J. Cole
1st December 2017
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by John Kidd. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
Making my way to Spark Arena tonight, I feel as if I am part of a human tidal wave. Bodies shift as one as everyone, tickets clutched in hand move towards the doors. Tonight J. Cole is in town and considering that tickets not only sold out in minutes, but also just how long ago they went on sale it is unsurprising that there is a high level of both excitement and anticipation crackling through the audience like static electricity. The ‘4 Your Eyez Only’ tour is frankly one of the biggest in the world at the moment with Cole selling out just about every venue he and his crew decide to embrace. Making my way through the security checks I quickly settle in to watch the rest of the audience arrive, and was pleasantly surprised to see good mix of age ranges.
In support of the mighty J.Cole, there are not one, not two but four separate artists. Each one is signed to the Dreamville Record Label which was founded ten years ago in 2007 and currently has several artists on its book including J Cole himself.
First artist to grace the stage tonight and the only female to be currently signed to the aforementioned Dreamville clan is the lovely songstress Ari Lennox. Having recently released her sophomore EP entitled Pho (a follow-up to her debut EP released in 2013, entitled Ariography) it would seem that her star is most certainly on an upward trajectory. Dressed simply in black shorts and top, Lennox allowed her voice to work its way through the crowd as she delivered a short but well-crafted little set of songs. Upon finishing her opening track ‘Goat’ Lennox addressed the fans “Auckland what the fuck is up?!? Asking them if it was ok if she played a few more songs from her new EP – their almost deafening applause providing Lennox with the answer she wanted – she went on to deliver ‘La, la, la ,la’, ‘Night Drive’ and last but not least the rather sultry ‘Backseat’. With the chops to pull it off and an obvious love for both soul and R&B, Lennox will certainly be an act to watch out for in the future.
Raising the energy levels by one hundred and ten percent, EARTHGANG bounded onto stage looking like they were trying to create a bridge between today and the 90’s with their fashion choices – don’t get me wrong, it really worked for them! Warming the crowd up with an obligatory chant; “When I say Earth, you say Gang!” the sold out crowd happily joined in. There is something really impressive about being at a sold out arena show and hearing thousands of voices chant in unison. Kicking off their set with ‘Can’t Call It’ – by Spillage Village, the crowd enthusiastically sang along. Johnny Venus and Doctur Dot were by far the most animated of characters that would be gracing the stage tonight and the crowd absolutely lapped it up. Demanding that everyone in attendance raise a middle finger in the air and chant ‘I Don’t Give A Fuck’ – the younger members of the audience took great pleasure in breaking some personal ‘house rules’ for the evening. Dropping ‘The F Bomb’ the crowd matched EARTHGANGs energy levels, word for word; this was followed up with a song in very much the same vein as Venus and Dot covered a small section of the YG & Nipsy Hussle song FDT – for those of you not familiar, that stands for ‘Fuck Donald Trump’. Finishing up on ‘Red Light’ and ‘Artificial’ and it was almost a shame to have to say goodbye to this high octane duo so soon!
Next up on the bill – yep the acts just keep on coming – is one of the both younger and more recent signings to Dreamville Records. At just twenty-seven, the Atlanta, Georgia rapper J.I.D already has both an EP (entitled DiCaprio) and debut album (The Never Story) under his belt since first entering the scene in 2015. Immediately walking onto stage and demanding that everyone get their cell phone lights up, J.I.D wasted no time moving straight into his popular track ‘Lauder’ before performing a cover of EARTHGANGs ‘Mediate’. Speaking to the crowd he advised all that “we are in cahoots together now” before promptly asking if half of us even knew what the word ‘cahoots’ meant. Some playful on stage banter soon ensued regarding Kiwi greetings, ‘Kia Ora’, ‘Chur’ and ‘Sweet As’ all proving popular; as well as some up close and personal experiences with the fans – J.I.D moving down to the barricade for a closer look. Finishing on ‘Never’ with its distinctive melody, J.I.Ds set may have been short but it definitely left you wanting more.
Last but not least of the Dreamville crew in support of J. Cole is Bas; a rapper hailing from Queens, New York. Storming the stage he demands all hands in the air as he delivers ‘Lit’; chasing it up quickly with the highly popular ‘Methylone’ from his second studio album Too High to Riot released just last year. Bas was happy to take his time and as such he managed to work his way through several outstanding tracks including ‘Clouds Never Get Old’ and ‘My Nigga Just Made Bail’. After joking about the distance between his home country and ours making it almost seem like he is in the future, he asks the audience if he can take them back in time to the old school days of the East Coast delighting all with a montage of classic tracks that both the young and old rocked out to. Taking his set out with ‘Night Job’ and ‘Housewives’ he asks the audience one last time if they are ready to see J Cole, their initial response only gaining a six out of ten from J.I.D; second time round and the fans ripped the very fabric of the space continuum with their voices.
After a rather lengthy wait between acts the moment was finally here. This is what so many fans had waited months for, their tickets squirreled away in secret places to ensure that they were safe and sound for tonight.
Stage lights slowly rising, the fans began to scream as they are greeted by the sight of a bank of jail cell doors, heavy bars across the windows; from behind one of the middle doors J.Cole enters the stage, dressed in orange overalls and black boots. Immediately everyone is on their feet, some of the screaming from the female fans almost at glass shattering levels. Straight into ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ and the audience collectively lose their minds, the sea of people in the GA section moving as one. The rather gentle beauty of his opening track – which he finished with an “Auckland” and “New Zealand” shout out, much to the crowd’s delight – quickly gave way to a more direct and harder sounding ‘Immortal’.
“Auckland, you feelin good?” thousands of people howl back in response; J. Cole then asking for the house lights to be raised so that he could see everyone before uttering “Damn” much to the amusement of the fans. Last in New Zealand in 2014 when he supported Eminem, it seems like J. Cole’s world has been completely turned upside down. Now a global superstar it was nice to hear him state that growing up he “didn’t even know this place [NZ] existed” but that he now acknowledges that it is a “beautiful place”.
‘Ville Mentality’ goes down a treat with the crowd, Cole drawing the song out and rounding it off with a bit of insight into what the track is about. He speaks of a young man who lives for the moment and never has time to dream. To Cole, living in the moment, the present, is like being in tune with god. He smiles a little as he states “I don’t want to get too deep with you”. Ari Lennox makes a guest appearance during ‘Change’ her sweet falsettos mixing nicely with the more baritone Cole. At this point he accidently asks Ari about her flight before hanging his head and apologizing, telling the audience that Ari is scared of flying so she doesn’t ever have a good flight! Pointing out that his live band is concealed away behind the jail doors Cole tells the audience that ‘this song is for people who have been ridin with me from the beginning”; what was to follow was a run of tracks from his earlier albums; each one eliciting more happy screams than the last. A touch of the old, old school also found its way into the set as “Workout’ featured a sample from the popular 1988 track ‘Straight Up’ by Paula Abdul.
It was ‘Neighbors’ that drew the most aggressive response from the audience, Cole telling of how he was raided by seventeen SWAT team officers that looked like COD characters (“the ones you have to pay for”) and this occurred in a “nice neighbourhood” which is code for “white neighbourhood” according to Cole himself. Playing footage of the raid on the big screen, the crowd very quickly got their hackles up and began a chant of “Fuck the Police”. However Cole moves along and takes the crowd into ‘Foldin Clothes’ a beautifully simplistic song about real relationships and simple things. As Cole stated there comes a time when guys need to “grow up and stop running the streets like a dog”.
Homeward stretch and the hits are coming thick and fast, Cole ending his set with ‘Power Trip’ from his 2013 studio album Born Sinner. Of course, Kiwi crowds being what they are there was no way that they would let Cole leave the arena without at least one encore. Wish granted, Cole delivered ‘No Role Modelz’ flawlessly.
Once again joining the human tidal wave to exit the venue, I marvelled at all the huge smiles around me. The wait was obviously and most definitely worth it.
Were you there at Spark Arena for this brilliant hip hop spectacular? Or have you seen J. Cole perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- Immortal
- Déjà Vu
- Ville Mentality
- Change
- Lights Please
- Nobody’s Perfect
- Can’t Get Enough
- Workout
- Forbidden Fruit
- Neighbors
- Foldin Clothes
- Love yours
- Wet Dreamz
- A Tale Of 2 Citiez
- G.O.M.D
- Power Trip
- No Role Modelz [encore]
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