Beiber fever spreads through Jersey
November 30, 2010
Teen singing sensation and one of the hottest acts in music right now, Justin Bieber brought his act to the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey to a sold out crowd of over 20,000.
Besides the selfless moms and dads, the crowd was made up of mostly, as one might expect, tween and teen girls ranging in age from 12 to 18 with a couple of five and 25 year olds mixed in.
Sean Kingston opened the show signaling the screams with hits like “Fire Burning,” “Dumb Love” and “Face Drop.” The screams were deafening during Kingston’s set, as the crowd knew that “Bieber time” was drawing near.
Kingston even took time out to showcase his DJ skills playing the music of Usher, Nicki Minaj, and Jason Derulo. He closed his 40-minute set appropriately with the hit “Beautiful Girls,” thanking the fans and even the parents.
Kingston was engaging and certainly kept the crowd on their feet, leading to believe that a headlining tour of his own is imminent.
The clock began counting down for the 16-year-old from Stratford, Ontario that everyone came to see.
With a loud scream every 30 seconds, it was time for Bieber to prove himself to some people, who have never experienced his type of music. His set opened with a commercial showing Bieber and his crew playing XBOX 360’s Kinect backstage. XBOX 360 is sponsoring the tour, so it would only be appropriate for Bieber’s set to open with him playing the game system. The second the crowd saw his face on the screen, they screamed nonstop, making it impossible to even hear the advertisement.
Almost immediately after the commercial, Bieber emerged from center stage surrounded by a giant metal globe singing his hit, “Love Me.” His swagger began almost immediately as he showed that he owned that stage, dancing from one side to another, welcoming every young girl that wished they could be on that stage with him.
It became evident that Bieber was lip-synching during all of the fast-paced songs that required dance moves, however, the tweens and teens didn’t seem to mind. They just embraced him for whatever he was giving them.
After charming the girls saying, “You guys know I have the best band in the world? I would do anything for them. You know who else I would do anything for? …My fans. And do you know why? Cause when U smile…. I smile,” he then launched into his number one hit, “U Smile.”
At one point, Bieber came out into the crowd via a metal heart that floated above the arena. He showcased his acoustic side with “Never Let You Go,” and “Favorite Girl,” which then led him to tell us that his new acoustic album will be coming out on Black Friday, exclusively to Wal-Mart.
Bieber ran through his 80 minute set with hits such as “One Less Lonely Girl,” where he brought a girl onstage, touching her face and presenting her with a flower bouquet to the “Aw’s” from the crowd.
Hits that generated the most screams were “Somebody to Love,” “Never Say Never” and “One Time.” He even showed us a video tribute of himself from when he was a little boy, saying, “I want to be on TV,” making many believe that if you dream big enough, your dream may come true.
Bieber had some amazing dance moves as he tried channeling Michael Jackson, even paying tribute to his idol with “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin.'” The Biebs’ moves came very close to the King of Pop and it would have to be said that that is what was most impressible about him.
Kingston was called out one more time by his “lil’ bro” to sing “Eenie Meenie” together. Bieber played a variety of instruments as well, such as guitar, drums, and piano where he once again emerged from the stage singing “Down to Earth,” a slower ballad that gave proof that even though he may lip-synch at times, Justin Bieber really can sing live.
After saying goodnight, Bieber came out once more for his all-time number one hit “Baby,” that had the crowd go even wilder than before, if that’s possible.
Despite the noise level from his fans, Justin Bieber proved to be a true performer for his generation. After seeing the talent that comes from an artist as young as he is, it was hard not to enjoy his performance. Bieber took to Twitter saying that the New Jersey show was the best one of his multi city tour. “Crowd was insane, energy was right…” he tweeted.