Omarion
20th July 2017
Studio, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Jordan M Vickers.
A triple threat slab of creamy R&B goodness featuring Mikey Mayz, Donnell Lewis and of course, Omarion, came sliding into our lives at The Studio last night. With big personalities, sometimes wild and uninhibited performances, it was a perfectly complementary line up to provide a premium evening of hip hop and R&B tunes.
Keeping us warm until our first act of the evening arrived, PNC took us through a wodge of good tunes that you can’t help bumping too as everyone arrived, grabbed a drank and moved in. As Mikey Mayz took the stage though, we were certainly ready to see one of New Zealand’s best and that’s what we were given. Bopping through a strong and professional set, just days before he heads to the U.S. to pursue his dreams; Mayz kicks off with Reload then cleverly linked it to Sunshine by its shared hook and honestly, it’s a cold dark hearted person that doesn’t love a medley. Also treating us to I Can’t Help It, a couple of tracks for the “day one Mikey Mayz fans” and finishing on Solid before fare welling NZ for a bit. All the best out there Mikey!
Up next was Donnell Lewis; a mischievous performer whose unmistakable swag was so confident and enthusiastic you can’t help but jump on his vibe. Lewis was joined by frequent collaborator Derty Sesh which brought a cool surprise for the crowd and a party atmosphere to the undulating floor of The Studio, as things really started kicking off. Lewis left us after a brief set, some suggestive banter and a helping hand to all the punters looking for lovers out there by asking all the single women and the single men to identify themselves and then says with a grin “There you go!” Good times with a fun and polished performer for sure.
PNC returned to take us through our wait for our headliner providing more time to dance it out before Omarion joined us…and what an entrance. I can’t overstate this enough when I say that the crowd was loud, like hyper pitched, supersonic screams for Inglewood’s R&B man and of course, member of 90s R&B boy band, B2K. Gliding around the stage, giving us major swag and breaking hearts with a mere tilt of his head, Omarion was killing us from the get go as he led us through delicious tracks from 2014’s Sex Playlist album and selected cuts from 21 and O. Letting us know that “this is my first time here so let’s make it memorable”, Omarion went on to do exactly that. Perhaps best of all though is the clear delight that Omarion had from seeing the love he was receiving back from the crowd as everyone was in good voice singing the hooks, slaying the flows and able to fill the room with our voices as Omarion’s DJ cut the beat so we could acapella together.
Obviously, a grateful guy such as Omarion is going to give you a taste of how we all came to first meet him and when he delivers a sliver of Bump Bump Bump from B2K’s catalogue, the crowd literally goes wild and I run to the bathroom to grab toilet paper for my bleeding eardrums…ok not really but you get it aye, it was loud! By this time the place was in such a complete state that during M.I.A a woman next to me starting screaming somewhat politely, “Take your shirt off!” Before a more instant and manic, “Take your shirt off NOW!” So it’s just as well Omarion obliged with an ab flash because I’m not sure what she would have done if she didn’t get to see the six-pack, yo.
Icebox obviously slayed the house down and as the crowd nailed singing the hook, Omarion just couldn’t believe it, prompting him to be so pleased with our response that he shared “I’ve got a new album called Reason coming out and it’s been two years coming and I just wanna say thank you for being here and sharing this with me, so I was wondering if it was ok for me to play some new songs. Can I play some new songs for you?” Then providing a new track with us, that I’m going to call “OK”, cause that’s the rounds he led us in to get it going but to be honest, who knows what it was called cause…awesomely loud appreciative audience, remember.
Body on Me created the mood for the last portion of the evening, it was about finding that special someone for the first time or that you brought with you that night and getting snuggled up. After a brief DJ break studded with Future, DK Khaled, House of Pain and more; Omarion returned and delivered killer performances of Post to Be and thanked us again saying “it’s been amazing to share this with you and I’ll definitely, definitely be back man!” As he broke into Distance…fark. It was like the last scene in some cool dance movie, where the floor opened in little pockets as light dappled over the connecting bodies as they danced to this total banger track. After a response like this on his first time here, I can’t wait to see what Omarion will have up his sleeve on his return.
Were you there at The Studio for this amazing RnB gig? Or have you seen Omarion perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!