REVIEW If there’s one thing to expect at a Ne-Yo concert, it’s twerking. Lots of it. The multi-hyphenate’s sole date at Auckland’s Spark Arena, the last of the Australasian leg of his “Champagne & Roses” w orld tour, began with a call to the frenzied crowd: three “single” ladies would be cherry-picked to dance on stage alongside their idol.
However, to secure their spot, they’d have to demonstrate their abilities - and some 20 women rose to the challenge. With attendees instructed to cast their phone lights on their nearest candidates, the crowd suddenly erupted into booty-shaking bedlam. Without so much as a shred of self-doubt, the gorgeous girl seated in front of my partner stood up, turned around, grabbed the back of her seat and began twerking with reckless abandon.
My partner didn’t know where to look, but he definitely wasn’t complaining. We were bearing witness to the Ne-Yo effect: a phenomenon similar to the knickers-throwing Sir Tom Jones inspired in the 1960s. From his leopard print suit (very chic) to his fluttering falsetto and smooth-as-butter dance moves, Ne-Yo’s entire image is built on appealing to the female fan.
The crowd, while peppered with obliging boyfriends, was dominated by adoring women - many of whom were willing to risk it all for a chance to share the same air as the R&B icon..