Review: Dominic Fike - Powerstation, October 2019.
Review: Dominic Fike - Powerstation, October 2019.
“My fucking kiwis!” shrieks Floridian-via-Los-Angeles-based artist Dominic Fike at the top of his lungs, barely two minutes into his very brief, yet hugely impressive, New Zealand debut at Auckland’s Powerstation last night.
With the venue nearly at capacity, Fike was clearly enthused to be on the other side of the world sharing his music, and though he only has a handful of official releases out in the world (the ‘Don't Forget About Me, Demos’ EP of last year, and a string of singles), his repertoire showcased a total variety - whether it was an acoustic guitar-driven rendition of ‘She Wants My Money’, or a stripped-back, keyboard-led ‘Rollerblades’ performance.
Though he predominantly performed released material, a two-part unreleased song ‘Once In A While / Plastic People’ was included in the set, giving fans a taste of what’s to come from Fike’s highly anticipated upcoming debut album.
Midway through, Fike stopped to share his love of the kiwi bird even more, before mocking their lack of wings - citing that, as their potential reason for endangerment, but not before a fan threw a toy kiwi on stage, which took pride of place on his keyboard for the rest of the show.
A bluesy rendition of ‘Açaí Bowl’ (Fike’s favourite song to perform live) saw the venue continue to sing along to every word, followed up by a cover of Kevin Abstract’s ‘Peach’, which saw Fike rap along to Abstract’s lines in between his catchy hook on the track.
After ‘King Of Everything’, a song where Fike sings about playing by his own rules, spirits were lifted to an all-time high during ‘3 Nights’ - his debut single which is now platinum-certified in New Zealand, and saw every single audience member screaming the words back at him.
Returning for an encore, Fike treated fans to the heavier ‘Westcoast Collective’, mixing it in effortlessly with Weezer’s ‘Say It Ain’t So’, which added even more to the nostalgic energy in the song.
Waving goodbye to fans as he exited the stage for the final time, Fike’s die-hard fans are no doubt already anticipating his inevitable next visit to New Zealand.
Set-List:
Phone Numbers
Baby Doll
Once In A Whole / Plastic People (unreleased)
She Wants My Money
Socks
Rollerblades
Açaí Bowl
Peach (Kevin Abstract cover)
King Of Everything
3 Nights
Encore:
Westcoast Collective
Say It Ain’t So (Weezer cover)
