By Pauline Hunt

Date / Venue: Friday September 25th, 2015 - Vector Arena, Auckland

It's the second time round for rap artist Cameron Jibril Thomaz aka Wiz Khalifa to perform in New Zealand. Only this time, for a concert of his own. The first time he performed in NZ, it was for the New Years festival ‘Rhythm & Vines' in 2014. Khalifa first debuted his album in 2006 with ‘Show and Prove' and signed up to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. Khalifa then parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, ‘Deal Or No Deal' in November 2009. He also released his mixtape ‘Kush and Orange Juice' as a free download in April 2010 and then later on signing with Atlantic Records.

Opening the night for Wiz Khalifa was NZ's own Donell Lewis and Australian performer Fortafy and bringing along with them on stage Will Singe. Performing hits from their ‘Lust Power' Mixtape to hype up the crowd and to keep them entertained until Wiz Khalifa came on stage. The audience was full of youth and you could see that they were ready for a good night. Records like ‘Don't Need ‘Em' and ‘Show No Love' were enough for the audience to get them in the mood for dancing and to get ready for the party ahead. After entertaining the audience, the trio left the stage, allowing a half an hour break before making way for Wiz Khalifa.

Opening his concert, Khalifa came on stage with a bang with his record ‘Taylor Gang' which is originally from his mixtape ‘Cabin Fever'. Wiz Khalifa entered the stage with energy and straight away the audience was feeding off it and going crazy. He continued to bring hit after hit such as ‘Gang Bang', ‘California', ‘Burn After Rolling', ‘Mezmorized' and ‘On My Level'... most of his records share the common theme of weed smoking. After bringing all of his energy to his concert, Khalifa decides it gets too hot in Vector Arena, and wants to perform the rest of his show shirtless.

Wiz Khalifa continues on with his show performing next ‘When I'm Gone' from his third studio album ‘Rolling Papers' which was released in March 2011. Throughout his concert, thanks his fans for paying to come to his concert and for turning up. The audience loved it. Keeping with his main theme, he continues on with ‘James Bong' whilst also performing records like ‘Raw', ‘Ass Drop', to ‘No Gain' and ‘Lit'.

Again, Khalifa goes on to thank the audience as well as the staff for taking their time out tonight, and just like that, leaves the stage. There was one particular song everyone wanted to hear and they weren't leaving until it was performed. The opening instrumentation of ‘See You Again' from the movie Furious 7 starts to play and just like that, the audience start screaming. Wiz Khalifa comes back on stage and performs one last song. With the crowd singing along on the chorus, the atmosphere was euphoric.

Wiz Khalifa came to perform and he delivered. He brings energy to the stage and it is contagious, passing it on the audience. He showed no signs of slowing down and knows how to put on a show. What's also worth mentioning, is not only does he have a DJ, he also has a band, which these days, is rare when it comes to hip hop artists. Not everyone will be a fan of Wiz Khalifa, but no one can say that he is not entertaining because he definitely knows how to put on a performance, which is obvious with the way the audience was screaming and the way that he influenced their feeling of excitement.

Reviews & Interviews