Majid Jordan, Auckland NZ, 2018

Majid Jordan 

29th July 2018
Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review & Photography by Sarah Kidd.

Love infused R&B adorned with synth coloured diamonds was the order of the evening as the Canadian duo Majid Jordan rolled into town. Despite it being yet another cold and drizzly Sunday night in the heart of Auckland City, fans piled through the door to bear witness to the double acts debut New Zealand performance.

Sadly not a lot of pre-thought was placed into the early part of the evening, the fans being left to look at nothing more than a blank screen and two keyboards for the better part of thirty minutes before Jordan Ullman – the producer half of the duo – finally arrived on stage to a cacophony of cheers.

Immediately settling down to business, he began to work his magic, hands dancing between the two keyboards set before him as the screen behind him brought the duo’s emblem to life in glorious fractured neon blue. While it was an impressive start to the show, it seemed the crowd were holding a little something back, not fully allowing themselves to get lost in the music quite yet until all the players were in place; the arrival of singer Majid Al Maskati being heralded by those in the first few rows as if the king himself had arrived.

Sultry tones and heart racing falsettos were the name of the game this evening, Majid delivering them by the bucket load as he worked the stage, hand gestures like sign language, his fingers occasionally brushing those of an outstretched fan’s hand. Showcasing their latest offering 2017’s The Space Between, the audience swayed along to ‘Gave Your Love Away’ and raised their voices as per Majid’s request to ‘OG Heartthrob’.

Images on the screen grew in complexity as the night ebbed and flowed; singular hyper-intensive coloured flowers that bloomed before the eyes soon replaced by sexy sports cars and soothing rain drops against a pane of glass. Long stretches of neon skylines perfectly setting the tone.

While not the sort of music that drives you to dance your very soul from your body; Majid Jordan do manage to mix together a cocktail of pleasurable music that is certainly stirred and not shaken. The songs feed into the next, small peaks in intensity just enough to create a new thread of electricity.

Majid occasionally attempts to wear the hat of the hype-man, encouraging the crowd to sing along or bounce on the spot; throwing the word Auckland periodically into a song line and enquiring as to how the left, the right or the middle are currently doing. While in many ways a necessary evil of the current touring age, it seems a little out of place within a set of music that would be the perfect soundtrack for the term ‘Netflix and chill’.

Interjecting a few tracks from their earlier self-titled debut album and even a couple from their 2014 EP A Place Like This including a celebrated encore offering of ‘Her’, tonight’s set list certainly showcased the evolution and growth over the last few years that have seen them signed to OVO Sound, a record label co-founded by Drake.

Declarations of love for the people of New Zealand and even those for the country itself were met with patriotic glee from the twenty-somethings crowd; Majid insisting that after a long tour involving over seventy live shows, there is no other country he would wish to end the tour in. Tonight’s fans agreeing wholeheartedly as they slipped into the cold night air cloaked in the warmth of Majid Jordan’s music that is undeniably made for lovers.

Were you there at the Powerstation for this smooth RnB gig? Or have you seen Majid Jordan perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. Intro
2. Gave Your Love Away
3. OG Heartthrob
4. Small Talk
5. Pacifico
6. Every Step Every Way
7. You
8. One I Want
9. My Imagination
10. Not Ashamed
11. Body Talk
12. The Space Between
13. Outro
14. A Place Like This [encore]
15. King City [encore]
16. Her [encore]

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