Trey Songz
3rd November 2018
Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Chontalle Musson.
Rolling into town for the first of his three concerts last night, Trey Songz was greeted with a venue packed to the rafters with thousands of fans, and every single one of them was screaming his name. Despite his fourteen year long and seven studio album career, last night was Songz inaugural visit to the land of the long white cloud. As if to acknowledge this fact, Songz and co pulled out all the stops to ensure that the audience in attendance were delivered a show that they would not soon forget.
Dubbed the king of R&Bone, Songz began the night with a bang, taking the crowd back in time to his 2014 album Trigga, ‘Na Na’ seeing many of the fans clap to the beat as Songz appeared before them in a simple black jacket over a baggy white t-shirt. While trouble has certainly been following Trey Songz around lately – he was arrested earlier in the year on domestic violence charges which have since been dismissed in court – he showed no sign of any stress last night as he ran the full gamut of his back catalogue.
Throwing in ‘Can’t Help But Wait’ from the Step Up 2 movie soundtrack straight after his opening number was both a popular choice with the audience and a subtle nod to the fact that not only has Trey Songzs music been featured in films, but that Songz himself has also dabbled in the world of acting; his latest film entitled ‘Blood Brother’ in which he plays the lead character of Sonny alongside Fetty Wap due for release later this month.
Quickly moving through his set and time after time Songz proves just why his career is still holding strong; with killer vocals that are made to look effortless and a connection with the audience that he consistently fuels throughout the night, Songz often leaning over the edge of the stage to single out a fan, or lifting his shirt just enough to give a flash of his well-toned abs. Most impressively, Songz was accompanied by a four-piece live band of exceptional talent; a band that were so good that even Songz himself raved about them several times throughout the night.
The hits were soon coming hard and fast, the predominantly female audience losing their minds and breaking out their best dance moves as ‘I Invented Sex’ curled it’s way around the venue, Songz working the stage with veteran expertise ensuring that the thousands of phones being held in the air all got an excellent view of his moves which were backlit by some of the most impressive stage lighting that Logan Campbell Centre has seen this year.
Despite his latest album Tremaine debuting at number 3 on the US Billboard 200, it wasn’t until late in the show that Songz began to deliver some it’s tracks; in many ways this could be viewed as a sign of respect to his day one fans, ensuring that they were able to first enjoy and devour live his earlier career hits. While occasionally the flow of the show was interrupted by some rather odd lengthy pauses between tracks in which the stage would be completely blacked out – the fans taking advantage of the brief silence at one point to begin an enthusiastic chant of ‘take it off’ to which Songz replied in his smoothest voice “I might take it off baby, y’all be thirsty!” – Songz overall performance and that of his fellow musicians ensured that the evening was one of international standard.
Dropping a triple attack of ‘Playboy’, ‘Nobody Else But You’ and ‘1 x 1’ and the fans were in full party mode, not a single body in the house standing still as Songz hyped them up. Declaring that he was going to let his band just rock it out, even Songz himself moved to the back of stage to dance while watching his own music video that was playing on the big screen. A couple more of his earlier hits including ‘Say Aah’ from his 2009 album Ready were delivered before Songz went in for his finale; ‘Animal’ from his latest album quickly being followed up by the club banger ‘Bottoms Up’ (feat. Nicki Minaj), Songz finally giving into the crowd’s demand and removing his shirt, the act of which caused mass hysteria.
Declaring that Auckland was indeed the best, Songz disappeared straight off stage, both the house lights and music coming on lightning fast, destroying any of the fans hopes for an encore. Trey Songz obviously believing in the old adage of ‘always leave them wanting … more’.
Were you there at the Logan Campbell Centre to dance along to this Grammy-nominated R&B sensation? Or have you seen Trey Songz perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Na Na
- Can’t Help But Wait
- I Need A Girl
- Foreign
- Gotta Go
- I Invented Sex
- Slow Motion
- Panty Droppa
- Dive In
- Neighbors Know My Name
- Can’t Be Friends
- Already Taken
- Heart Attack
- Playboy
- Nobody Else But You
- 1 x 1
- Touchin Lovin
- 2 Reasons
- Say Aah
- Animal
- Bottoms Up
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