PARTYNEXTDOOR @ Manchester Academy - 08.04.2018
Considering I’ve been following PARTYNEXTDOOR since 2013, this was my first time seeing him live.
Jessie Reyez was the opening act for PND. I was familiar with her & had listened to her only project to date entitled Kiddo. To be fair she deserves her own review because she was amazing & very captivating. She brought raw energy & immense talent with her performance. Her set was very intimate with a spotlight on her & her guitar. She had the crowd hyped & singing along as she went through performing her EP, including the hit ‘Figures’ & covering songs such as ScHoolboy Q’s ‘That Part’ & Chance ‘Cocoa Butter Kisses’, which had the whole crowd singing along. Was a very all-embracing moment.
After a short wait, PARTYNEXTDOOR comes out to excited fans to his hit single ‘Recognize’. Applause to the creative art director of the stage setup by the way cause it was very dope, from the use of space, the effects & the colours used.
Fans were screaming & singing along as the Canadian native performed old & new tracks including Break From Toronto, Run Up, Piece Of Mind, Not Nice, Preach, plus many others. Halfway through the show he makes a short speech about how he loves writing songs for people & how he’s able to share his art with the world before proceeding to perform ‘Work’ & ‘Wild thoughts’.
I liked that each band member had a solo at some point to showcase their skills as they deserve their own recognition for being energetic the whole night. The only downfall I will say about the show was that at times, the backing track/live band instruments were too loud, to the point that at times you could barely hear PND singing. Otherwise, it was a great show all round. It was a very enjoyable & intimate experience & I recommend anyone to see PND, especially if you’re a fan.