“New York, I need you to understand that right now you’re witnessing greatness,” Little Simz told a sold out Brooklyn Steel on Thursday night (10/12). She was part of the way through her set, the first of two NYC shows with which she’s closing out her current North American tour, which is her first trip here since 2019, and she was absolutely dominating the stage. Both unaccompanied at the beginning of her set and with two bandmates later, she had the crowd in the palm of her hand with the power of her delivery as she played songs from her two most recent albums, 2022’s No Thank You and 2021’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, as well as some older material. She strided across the stage in front of a big screen which projected bold, stylistic graphics, first in black and white and eventually in color too, but apart from that it was the kind of no-frills set that put her outstanding material front and center, where it belongs.

Simz made headlines when she cancelled her 2022 US tour, explaining at the time that as an independent artist she would’ve been left in debt from the trip. She brought that up on Thursday night, saying that she appreciated the people who had bought tickets to those cancelled shows, and that ultimately, she used the time to write the songs that became No Thank You. She also mentioned what a special night it was with her family from London in the crowd to watch, and it certainly felt triumphant from beginning to end. A tour de force performance.

O.T.G, who has previously been Simz’ DJ, including at her Music Hall of Williamsburg show in 2019, opened Thursday night’s show with a set he said was his first of his original material in the US. See pictures from both sets and attendee-taken video below.

Simz’ North American tour wraps up tonight (10/13) at Terminal 5.

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