Concert Review: Night Lovell

By Zoë Reid

Artist: Night Lovell

Date / Venue: Sunday May 6th, 2018 - The Studio, Auckland

After his hugely popular single Dark Light went viral in certain rap circles, clocking over twelve million views on YouTube, the twenty-one year old Night Lovell, aka Shemar Paul, has gone on to put out two stunning studio albums that have been hugely successful worldwide. The Ontario native dropped Red Teenage Melody, which was quite the poppy follow up to the darker moodier tunes from his first album, Concept Vague. Better known by his stage name Night Lovell, fans in Auckland were treated to an incredible night filled with lots of mosh pits antics and even a stage dive during his breakout 2016 song, Contraband.

Although young and fresh on the scene, Lovell had a truly confident stage presence about him and had an amazing rapport hyping up the crowd. Hit songs such as Louis V and Dark Light completely went off, sending the Auckland crowd into an excited frenzy. The energetic vibe was also somehow surprisingly positive and I’m certain no one was hurt during the frenzied moshing, I’ve never seen such a tame yet hyped up crowd before. It was honestly refreshing to see people genuinely present to respect the artist. Lovell reciprocated that same respect, and didn’t even get mad when a fan made their way on stage to join him.

Some fans had been waiting three years for this concert, and it is safe to say they weren’t disappointed. Lovell kept asking those who were ‘OG’ fans to cheer for him, and in those moments it felt like he had all the support in the world, especially in this neck of the woods, anyway. The young Canadian’s vocals were on point, the set list flawless and it combined all the necessary elements for a good night out. If Night Lovell makes it to New Zealand shores again, make sure you don’t miss out.