Photo: Tom Grut
For 75 minutes on Monday night, Auckland's Spark Arena was transformed into a euphoric nightclub experience for the closing night of Troye Sivan's Something To Give Each Other Tour. And long before Sivan even stepped foot on stage, it was clear the night was going to be a party.
A sea of mesh tops, sheer tops and leather accents had started trickling into the venue just before 9pm, grabbing handfuls of free condoms and lube on their way in from the front doors. Condoms inflated into playful balloons floated across the arena as fans chanted Sivan's name.
Then, as the vertical shafts of light flickered on, the silhouettes of six back-up dancers emerged, and Australia's biggest pop export finally arrived on stage.
Photo: Tom Grut
Sivan's high-energy opener 'Got Me Started' transitioned seamlessly into the dreamy 'What's the Time Where You Are?' before the atmospheric lighting and costume changes of 'Can't Go Back, Baby' created a more intimate mood.
About half an hour into the set, Sivan yelled out into the audience: "Are there any gay people here tonight?" and the energy went up another level.
Club remixes of Silly and two of Sivan's collaborations with Charli XCX - 1999 and Talk Talk - received some of the biggest cheers of the night, alongside a snippet of the music video for One of Your Girls - the iconic track in which Sivan seduces actor Ross Lynch while dressed in his drag persona.
Every number in the 75-minute set featured its own set changes and choreography, making the entire show feel like a music video.
Photo: Tom Grut
The show also featured an interactive lighting rig and live visuals, bringing Sivan and his dancers into close up, high definition on the big screens that framed the stage. And the live cameras captured everything, including a slow push into Sivan making out with one of his dancers, and the moment that's ignited the internet since the tour began in May - Sivan, down on his knees, singing into a microphone held suggestively by one of his dancer's.
The Something To Give Each Other tour was like a sweaty blur of euphoric bliss, closed out by high energy performances of Honey and Rush. It might've been 10.15pm on a Monday night, but I never quite wanted it to end.
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