you/ After this, I’ll be on the move” over haunted piano lines that sounded a bit like Alicia Keyes and a bit like Tori Amos.

At another point, Balbuena asked first for a cigarette and then for a light.

“If you’ve got a cigarette, throw it on stage please,” she said before lighting up and swaying to the epic beat of “Into Your Garden.”

“Enough with the emotional stuff,” she said glibly near the concert’s conclusion, just before getting sentimental. “I just want to tell you guys I love you so much. No matter what, love is the most powerful force in the world.”

As the first chords from the her latest album’s closing song, “Love,” filled the theater, the audience cheered wildly and many standing toward the back rushed forward. As Balbuena closed the set, the singer signed a pair of records that she then handed to fans in the first row.

The band finally emerged from behind the curtain during Balbuena’s encore and melted faces with an epic musical outro that continued even after 070 Shake had left the stage.

Bryant Barnes performs at Fox Theater in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2025.

Viral sensation Bryant Barnes preceded the headliner, blending lo-fi hip-hop aesthetics with smooth, soulful vocals. He commanded not only attendees’ ears, but also emotions.

His set was mellow, at times crescendoing into large waves of emotional turmoil, with his songs expressing his trepidation at the potential of getting hurt in a new relationship. Drawing inspiration from movies like “La La Land” and his love of McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish, Barnes played unreleased track “bleed me slow.” He followed that up with “Don’t Want A Love Song.

Barnes then explained that he was introduced to the music of 070 Shake by a coworker at Pizza Hut, and promptly used that emotional fuel to go into “Give Me A Sign,” which seemed to radiate from the stage to the back of the room with both melancholy and relatability. Barnes concluded out with his biggest hit, “I’d Rather Pretend.”

Johan Lenox opened the show slowly but with confidence. The producer, born Stephen Michael Feigenbaum, has worked with Nas and had a history with the show’s headline, having opened for her on tour in 2022.

“Shake loves when I do the weird shit,” he announced, proceeding to conduct an orchestra and play the keys while simultaneously singing without missing a note.

Michael Chan contributed to this review.