http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/editorials/Canada+influence+more+about+right+than+might/3155375/World+Where+watch+Vancouver/3129197/Review+Justin+Bieber+entertains+sold+crowd+Rogers+Arena/3697142/story.html
The review opens by pointing out that everything Justin does goes viral and a brief history, in case readers know nothing about him - which is almost a requirement in newspapers. Marchand's view that each fan feels a sense of ownership stems from the belief that these fans discovered him through youtube before he was famous. Yet there are no facts to back this up. You would have to have records of what his number of views were prior to the introduction of Scooter.
"For some, the level of Bieber madness has gone completely over the top. For Bieber's fans, however, it's often still not enough."
Here is a judgment that stands on its own. He provides no examples of what he deems to be "over-the-top." I can only assume he implies what I personally am and feel. That is, I can't get enough of Bieber. I want more. More merch, more videos, more plays of his song on my itouch. I suppose, because of my age, I could be considered over the top, but some say the soul is ageless and music is ageless as well. You could go to a G-rated "family" movie and enjoy it yourself, maybe even like it more than your kid.
I personally did not see any running. It was far too crowded for that. And people weren't really interested in snacks. The line-ups were at the merch tables and it was very quick to buy any food or drink. I guess I missed out on the attendants standing on chairs too. Fans were excited to buy yes, but it wasn't pandemonium. They were all very polite and well-behaved. They seemed equally eager and grounded in reality that buying something would take a long time.
I'm not sure what Marchand means by "inoffensive hooks" when he refers to opening act, Burnham. Does he mean Disney? I kind of found them offensive as it all seemed very fake to me - only the drummer sounded real. I didn't see the bass or guitar player move the chord hand at all and couldn't even really hear any sound from their instruments. The first song definitely sounded lip synced as the singer moved around but his voice sounded perfect throughout - no variances that a body jumping wildly in the air would naturally create.
Marchand's comment about the Xbox commercial, I can only assume is sarcasm. Does he not realize this is dubbed as Justin's Xbox 360 Tour and therefore, it is not odd at all?
Marchand suggests that Justin only sang one song, U Smile and the rest was lip-synced. He suggests the proof of this is because there weren't any close-ups of Justin on the screens. I am not sure where Marchand was during the concert, but my eyes and ears were on Justin 99% of the time as I did not want to watch a screen (I could just buy the dvd later on if I wanted to just watch a screen) and I heard his real voice on all the songs. Because I have listened to all of Justin's songs over and over on my i touch, I could tell that his singing was lower in key and very real. I also believe that Justin himself and his management would not sink to lip syncing, but I could be wrong about that and I would be disappointed (as I was about Burnham and believing they were lip syncing - even though I had never heard of them before).
Then Marchand gets into a critque which I feel is quite unfair. Let's remember he is just 16 and was only just recently discovered and this is his first headlining tour. He's no Disney kid who's been trained and preened. Also, he's a singer and musician first, not a professional dancer, and again, he's just starting out. It is also unfair to call Bieber's concert a "paint-by-numbers-on-autopilot affair" because all concerts are really the same. Big entrance, singing, costume changes, singing.
And then Marchand ends with some conjecture about the future career of Justin Bieber, bringing the viral point back like tying a ribbon on a pretty package (which mostly contains styrofoam peanuts protecting the small critique).
Not much of a review really. A lot of non-concert material surrounding a brief review
Publish Post
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