Little Mix, Auckland NZ, 2017

Little Mix

30th July 2017
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Sarah Kidd. Images courtesy of Garry Brandon.

The pop marketing machine that is Little Mix pulled into Auckland last night for a one off show in support of their latest album Glory Days. This would mark the first time that the girl group has visited New Zealand since their creation in 2011, despite having embarked on several headlining tours previously. As the first (and so far only) group to win UK X Factor they were cherry picked for the path of success as Simon Cowell took them under his wing. Six years and four studio albums later and surprisingly the four member group are still going strong complete with original members (no mean feat in this day and age in the world of pop music).

Being a school night, Little Mix are scheduled to hit the stage at 8:30pm, with the venue already packed to the brim and swarming with light up ‘Little Mix’ bunny ears and $60 official tour t-shirts by the hour of eight. So how do you keep an arena of mainly under 15yr old girls entertained while waiting for their idols to arrive? Put them on camera of course! Large screens on either side of the stage burst into life with live images of the audience; a great source of amusement as well as excitement as fans were able to wave excitedly or display their homemade signs. A couple of Dads even got in on the act with some well-timed dabs. But as 8:30pm came and went, the crowd began to grow restless, chants of ‘Little Mix’ rising and falling from the older fans in the front row, while in the seats anxious parents kept checking their phones for the time.

Finally, bang on the hour of nine, the huge plain curtain that had been covering the stage dropped and dogs around Auckland howled as glass shattering squeals poured forth from the fans. A large back screen displayed stunning black and white images of each of the members (Perrie, Jesy, Leigh-Anne and Jade respectively) as the girls strode out and stood silhouetted in silence. And as the gigantic image of a tiger roared, four well-built male back-up dancers bounced onto the stage and the girls broke out into their first track of the night ‘Power’; the entire arena turning into one big karaoke bar.

Little Mix dressed in matching racing/checked flag pvc combos that looked more at home in the 90’s, belted out the opener with gusto, carefully choreographed moves matching their dancers perfectly. Upon its conclusion the crowd roared their approval, Little Mix genuinely appearing pleased with the reception. However second track of the night ‘Black Magic’ definitely showed that those pitch perfect choruses that would occur often throughout the night were certainly receiving some help from backing tracks – not an unheard of tactic in the pop world, however a lot less noticeable when the microphone is actually near your mouth.

“New Zealand, Auckland, hello!” the greeting rang out loud and clear, thousands of voices echoing back in response; “Auckland, I can’t hear you” the screaming grows louder; “Auckland I can’t hear you!” again the voices rain down from the rafters. By the third time this statement is made one would hope that the group have indeed finally ‘heard’ the audience as at this point vocal chords are in serious danger of being worn out before we are even halfway through the show.

Tonight (unsurprisingly) mainly featured tracks from their latest album with a few nods to their past thrown in for good measure; Perrie at one point telling the audience she knew exactly how rowdy they could be as she used to live here, before introducing F.U. which the foursome sung while sitting backwards on black chairs. Big hits such as ‘Hair’ naturally had the crowd up on their feet, while tracks such as ‘Your Love’ which had the dancers doing most of the on stage physical work were slightly lackluster and failed to really go anywhere.

Huge kudos however does go out to Little Mix for stating that they stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community and for pointing out that the “transgender community needs our support right now”. In dedication they performed a rather heartfelt rendition of ‘Secret Love Song’, the darkened arena sparkling with cell phone lights and rainbow bunny ears. Cue costume change; as the dancers once again impressed us all with their skills the girls were off backstage only to return this time in yellow and black camo printed outfits that were laced together with thick cord (the costumes had now migrated into early 2000’s).

‘No More Sad Songs’ featured an on screen version of American rapper Machine Gun Kelly doing his bit, the track closely followed up by ‘You Gotta Not’ and the group’s first ever single “if you know it sing it loud and proud Auckland” ‘Wings’. But it was the last song of the night ‘Touch’ that had the fans once again on their feet, older members of the audience (and by that I mean the ever so slightly over 18yr olds) busting out some impressive dance moves at the back of the arena where there was a little more to breathe.

After a few enthusiastic thank you’s and a quick game of what side of the room can scream the loudest, Little Mix bid everyone good night and the arena was plunged into darkness; an encore ensured as their biggest hit (whose title is splashed across the tour t-shirts currently being worn by hundreds of fans around the room) had not been played yet.

Sure enough a few moments later the lights rose and the girls were once more standing before us. “We couldn’t leave without doing one more song” Perrie tells the fans before counting to four in Maori; ‘Shout Out to My Ex’ absolutely bringing the house down and creating an ear worm that will plague most of the parents present for at least the next week. And while the sight of numerous 9-11yr olds hollering the words “Shout out to my ex, you’re really quite the man” was a little disturbing to say the least; one thing is for sure – every single fan went home happy. And isn’t that the name of the game at the end of the day?

Were you there at Spark Arena for this high energy top 40 pop show? Or have you seen Little Mix perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. Power
2. Black Magic
3. Salute
4. Down & Dirty
5. F.U.
6. Hair
7. Your Love
8. Secret Love Song
9. No More Sad Songs
10. You Gotta Not
11. Wings
12. Touch
13. Shout Out To My Ex (encore)

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