To a crowd of lucky ticket winners in their new suits, Will.i.am played a gig of tracks from his latest album #willpower at the Hallensteins Ultimate Afterparty at The Studio Auckland on Wednesday 8 May…
To a crowd of lucky ticket winners in their new suits, Will.i.am played a gig of tracks from his latest album #willpower at the Hallensteins Ultimate Afterparty.
The invite-only gig was held at The Studio nightclub venue in Auckland’s K’Road on Wednesday 8 May as hundreds lined up with their golden tickets (well, Hallensteins orange actually) to walk the red carpet (well, again orange) to the private party.
It was all alcohol-free with organic Pheonix beverages and bowls of Mars bars everywhere, as it was underage. Guests had bought suits at Hallensteins Brothers and entered radio and Facebook contests to get tickets, as well as ten well-dressed individuals of the many who showed up at 8.30pm on the night to be picked as ten wildcards.
Eventually, as security gently kept the crowd of iPhone-wielding spectators at bay, the star of the show arrived. Will.i.am, after modelling in Hallensteins suits for the afternoon, wore their suit with a beanie and his round eyewear and spoke to the cameras as he made his way down the media line, shaking hands and doing interviews.
Below: Amanda Midgely and Sally Ridge.
Below: Will.i.am’s support act, local NZ band ‘Titanium’ with radio host Jay Jay Feeney.
Second support act, NZ four-piece The Babysitter’s Circus, made of members of Op Shop, Feelers and Maitreya.
Below: Karen Walker and her husband Mikhail Gherman the advertising brains behind the Hallensteins promo.
Below: support act, sister-DJs Maya Vanya.
Below: Will.i.am played material from his new album #willpower. If you type will.i.am into Twitter it will open his website, and his album names are hashtagged and Twitter-ready. Clever.
The stage lighting was the best I have seen, with computer generated visuals changing with the music projected onto the stage set in many colours and graphics. Really stunning to watch. Will.i.am spoke quite a bit to the crowd, and played an hour set from 11pm to midnight. Well done Hallensteins on an excellent gig.
The following morning, Will.i.am donated $100,000 of his cheque to South Auckland decile one low income schools as he was from the Projects in LA himself and wanted to invest in technology for these students to have a great start in their education. Great work Will.i.am, what a talented musician and a generous guy.
Megan Robinson 9 May 2013
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