[RECAP] NIKI Vibes with Santa Cruz

On Saturday, September 17th, anxious fans lined up outside of The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, CA, to see Niki! Right before the start time, attendees packed inside for a good spot for the show, grabbed a drink at the bar, or stood in line to grab merchandise. Standing anywhere inside the venue though was good enough as they entertained themselves with the songs playing over the speakers (everyone was singing along to Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License”). For fans who were disappointed that she was unable to attend HITC 2022 due to testing positive for COVID, this was was something they looked forward to.

Opening Act – Paravi

At 8pm, the show starts off with an opening act! An amazing Indian American pop singer/songwriter named Paravi and her 2 band mates. Paravi is definitely born to be on stage, from her presence to her strong vocals. She explained that many of her tracks are about being a child of immigrants. Her band mates were introduced as her classmates at UCLA (go Bruins!); Unfortunately there were “boos” in the crowd due to her being near UC Santa Cruz. Paravi sang a cover of “Cloud 9” by Beach Bunny which landed her, her record deal.

Earlier this year, Paravi released song on the soundtrack for the movie, Elvis titled “Suspicious Minds” (cover of an Elvis song) that plays at the end of the movie. She hasn’t performed this track live often so it was definitely something for the tour. They ended their set with her track “Golden Child”. Unfortunately they will not be on tour with Niki for the next 2 weeks while they start their senior year in school. Make sure to catch them in Denver when they’re back!

Switching Sets

As she finished, the production crew had to setup the stage for Niki! Of course this crowd didn’t let that dampen their energy as the room became a mix of a club, karaoke room, and cheers for the great job the production crew were doing getting everything ready for the highlight.

Niki

As the main act, Niki, took the stage at 9PM to an overwhelming cheer from the crowd. She started off with one of her latest tracks “Keeping tabs” and threw out beach balls for the audience. Niki then went on to her hit track “lowkey” which everyone in the audience sang along too.

She commented that this is her first time in Santa Cruz and that it’s definitely a vibe. Niki then picked up her guitar to sing “Backburner” off of her new album Nicole. Slowing it down more, she performed her track “Anaheim” which she wrote when she was 17.

Niki knows exactly what her fans always want and is open to changing up her set list to fit the show. For this segment, she decided to sit on the stage with her guitarist Tiana and ask the audience which song she should sing. Santa Cruz picked “Split” so they received an acoustic version the track! She then switched guitars for “La La Lost You”. (Special shout-out to Jeremy who switches out her guitar and earlier brought Paravi a stool).

Always on top of what the audience needs, she noticed it was definitely warm in the venue. Niki then asked staff and security to pass water out to the crowd before she started singing her next song “Oceans and Engines”. Fans were definitely relieved and grateful to have cold water; that memory alone made by Niki will not be forgotten.

Of course she had to sing one of her newest title tracks “High School on Jakarta”! She then ended the show with “Every Summertime “. “Every Summertime” is one of the most played tracks of of the Original Soundtrack from Marvels’ Shangchi. The show was definitely short with Niki only being on stage for an hour but Niki definitely made the hour memorable.

Hoping she’ll soon have a longer and larger concert in the future! Be sure to check out the rest of her stops during the tour.

Photo Credit: Natt Lim