Nelly, Auckland NZ, 2019

Nelly

30th January 2019
Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Richard Myburgh.

In his now nineteen year long solo career, Nelly has never had a problem drawing a crowd and last night’s show at Auckland’s Logan Campbell Centre was no different.

Getting the crowd into the mood to get down with Nelly on yet another hot and sticky evening was none other than Flava’s current drive show hosts Athena and DJ Manchoo. Laying down a mix that included everything from a little ‘Dip’ by Tyga – who played his own show on the other side of town just last week – to Dinah Jane, DJ Manchoo then slid into some old school sounds in the form of TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’, Arrested Development’s ‘Everyday People’ and the summer vibes of ‘Let’s Do It Again’ by J Boog; even a little Mase from 99’ making it into the mix.

Drinks in the air and voices nicely warmed up it was the opportune time for the local support for the night to bring his wares to the stage.

Chubby Fly has a strong work ethic and self-belief, a combo that has seen him not only earn a name for himself as part of the Auckland hip-hop group EMG but now rise as a solo star. Already opening for such acts as Bow Wow and Daz & Kurupt of Tha Dogg Pound, Chubby Fly can now add Nelly – an artist that by his own admission he has listened to for “most of his life”- to the ever-growing list of international slots. Coming out swingin with a few back-up dancers in tow who did a whole lotta twerkin’, Chubby Fly laid down some freestyle before moving into ‘The Rise of Chubby’. While ‘Fumble It’ lost a little of its dark ferocity in the live setting it’s still a solid track worthy of some listening time. Having already worked with local legends such as Smokey of SWIDT, and PNC; Chubby Fly has also added Grammy Award nominated artist Pleasure P (formally of Pretty Ricky) to his expanding list. Produced by Tayste Maker the single ‘Real Talk’ which has already amassed over seventy thousand plays on Spotify went down well with the crowd, many singing along. With a solid stage presence and the ability to work an audience, Chubby Fly is on the up and up.

Logan Campbell was now heaving with fans more than ready for Nelly who soon arrived dressed down in a simple black tee which just made those obligatory gold chains shine a little brighter. Hype man and DJ in tow, Nelly got the crowd moving with a couple of verses of ‘E.I.’ from his arguably biggest album Country Grammar before tossing out some more early hits in the form of ‘Batter Up’ and of course – can’t forget em – ‘Air Force Ones’.

When last in New Zealand in 2016, Nelly had performed with Blu Cantrell & Blackstreet, the overall show having a far more slicked back and polished feel to it. Last night was another vibe altogether, the Missouri star seeming far more in the mood for a house-party as he moved about the stage and came down onto the front speakers to get a little closer to his fans.
The sound quality for shows at Logan Campbell has often been dubious and last night did appear to fall victim to the concrete bunker, the mix often muddy and certainly not as crisp as it could be. However, Nelly, for all his smiles and good humour also seemed to be suffering some acoustic issues of his own, his vocals sounding rather gravelly in places, which may have explained why he seemed to step back a little and let both his counterpart and the audience themselves fill in the gaps.

Still, Nelly delivered a solid hour-long performance that included some impressive fast acapella flows and all of the tracks that you could have wanted to hear for that feel-good nostalgia hit; Nelly himself getting a little playful as he leaned down and grabbed a water sprayer from one of the security staff and spent some time cooling down the fans. Turning the tables on all in attendance, Nelly threw in a mid-set DJ break that began with a little cover of Michael Jacksons ‘Off the Wall’ before tracks such as ‘All I do is Win’ and ‘Mo Bamba’ – who doesn’t drop that track right now? – worked the crowd into a frenzy. Not afraid to acknowledge the fact that his fan base is both young and … well … not so young, Nelly threw in Chingy’s ‘Right Thurr’ and ‘Return of the Mack’ by Mark Morrison, calling for all his fans over twenty-five to put their hands in the air.

Nelly hasn’t dropped an album since 2013, but Auckland still got to hear some more recent work in the form of ‘All Work No Play’ and ‘Rubber Band’ as well as ‘Freaky With You’ featuring Jacquees which all led up to THAT track; ‘Hot in Herre’ sending the ladies in the audience into overdrive as they hollered their lines in unison, Nelly himself looking well pleased with their efforts. Jumping down into the pit, Nelly took his time moving along the barrier as he performed ‘Dilemma’ – the infamous track featuring Kelly Rowland always a crowd favourite – before returning to stage one last time for ‘Just A Dream’.

Far from perfect – but a whole lotta fun.

Were you there at the Logan Campbell Centre for this sweat inducing hip hop show? Or have you seen Nelly perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. EI
2. Where The Party At
3. Shake Ya Tailfeather
4. Batter Up
5. Air Force Ones
6. CG2 / Back It Up
7. Ride Wit Me
8. Hey Porsche
9. Cruise
10. Over And Over
11. The Fix
12. Get Like Me
13. 100k
14. Grillz
15. Move That Body
16. Off The Wall [Michael Jackson cover]
17. All Work No Play
18. Rubber Band
19. Freaky With You
20. Give It To Me
21. Hot In Herre
22. Dilemma
23. Just A Dream

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