A hit UK house DJ taking the world by storm is concluding his last-minute tour of Aotearoa New Zealand with a message translated into te reo Māori.
Fred Again last night offered a message in the final leg of his tour which he translated into the indigenous language of Māori.
0 of 2
Included in his message is the following passage:
These are the last live shows of the tour!
Ko ēnei ngā whakaaturanga whakamutunga o tēnei haerenga!
So please make some noise for our incredible crew who’ve made this all happen
Tēnā homai te pakipaki mō aku hoa i whakatū i tēnei pō
— Fred Again, via a screen at Spark Arena on Tuesday night
Wild speculation preceded his last-minute tour, with shows announced only last week via his Instagram stories.
Yet he sold out all his shows in a matter of hours, a testament to his popularity half a world from home.
The digital ticket queue for one Spark Arena show had at least 65,000 devices waiting, at a venue which seats 11,000.
RNZ’s Mary Argue, in reviewing Fred Again’s Wellington show, said “the hype around the 30-year-old is hard to wrap your head around. The last-minute ‘secret’ gigs and arena-sized shows announced mere days out creates a frenzy generally unseen outside Swifties.”
“You never know where he’ll turn up and when. That’s where the magic lies.”
His sign of solidarity with te reo Māori comes at a time of increasing controversy around policy relating to te reo Māori, a language still considered endangered by the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
While Spark Arena is the final venue of his tour, it will still host one more (sold out) show tonight.