King Princess
8th November 2018
Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Doug Peters.
At just nineteen years old, King Princess is not only being heralded as a star but as an LBGTQI icon. But did her show leave fans wanting? It would appear after last night; the answer would be yes.
The all ages audience that packed itself into Auckland’s Powerstation were certainly in high spirits; rainbow flags and brightly coloured feather boas could be seen dotted throughout the predominantly female fans. As with her shows across Australia, King Princess had a drag queen begin the evening’s proceedings – as she said herself later in the set, in reference to the LBGTQI community; Drag Queens paved the way for us all. While Paris held down the fort in Aus, here in Auckland Meddula Oblongata strutted her stuff briefly before the official support act for the night, that of Brisbane singer Clea took over.
Classics such as Avril Lavigne’s ‘Complicated’ rolled around the speakers in between sets, rousing sing-a-longs by the crowd bringing more than a few smiles to the faces of the venue staff. However, the impromptu karaoke sessions soon transformed into screams of ecstasy as King Princess in a navy-blue pant suit took to the stage with her four-piece band in tow. Backlit against a sultry haze of smoke, guitar casually slung across herself, King Princess looked like the epitome of casual cool, her fans down front staring at her with stars in their eyes as she began with the short but oh so saccharine ‘Make My Bed’.
Every sideways smile and toss of the hair elicited another round of screams from the fans, their idol very much playing up to it as she casually swigged from a beer bottle and pronounced that tonight was the last of her tour. There was an electricity that hung in their air, charged with an undeniable sexual energy to it, it made for a feeling of love and acceptance and more importantly freedom to openly be who they wanted to be for those amongst the audience.
However on stage there was almost a Jekyll and Hyde performance being played out; personal and honestly emotive lyrics backed by gentle and at times slightly upbeat music interspersed by a singer who almost regarded her audience with an element of disdain as she reminded the front row that she could hear everything they were saying; a question about merch answered with a pointed “I’m working on it”.
Musically while many of the songs rarely deviate from the middle of the road pop path, there is an obvious talent there; her vocals are continuously on point while her band – which includes both a rather accomplished keyboardist and lead guitarist – certainly know what they are doing. Songs such as ‘Sunburn’ written by King Princess and her bassist about a girl they hate were offset by big hitters such as the hugely popular ‘Talia’ and of course ‘1950’ which King Princess would have been remiss to have not played.
While currently only having an EP to her name – her debut album yet to drop on the Mark Ronson owned label of Zelig Records – King Princess still has several tracks up her sleeves with which to embellish her set list with. Yet she chose not to. Stretching a mere ten songs out over an hour long set felt like being a little short-changed; songs such as ‘Holy’ and ‘Pussy is God’ conspicuously missing despite the desperate ‘Pussy is God’ chants started several times by the audience which at one point seemed to irritate King Princess as she demanded they stop and advised that she will play two more songs and two only.
Leaving the stage for the faux encore, King Princess returned in a slightly more jovial mood, asking the crowd if they were ready to really rock out it out with her. Encouraging the fans to toss their rainbow flags and sashes up onto the stage she unzipped her pant suit down to her stomach sending the already thirsty audience into overdrive; both ‘Queen’ and ‘Ohio’ injecting a much-welcomed vitality to the set as the band lost themselves amongst the strobe lights and tripped out synths.
She’s young and obviously talented with a rather important platform from which to speak. But the whole petulant ‘treat them mean, keep them keen’ shtick? Yeah, pass.
Were you there at the Powerstation to witness this pop gig? Or have you seen King Princess perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Make My Bed
- Upper West Side
- Best Friend
- Sunburn
- House Burn Down
- Talia
- Home Girl
- 1950
- Queen
- Ohio
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