Shawn Mendes illuminates the night
As if to kickstart the summer, Shawn Mendes brought the heat onstage for his first Philippine performance at the MOA Arena last March 18. Arriving a few months after the moving of the original concert date left fans waiting for an all-out and sterling performance. True to our expectations, Shawn did not fail to deliver.
Beginning with the loud strum of his guitar and the steady beat of the drums, Shawn entered the stage for his first song, one of his renowned singles, Something
Big. Having been played on the radio countless times, he easily got the whole crowd to sing along to get the energy up and going. Next up, as if to balance out the frenzy the arena was in, Shawn took on a more sentimental route down the lane with one of his first released songs,
The Weight, leaving the audience in tears as his lyrics invoked a sense of heartbreak.
Shortly after, the Canada-based singer took to retelling his adventure to a small local waterfall a couple of days prior to the concert and recounted how the serene sight inspired him to write some new tunes. With the tranquil vibe he had created as he strummed absentmindedly on his guitar, he began his next heartwarming performance of A Little Too Much, a song that he said was close to his heart. It brought on feelings of homesickness and longing among the crowd as he sang another one of his tearjerkers. It was extremely intimate — Shawn with nothing but his guitar up on stage and the rest of the crowd listening and singing along to his words.
Afterwards, to get the arena pumped up once more, he quickly swapped his acoustic guitar for an electric and started playing a song that the audience knew very well. The all-too familiar notes of
Treat You Better blasted all around the stadium, getting everyone to jump up off their seats and sing along. This was followed by his enjoyable performance of
Lights On, one of the songs from his latest album, Illuminate. Then, taking us back a little further, Shawn performed Don’t Even
Know Your Name and Aftertaste, two songs from his previous album, Handwritten.
Then to make us all feel giggly, as if struck with a memory of an innocent first love, Shawn belted out one of his old tunes Kid In Love, mashing it up with Jackson 5’s I Want You Back. With his hands up in the air, the crowd joined in and waved along. Next up, taking on a John Mayer vibe, Shawn performed Ruin, which led to the audience echoing his words right back to him: Do I ever cross your mind? As his love-themed songs were some of the fan favorites, he then moved on to the heartache-inducing Three
Empty Words, then belted out the pushand-pull story of Patience, a song on an on-and-off relationship that the crowd could sure relate to. As if to pull on further the loose strings, he continued with Don’t Be a Fool.
To get the crowd fired up despite the concert nearing the end of the night, Shawn belted out the words of one of his most well-known songs, Mercy, which definitely did not “take it easy on our
hearts.” It was the perfect transition to the power ballad. Following this was probably one of the highlights of the night. Shawn toned things down a bit to serenade us with one of his old songs, Take
a Piece of My Heart. However, mid-song, he asked the audience to bring out their phones and turn on their flashlights as he sang, creating one beautiful moment. With hundreds of lights in the air, Shawn truly took a piece of everyone’s heart that night.
Just when everyone thought that he could not be any more talented, Shawn set aside his guitar, walked up to the piano at the side of the stage and gently played a few notes. Taking the audience on a trip to the past, Shawn began to sing Life of the
Party, which was his very first single that earned him the kind of fame that he has today. He then took the crowd back to the now as he shifted to one of his singles,
Stitches. Around the middle of the song, he picked up his guitar once more and continued his performance of the song.
Much too early and definitely too soon, Shawn finished the song and it was time to say goodbye. With an enthusiastic wave to the crowd and a final bow, Shawn bid his Filipino fans a good night and thanked them for coming. Despite the concert being moved to a much later date, it was a night that was definitely worth the wait.