Concert Review: HP Boyz Live In Auckland

HP Boyz played their third sold-out show in Auckland last Friday night for their 7-legged New Zealand tour. Hailing from Hampton Park, Melbourne, for all three of the Samoan cousins it was their very first time leaving the country. So, for New Zealand to be apart of this iconic time in their journey is pretty awesome, especially as the majority of their shows here have completely sold out. Aotearoa has really showed out for our cousins across the Tasman. Australia’s rap scene has seriously blown up in the last couple of months and birthed Australian drill rap with Pasifika groups like OneFour and HP Boyz at the very forefront.

HP Boyz did 2 shows on the same night, one for the underage at 5 pm and one for all ages at 8:30 pm. Thursday night was the show for 18+. I thought it was pretty cool that they involved people under 18 ‘cause I feel like a lot of their fan base in Auckland are school students ranging from primary up to high school and from what I saw, the underage show went crazy. I’ve also been seeing that they’ve been visiting schools around Auckland like Kelston Boys and Mt Roskill, as well as communities where a lot of Pacific Islanders reside like Otara and the Wesley Community Centre which I think is really awesome. HP Boyz are really for the kids. For their Auckland show, however, I feel like it would’ve been better if they just had one huge show like at Logan Campbell or something but I guess because HP Boyz are here on their tour for 2 weeks, they might’ve just decided to spread it out on a wee trip. However, from what I saw at their show, it would’ve been even better to see the entire crowd across the 3 shows in one room all going hard for HP Boyz. That would’ve been beautiful. Despite thinking that, the HP Boyz experience on Friday night was still nuts and simply amazing but we’ll get to that eventually.

DJ09 was set to warm the room up for the first hour and a half. I thought that seemed pretty long for an opening DJ to be on for but when I got there about an hour in, everyone in the 18+ section (which was of course, by the bar) was lit as f*. Even outside the line was soooo long! I’ve seen the line that long for artists like Russ and Denzel Curry so that’s crazy. Honestly, though the bottom section just reminded me of a huge party. Like a Mai FM / Flava block party ‘cause he was playing songs, you’d normally hear on the radio. The whole room was just full of brown excellence. It is amazing to see the impact HP Boyz has had on the Pasifika community here in New Zealand, which is where a lot of the Pacific diaspora is. Apart from the rapid surge in Pasifika dudes with mullets, HP Boyz have helped carve a path for our generation of Pacific Island youth to understand and see that choosing to chase a dream or a career as a singer or a rapper is completely and 100% possible. And I absolutely love that.

There was a host on the stage who was hyping the crowd up and introducing the next act (I’m so sorry but I did not catch his name) and the crowd was so interactive. The energy in the air was contagious like every single person in that room was on a buzz, you couldn’t help but smile or try to be lit too. They also had fog machines which I’m 99% sure had cold air in them so not only was it making the room cooler than usual but it just looked really cool. 

Church & AP was the opening performers and they were quite frankly the best people to do it. They sure as hell know how to hype up a crowd and by the end of their set, the crowd had gone from lit to rowdy (no exaggeration). They are also a duo who are for the culture and they were received proudly by the crowd. Ready Or Not still goes awffffff too. They were really robbed of Single of the Year at the Vodafone Music Awards ‘cause like it still goes hard. Their set was fairly short but job well done, the crowd was marinated.

The host was singing/rapping songs during the intermission and the crowd ate it up. OneFour came on and the crowd was going word for word. They were beyond ready for HP Boyz. HP Boyz came out one member at a time and I swear to god I’ve never seen so many phones light up or hands in the air in that small space, the crowd was literally insane. All 3 cousins were turning the hell up and loved the crowd. Sh*t was nuts. They brought out the Samoan flag too and god damn, I was so proud to be part Samoan in that moment and I know people in the crowd with Pasifika blood was feeling that way too. One of the Boyz got a can (Woodstock or Codys I don’t remember lmao) dropped from the balcony on the top to him on the bottom stage, took his shoe off, poured the can in his shoe and started doing a shoey!!!! LMFAO. At that moment, it was wild, I loved it and everyone else was hollering and cheering the guy on. He then put his shoe back on hahaha. We love our Aussie islanders. They brought people up on stage too for a little dance competition and had them shout out where they’re from. It was classic and hilarious. 10/10 crowd involvement. When they started performing their songs, the whole room was like a choir except less formal, rowdier. I swear to god people were rapping bar to bar like their life depended on it. Water was being thrown on the crowd, dudes were on other dudes shoulders. When I say rowdy, I mean rowdy. Their set was quite short but for the little time they were on the stage, they worked that sh*t. I loved when they talked to the crowd because we got to hear their accents and the slang they use. Honestly, sometimes I couldn’t understand what they were saying LOL but it was cool. 

The music pretty much stopped as soon as they got off the stage. It was pretty much telling the crowd that they could f*ck off now (lmfao). But something seriously amazing happened. As some of the crowd was leaving, there was a huge group still in the crowd and they all started singing the Samoan national anthem. It was so beautiful and I can’t even describe to you the atmosphere of that place and what this means for a lot of not just Samoan youth but just Pasifika youth in general. Amazing. Getting out, it was like a mob ‘cause there was only one exit and I wish the Studio had another way to get out but apart from that, we are so proud of HP Boyz, this is only the beginning! I’m looking forward to them putting out more music and coming back here to tour.

Reviewed By: Breanna Tugaga-Rogers
@bretugs

About The Writer:

Breanna is a 21 year old uni student who was born in Australia and raised in South Auckland. Half New Zealand European and half Samoan, Breanna is undergoing a Bachelor of Arts, double-majoring in Communications and Sociology. Currently residing in Auckland, Breanna loves hip hop, rap, RnB music and enjoys watching TV shows, movies, travelling, going to concerts and keeping in touch with the latest of pop culture. Breanna especially enjoys writing and using it as an outlet to talk her sh*t. Breanna loves to always integrate her worldview, her background and her experiences into her writing and values your feedback.