FOMO By Night
9th January 2019
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Feature Artwork by Leon Taylor. Photography by Doug Peters.
Spark Arena’s air-conditioned womb was the birthplace of last night’s mass sensory experience that is the FOMO by Night Auckland leg of the hugely entertaining FOMO Festival Australia. With a mix of MC’s, DJs and of course a royal visit from the Queen herself – Nicki Minaj.
A scorching temperature radiating up from the concrete, beating down from the sun and with congestion being a real thing close to the venue due to something about tennis happening down the road; by the time I’d arrived I’d missing seeing any of The Katayanagi Twins, Auckland based DJs named surely for the dynamic DJ duo from Scott Pilgrim vs The World; specializing in alternative hip hop, R&B and Trap beats, I’m certain these model sisters and tastemakers would have had the space bumping along nicely.
Next up Katikati’s own Montell2099 might be a humble homegrown beats maker but the cronch this lad has about his beats are irresistible and undeniable. Presenting a smooth and exciting set comprised of Montell2099’s massive track with 21 Savage; a sexy and languid mix of Lorde’s Greenlight, an in our feelings mix of Post Malone’s Fall Apart alongside cuts from A$AP Rocky, Kanye, Drake and more; Montell2099 really was shown the love as he coaxed sing-a-longs out of the early assembly of audience. Montell2099 was my new favourite discovered at FOMO by Night for sure.
Following on, San Holo representing Netherlands and futurebass gave everyone the chance to take a breather and bring the beats down to heartrate to chill and vibe to San Holo’s eclectic mix of multi-instrumentalism, singing and DJ’ing in a truly impressive and warm set. San Holo strode on stage and immediately mounted a foldback to deliver a squealy dreamy guitar solo before taking the crowd on a blissful journey as calming visuals washed over the screens behind him and provided an oasis of chill.
Bursting out onto the stage like a denim-look PVC one-piece fantasy, Kali Uchis accompanied by her full band was a neo-soul disco dream bringing this incredible party vibe energy and leaving a few jaws on the floor. A blistering highlight for me was the exquisite cover of “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer; which Kali and band absolutely dominated on and it was one of those moments when you feel like music can make you time travel as Kali nailed it with the notes and the disco siren vibe; transporting me to some glittering dancefloor of the Studio 54 era. Touring her debut album and visiting New Zealand for the first time I’m sure Kali Uchis will be back soon.
Aminé (Uh-Me-Nay) came through with a vibrant neon set that is devised to delight; bringing a special blend of hip hop, alternative hip hop and trap Aminé hails from Portland Oregon and has that assorted style on lock. Love and good time are clearly the objective for Aminé; as video flashes on the screens behind him solidified the mood for the set; showing Jack Black and the School of Rock kids, and collages of YouTube videos ranging from jerk & krump comps to old Grandma dance groups and little kids dancing in their lounge rooms. Bringing plenty of cuts from 2018 release ONEPOINTFIVE, Aminé gave us Shine, Why?, Chingy, Blackjack, Red Mercedes, Rachet Saturn Girl, Reel It In; plus, there had to be space for Spice Girl, Heebiejeebies (feat. Kehlani) and Caroline – which was so warmly received that Aminés’ DJ Madison cut the track, so the crowd could wow with their lyrical knowledge. A special set, this is what is great about festival line-ups; getting to see an act that you ordinarily wouldn’t but get to enjoy immensely.
Wow on the Mura Masa! This incredible Guernsey born EDM producer, collaborator, songwriter, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist had Spark Arena eating out of the palm of his hand. So measured and precise Mura Masa (aka Alex Crossan) orchestrates his set perfectly bringing huge dance festival vibes and rolling out hit tracks Move Me, What If I Go, 1 Night, Nuggets, Complicated and the massive Love$ick. Honestly any reviewer in their right mind wouldn’t be making many notes during this set, they ought to be dancing…and I was!
Prepare the subjects! Our Queen is in the building! Arriving to stage under cloak and darkness to the strains and remixed whispers of Majesty from 2018s Queen; Nicki whipped off her cloak and we were hers, utterly and loyally.
As Nicki checked us out and spent some time chatting to us; letting us know she always has an excellent time in New Zealand, someone in the crowd caught her attention and gifted her a New Zealand flag which Nicki immediately wrapped around herself in a hug and kissed it and the audience all clasped our hands up under our chins with shining Harajuku anime eyes as we squee’d that Nicki was touching our flag! Asking “I hope you guys don’t mind if I get a little bit nasty?” Nicki twerked her way into an incendiary rendition of Anaconda that nearly melted my ear plugs due to the crowd being in full voice on that one. As Nicki gave a shout out to Ariana Grande on Side to Side Nicki was delighted to see Spark Arena come in and give the love right back to her bestie, Ari. The big moment of the night was when Nicki called up Manu and Mya from Rewa; as Nicki gave Manu a lap dance and checked with Manu’s partner of 10 years Mya “Is it OK that I gave your boyfriend a lap dance?”, “Oh my gosh thank you!” squeals Mya, which sends Nicki into a delicious deep throated giggle. “You think I should marry him?” Mya asked Nicki, to which Nicki asked the crowd; and Manu, dude if this was ever the time…but after some hugs Manu and Mya were helped back off stage and Nicki continued into the night. Drawing up unplanned classic cuts from her earliest albums, challenged by her DJ; Nicki is word perfect on spitting her flows, dropping some acapella with us, freestyling, her reign in hip hop demonstrated before us and undeniable. In my dizzying euphoria I clocked: Feeling Myself, Trufflebutter, Beez in the Trap, Rake It Up, Big Bank, FeFe, Anaconda, Swalla, Side to Side, Pound the Alarm, Starships, Superbass, Roman’s Revenge, Save Me, Your Love, Dance A$$, Moment 4 Life, Chun Li and there was probably a couple more too.
As a keen observer and Nicki Minaj fan will note, during this superstar performance we were only treated to snippets of songs from Queen, they weren’t actually performed in their entirety and any true fan knows that Chun Li was released prior to Queen so…I’m getting myself potentially excited about a full blown Queen tour coming to see us in New Zealand in the future; as this gift of a set from Nicki Minaj last night was a celebration of all her hard work to date, a party vibe to match FOMO; when I feel a Queen album tour will have even more aesthetics and surprises to astonish us…Nicki just wanted to visit to ask “Yo how’d it taste?”
Were you there at Spark Arena for this magnificent festival style show? Or have you seen any of the artists perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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