Drake Announces First Ever NZ Show

Drake Announces First Ever NZ Show

Frontier Touring and Illusive are thrilled to confirm that Canadian hip hop superstar Drake will be making his first ever visit to New Zealand next year, taking to Auckland’s Vector Arena stage for one night only on 23 February 2015. In further exciting news, 2 Chainz will be kicking off the night as Drake’s very special guest.

‘Hip-hop’s current center of gravity’ – NY Times

‘There's never been a hip-hop star quite like him’ – Rolling Stone

‘…an exhilarating change of pace for the genre’ – Consequence of Sound

Following his one-off Auckland headline show, Drake will jump the ditch to lead the absolutely massive line up for the Australian festival of the summer, Future Music.

For the past few years, Drake has sat at the nucleus of the worldwide rap and R&B worlds. It’s hard to think of another artist in recent history who has so successfully ridden the lines between out-and-out international megastar and critical darling. While regularly topping the Billboard Chart and arenas worldwide, he also tops Pitchfork lists and is so staunchly followed by blogs, critics and the internet in general that he has almost become a human meme. And for good reason – his has released some of the the most cutting edge, relatable, anthemic, profound, impossible-to-categorise music this side of the millenium. The man is a once-in-a-generation phenomenon.

The Toronto-raised rapper’s list of admirers and collaborators is second to none: he has collaborated with the cream of the music industry including Beyoncé, Jay Z, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West.

Having recently toured the United States on the ‘Drake vs Lil Wayne’ co-headline tour, Drake brings with him an extensive production that is nothing short of spectacular with a show that includes pyrotechnics, fire, lasers, extensive lighting, sound systems and so much more.

Renowned for one of the biggest live productions by a hip hop artist – this show is going to be huge!

Drake first won hearts the world over as junior high schooler Jimmy Brooks on Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. Whilst appearing in the show, Drake released several hip hop mixtapes which caught the attention one of the genre’s trailblazers, Lil Wayne.

Immediately after hearing his mix, Lil Wayne invited Drake to board a flight to Houston that night to join his national tour. After touring and recording with his mentor throughout 2008, Drake signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment label in 2009.

Three studio albums, a Grammy Award, eleven BET Awards and three Juno Awards later, Drake has evolved to become one of the most innovative and acclaimed rappers, record producers and songwriters ever.

Drake has proven he has the star power to back up the critical acclaim with over five million albums sold worldwide, hundreds of millions of streams across the globe and the record for the most #1 hits on Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop Chart to his name thanks to chart toppers like ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’ (ft. Majid Jordan), ‘Started From The Bottom’, ‘Take Care’ (ft. Rihanna), and ‘Headlines’. His latest two albums, ‘Take Care’ and ‘Nothing Was The Same’ are both considered bona fide modern classics.

Earlier this month, Drake scored his 72nd Billboard Hot 100 entry – overtaking The Beatles. With fourth album Views from the 6 due for release in mid-2015 (through Universal), Drake has been dropping precursory non-album tracks on Soundcloud including ‘0 to 100/The Catch Up’, ‘Draft Day’ and ‘Trophies’ which have over 50 million plays between them on that platform alone. Surely Drake is set to break even more sales and chart records in the months to come once the singles from the album begin to surface. Those lucky enough to score tickets to this Auckland show will be amongst the first to hear these new tracks live in all their glory!

With the October’s Very Own (OVO) brand, Drake has also built an empire, including label OVOSOUND and annual OVOFEST which has featured the likes of powerhouses including Eminem, Outkast and Jay Z.

Drake’s friend and frequent collaborator 2 Chainz will be joining him on stage at this exclusive Auckland show. Responsible for some of the biggest jams of the past few years including ‘No Lie’ (ft. Drake), ‘Birthday Song’ (ft. Kanye West) and ‘I’m Different’, the four-time BET Award winner and Grammy nominated rapper will set the mood for the night in his inimitable and flawless style.

Drake’s first trip to NZ will be talked about for many years to come. Make sure you catch him at his very special one-off show at Auckland’s Vector Arena next February!

DRAKE
WITH SPECIAL GUEST 2 CHAINZ
FEBRUARY 2015

Frontier Members pre-sale via frontiertouring.com/drake runs

Thursday 6 November (2pm NZDT) to Friday 7 November (2pm NZDT)
(or ends earlier if pre-sale allocation exhausted)

General public on sale from 12pm local time, Monday 10 November

Mon 23 Feb Auckland | Vector Arena (All Ages)

ticketmaster.co.nz | Ph: 0800 111 999

ends

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