Concert Review: Lil Dicky
Last night Lil Dicky put on one hell of a show. I don’t even think you could generalise it. It was like a game show mixed with a comedy show and a gig. He definitely knows how to work who he is.
It’s a cold night in Auckland yet there’s a decent crowd already inside the venue and more pouring in. I was quite surprised at the early turn out as Logan Campbell Centre isn’t the easiest venue to get to and I didn’t think many people would be interested in a DJ opening act. Jordan from Mai Fm opened the night. Even though he played good music, there wasn’t anything too exciting and it seemed as though the crowd was expecting more. Regardless they still sung & jumped along. After he departed the stage another DJ took the stage. Elz the DJ took over, continued to play some epic tracks and started amping the crowd up for Lil Dicky. A logo of Lil Dicky appeared on the screen then hype man Gata took the stage to pump the crowd up even more. Once the crowd seemed to be peaking, out came Lil Dicky and he got straight into it.
Lil Dicky performed a bunch of old and new tracks. I think he was surprised himself and asked the crowd who had been following him since day 1. Everyone cheered and he said “it’s either a big coincidence or there’s a lot of liars”. But after diving in to the old track, the whole crowd sung along which proved it was probably more coincidence and a few liars.. As to be expected, his most recent single Freaky Friday went off! Now I give him this, as stupid as some of his songs may be, he can definitely rap.
Lil Dicky seems to be more like comedy rap and there was definitely a lot of comedy in his show. You knew things were going to get a bit strange when he first told the crowd he was going to flash his penis. But after teasing the crowd, he admitted he actually wasn’t going too.
However, Lil Dicky unzipped his jacket to reveal an All Blacks jersey and out came the national anthem. He said he’d usually sing the US national anthem but he said it would be inappropriate and asked the crowd to sing the NZ one instead. Elz put the track on and the crowd sung the Maori version and the English version. Lil Dicky questioned the Maori version asking if it was even English and then asked at the end if it was a combo of 2 languages. At one point he even put his hand over his heart. I have to admit the crowd sang loudly and it was very powerful.
The theme of the game show elements were to win Lil Dicky’s heart, accurately titled Looking for Love. The 3 girls who got bought up throughout the night had to spin a wheel which told them what their task was. They ranged from smacking him in the face to the final face off which was putting a condom on a banana. 1 girl even got to steal a kiss. But the overall winner got a chair centre-stage for a lap dance which turned really sexy when he dropped his pants and spent the rest of the dance, and the night, in his undies. Her night ended with a bouquet of flowers and the promise not to sue. Needless to say it would have been a memorable night for all 3.
My favourite part was definitely belting out Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way with the crowd. He admitted he sung it in the shower and just had to sing it to us. It was treated like NZ idol. Lil Dicky also puff puff passed with the crowd, jumped into the barrier to say hi to those in the front and partially crowd surfed to Nirvana.
There was a lot going on in this show but it was no short of entertaining. I have to admit Lil Dicky knows how to show people a fun night out.
- Review and Photographed by Shelley Te Haara www.instagram.com/art.by.shelley
