Sweat, and grind.
How insane was that mosh. Denzel Curry’s explosive Auckland show last night was absolutely cooked. The vibe was fizzing hard from floor to balcony, the entire crowd absolutely turning up like Thursday morning work alarms were a thing of the past.
We saw him at Laneway earlier this year, and I’d almost recommend seeing Denzel at an outdoor festival. Karangahape Road’s Studio venue got real sticky real fast with every single fan working up a sweat on the floor..and the stairs..and the bar.. And the upper level. I’ll freely admit I was decently surprised our energy didn’t yeet the roof off in its entirety.
If you missed it, or if you just want to quickly re-live the hype, here’s a rundown.
He came through at 9.30 and opened with ZUU, the first track on his 2019 Album. It started pretty chill, until he went and did the 1,2,3 countdown and set the tone for the rest of the night. The vibrations took control and the moshers (Not sure if that’s an existing term but we’ll go with it) naturally took no prisoners.
‘RICKY’ came in a hot second. Already moshers were heading down the back for air at this point – the first track was enough to have them swimming. ‘RICKY’ was released earlier this year and has been well received by fans; becoming one of his most popular releases ever. This was the track of the night that had you forming unspoken bonds with the guys next to you just by singing the same lyrics.
The hype got taken down 0.026 notches for ‘BLACK BALLOONS’, one of Denzel’s chill(er) tunes. Not one person stopped moving to the funk however. This was when you were able to notice the flicking psychedelic neon screen distorting shapes behind the DJ set. YIt was hard to stop staring at it.
‘CLOUT COBAIN’ comes on. The notch is back up. Denzel’s shirt is off.
‘Automatic’ could have played off an old CD player at the gig and it still would have been lit. This song played live was almost too much for the heart. It’s fitting the performance should match the energy in the golden beat. I’d testify I saw the bouncers head nod. Sure, some lyrical nuance and complex versus of the track were lost as they usually are during an artists live performance, but the energy of the song was tripled live. A small price I’ll pay.
The hot and heavy SHAKE 88 FEAT. SAM SNEAK came through in full blast. Denzel, with his incredible crowd control, got all our clammy hands up for the drop.
To finish, the encore was a cover of ‘Bulls on Parade’ by Rage Against the Machine; showing off Denzel’s known darker side. He had absolutely no qualms screaming down the microphone and into the ears of the 500 fans at the venue. The intensity of hardcore metal paired with the crowds desperate will for the night to go on made for one scene that can only be described as pure madness. It was the ultimate cap of the night.
If you haven’t seen Denzel Curry live before, I implore you go. But.. maybe get work off the next day.
What. A. Show.
SEE ALSO: Denzel Curry covers Rage Against the Machine and Kills it
