BIEBER PUTS ON AMAZING SHOW FOR HIS ‘BELIEBERS’
Superstar mixes athletic feats with his songs, writes Fish Griwkowsky
Ask yourself honestly, is it really any of your business if Justin Bieber — basically a kid — acts like one sometimes?
And if you’ve decided it is, don’t you think it’s possible you’re falling for a larger, not-even-hidden conspiracy put on by the lowest of gossip tabloids which serves an even larger celebrity machine designed to make money off having a narrative which the simplest of minds out there could — and perhaps even must — follow?
Never mind that, though — actually singing or lip-synching, Justin Bieber is very handsome, and he sure puts on a hell of a show. This started Tuesday night with skateboarding on his portable semi-pipe outside the Coliseum before the show, his headphones shielding the shriek waves.
Around 14,000 Beliebers got the medicine they wanted as the lithe, tattooed 22-year-old superstar came down in a Plexiglas zoo cage, singing Mark My Words.
Besides his Megadeth font, Biebs has something else in common with all the dinosaur metal acts like Maiden and Sabbath thundering through lately — his opening video also shows scenes of merciless urban destruction. In his case, though, this includes his earlier incarnation as an angel falling from the sky — remember what we were saying about easy-to follow narratives? This imagery signals Bieber’s repentant bad-boy “era.”
For sure with a sometimes-canned voice no fan cares about on Planet Instagram, crop-cut Biebs pushed through Where Are U Now and Get Used to It, sliding down a ramp, bouncing on a trampoline, surrounded by 15-odd dancers in white — just a perfectly choreographed mess of total stimulus with an aftertaste of Skrillex. The stage was a loop with a ramp going down the middle, a sort of simplified snake head.
“Edmonton are you ready?” was about all one could make out, then, “I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t strong enough,” before I’ll Show You — sung moodily from inside a different, laser-painted cage.
It was a mixed crowd: selfie-addicted young women, their moms, and clean-cut random fanboys with backward ball caps showing off to anyone at all.
A video with Bane-masked models and more live acrobats brought in makeout song The Feeling, Halsey’s giant head floating above the singer, then Tron and Adidas had a steam bath baby all over the R&B hit Boyfriend.
The opener, Moxie Raia, had a great voice under all her canned-karaoke-backbeat production — find her at @yomoxie for a free album and listen for yourself. Next up, New York hip-hop artists Post Malone shouted out to Muhammad Ali and David Bowie, rapping a quick set including his hit White Iverson. Oh, and about 10 random Michael Jackson songs was a third opening act.
“What’s up, Edmonton?” Biebs asks later on: Screams. “What do you guys say we slow it down?” Screams. “I’ll bring out my guitar?” Screams. “You guys ready?” Screams. Then plopped down on a velvet couch centre stage and did an authentically sung, acoustic Home to Mama and a wailing, singalong Love Yourself.
Back to the club songs for Been You and Company, before which Bieber noted he misses his family on the road, then jumped on the trampoline above the heads of everyone on the floor.
The pulsing, postmodern mash No Sense begat the after-dark underwear-melter Hold Tight, No Pressure begat Big Sean on the big screen, and a smoke-machine laser rave underlined As Long As You Love Me. Then, in a Marilyn Manson Bigger Than Satan shirt, Biebs did ... a mediocre drum solo! “Still having a good time?” he asked, doing a roll call of ages (18 got the loudest screams), then asked everyone to tell the person next to them “You’re amazing.” Children, techno-blooded, followed, local dancers Reese, 9, and Taylor, 13, Hataya bumping along. The latter got an arena-sized Birthday Song.
The first major Internet-spawned star at his scale, just look at a Google image search thumbnail wall of him and tell me you don’t see a little young Elvis in that face. And that always ends well, right?
Just kidding!