PERFORMING IS IN HIS BLOOD: SHAWN MENDES CONCERT REVIEW

I had no idea what to expect when going in to see Shawn Mendes. I bought the tickets not even knowing if anyone could come with me a month ago as a spur of the moment. I'm very glad I decided to do this on a whim because Shawn Mendes at the O2 Arena was all round incredibly impressive and actually took me somewhat aback.

SUPPORT ACT

Supporting Shawn Mendes was fellow Candian Alessia Cara. Cara started off the show really well and having listened to a good amount of her music anyway. I knew how talented she was and her live performance did not disappoint. She performed a combination of upbeat well-known tracks such as How Far I'll Go from Moana and slower lesser-known ones that really showed off her vocals. Overall, she was a really great way to warm up the crowd with her effortlessly cool set and outfit to match.


SHAWN MENDES

Shawn came on stage to his recent hit 'Lost In Japan', and although in comparison to a lot of other shows, the introduction wasn't as dramatic, it did match his easy-going pretty aesthetic that he seems to have going for him this era. Shawn Mendes is all about being effortlessly talented, and his introduction to the concert completely embodied this.


The general design and graphics on-stage and in the rest of the arena was exceptional. From beautiful colour graphics on the screen at the main stage to flashing wristbands and even an enormous rose at the secondary stage in the middle of the room, he kept entirely with his aesthetic. It's nice to see an artist have an absolutely clear cut vision of his musical era, and stick to it. For an artist who hasn't really been around for too long, this is very impressive.


When it comes to the actual performances, I was genuinely surprised. He is an unbelievably talented performer. His vocals are some of the best I've ever seen live, going for notes that most female singers wouldn't be able to hit let alone male. However, he also played his own guitar or piano on a good majority of his songs, which seems like I'm setting the bar low but someone with his vocal ability would easily be able to make it big by just singing, but he goes that little bit above and beyond to prove he's not just a singer, he's an all-round performer.

He performed some powerful songs which almost edged on a rock-style, with a stand-out song, in particular, being Bad Reputation. I've never seen such a clean-cut young man look so pissed off while performing a song. He had the voice, the instrumentals and the attitude to put it all together and make it really something special. The anger shone through in some crazy high-note hitting and some pretty intense guitar riffs, and bearing in mind this song on the album is pretty low-key, it brought a new side to that song as well as Shawn himself.

However, where Shawn Mendes really shines is with the acoustic songs. As great as his gritty and intense performances are, he is at his best when he's just sitting at a piano and singing to a crowd who are singing every word back. You can tell he loves these moments as well. When performing 'Ruin' on the stage in the middle of the crowd, he made sure to walk round to every side and acknowledge every fan that was surrounding him; smiling, waving, holding their hand. Although these are small things, it makes a huge difference for those fans that he acknowledged and I'm sure he's aware of the impact this has.

Something about this show was so different from any other I've seen and it's because it was so...happy. Even in the songs which are about being heartbroken, or angry, or even songs talking about how overbearing mental health difficulties can be, he seemed happy. There wasn't a moment when they zoomed in on his face on the big screen and he wasn't smiling. He clearly loves what he does, loves the music he's making and absolutely loves performing it in front of people. Shawn Mendes is clearly a natural-born performer in every sense of the word.

Shawn closed the show with two final songs; two very intense power ballads in the form of Coldplay's Fix You and his own chart-topper In My Blood. It seems odd to have a cover as the second to last song in the show but it worked well and got great energy into the crowd that carried on over to In My Blood. The passion of Shawn's performance perfectly bounced off the passion of the crowd singing back to him. There's something pretty special about a crowd of 20,000 people singing a song about recovering from mental health difficulties at the top of their lungs, and that special feeling was a great emotion to leave the show with.


There's much more to Shawn Mendes than the looks that he seems to be most well known for; there's a passion, there's kindness, there's talent and most importantly, there's a performer who's only going to get better with age.

To see clips from the concert, check out my Instagram: @rubyonmusic_

Written by Ruby Crowhurst.