Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals
(With special guest Nai Palm)
12th January 2019
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Molly O’Brien. Photography by David Watson.
Beams of late afternoon sunlight snuck their way into Spark Arena, reminding cold beer and air conditioning of its presence. The relaxed room mingled, still smelling of sunblock from weekend beach missions, almost unaware of the musical aptitude and flair to come or the vibrant, jostling crowd that would follow it.
Bathed in dusty pink light Nai Palm, (Naomi Saalfield of the multi-dimensional Australian soul giants ‘Hiatus Kaiyote’), opened with her track ‘Everything is Beautiful’, a twinkly tune with a range from Auckland to Timbuctoo. Armed with her black and white Jackson guitar, hilariously dubbed ‘Michael Jackson’, Nai Palm intertwined seamlessly with three backup singers, the almighty vocals of the quartet hovering through the light haze of smoke and nestling in the most distant of corners.
Nai Palm had performed solo at Tuning Fork in August, a much smaller venue which allowed her charming and charismatic conversational personality to shine through. As a musician who has a glowing aura of potent and penetrating soul, an arena seemed out of place; almost like a death metal record in a retirement home. That being said, I’m entirely convinced that Naomi’s cozy and content spirit could summon a gentle hip sway from a rock. Tracks flowed off her 2017 album ‘Needle Paw’ to a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)’, and if her performance tonight could make a pebble jive, the privilege of an intimate show is a landslide.
Anderson Paak & the Free Nationals popped from complete darkness, silhouetted against strobe and then a rising sun. As if in unanimous salute spliffs were lit every few feet as Paak was center stage, pounding a colourful applause out of his drumkit while rapping ‘Who R U?’, a enthusing rally of a song from his album ‘Oxnard’, dropped late last year and produced by Dr. Dre. For their first arena performance their whole crew emerged as seasoned stage show connoisseurs, smoke cannons firing at flicks of the wrist and a stage diving runway launching Paak into the exploding madness of his fans.
Militant marching assembled the crowd into overdrive, lapping up .Paak’s duets with Cocoa Sarai on several songs such as ‘6 Summers’, (Oxnard). Versatility dripped from the ensemble, undertones switching from classic hip-hop to soundcloud low-fi to jazz punched with a pinch of funk. Proven by rapping and drumming in unison for songs like ‘Milk N’ Honey’, (Venice, 2014), Anderson .Paak doesn’t appear to have the normal human need to breathe – either that or he has nine more lungs than the average joe, likely guaranteed to deliver bars mid-marathon.
Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals finished their Australasian tour completely deserving the capacity of Spark Arena – leaving behind a stunner of a summer Saturday pumped with energy, vitality, rhythm and blues.
Were you there at Spark Arena for this magnificent arena debut? Or have you seen Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.