Kehlani - Blue Water Road Trip Tour + Official Afterparty
Europe - 02 Academy Birmingham, United Kingdom – 10/12/2022
‘Kehlani’ is an artist with a whole universe of talent and success under their belt. Arguably one of the greatest LGBTQ+ artists of all time, Kehlani is a Multi-Grammy Nominated superstar who continually raises their own musical standards in pursuit of self-prosperity. Currently, at 14.5 million Instagram followers, 13,308,346 Monthly Spotify Listeners (and counting), and a whole load of chart-climbing hits later, it is undoubtable that Kehlani is one of the leaders in modern R&B/Soul/Pop.
After waiting for over four years to hear of an announcement of a tour, Kehlani finally revealed that they were heading to my hometown of Birmingham. I was ECSTATIC when I managed to bag a couple of priority tickets for the show as well as being a little surprised at the choice of venues. Housing a little over 3000 in capacity, I was shocked that this venue was chosen rather than an arena. Nevertheless, I was also pleased that this was the case. There’s something extremely intimate and powerful within the walls of smaller venues and I believe that this was the correct approach for such an intimate and ‘passionate’ artist.
Anticipating show day for months, I also managed to get into their ‘Blue Water Road Tour Official Afterparty’ at Sector 57 in the music epicentre of Digbeth, Birmingham. I couldn’t believe my luck at first but then I realised, I’d manifested it (but that’s my ‘Little Story’). Speaking of which, that was the title of their opening song for both the performance and their current album ‘Blue Water Road’. Before we get onto that, let’s talk about the artist that has been supporting them throughout this leg of their tour – Destin Conrad. At 263K Instagram followers, it’s clear as ‘Water’ to see that they too are a renowned artist in their own right.
Impressing a crowd of love-struck entities, Destin Conrad appeared somewhat shy which led to admiration from the audience. With fans singing along by the rowful, it became evident that it wasn’t only Kehlani that some fans were excited to see.
Shortly after fans were revved up by the engaging performance of DJ NOODLES. Turning the venue into a whole pool of energy. DJ NOODLES managed to sweep in between the attention of the packed-out venue with chart-topping hits such as Central Cee’s ‘Doja’. Although the time between the 7pm start and Kehlani’s arrival to the stage was approaching 2 and a half hours, the moment they took to the stage was the moment the crowd switched from tetchy to best behaviour. Like hypnosis human form, Kehlani was about to give us a show that held more value than its price tag.
With no sign of names in lights, it became certain that this whole tour was a team effort – confirmed Kehlani's statement that without the team, there is no show and even celebrating the Birthday of one of the members - Balloons, a cake and a whole venue who celebrated with them.
A whole 23 songs, multiple lights and a lot of crowd engagement from dances to celebrations, Kehlani even had the whole venue jumping in sync. This was a show that could have justified a high price ticket, in an arena but instead, fans were charged around a face value of £35 for a sold-out smaller venue.
Testament to Kehlani's character, the show not only showed their undeniable talent and work ethic but also shone on the small things that highlighted their soul.
Main Act – Kehlani
Set List –
1) Little Story
2) Shooter Interlude
3) Any Given Sunday
4) More Than I Should
5) Tangerine
6) Open (Passionate)
7) Love Language
8) Piece of Mind
9) Can I
10) Water
11) Hate the Club
12) Wish I Never
13) Up at Night
14) Serial Lover
15) Honey
16) You Should Be Here
17) The Way
18) Distraction
19) Nunya
20) Change Your Life
21) Toxic
22) Nights Like This
23) CRZY
It’s ‘Nights Like This’ that are the reason why I enjoy my work wholeheartedly, even if I do get a little ‘CRZY’.
Although I too ‘Hate The Club’, I had to opt into the Afterparty! When is it that the average person can party amongst the greats?
The Official Blue Water Road Trip Afterparty - Hosted by Kehlani - Sector 57
DJ Noodles + others
On a scale of ‘ well, it got me out of the house’ to ‘it absolutely blew the roof off’ I’d give this a solid ‘how do I get back down to earth?! And do I even want to?’. A solid night from the beginning to the early hours. Well worth being ‘Up All Night’ for even if I had to keep my head clear for work ‘Any Given Sunday’! Kehalni and the team joined in to party at an exclusive official afterparty in Digbeth and man, these lot know how to party!
Same again next year? Let's hope so!