Volunteer Carley Cook brings you a review of Shawn Mendes’ recent performance at Greenwich’s O2 Arena.
While others begin their Easter holidays revising for upcoming exams, or most likely, procrastinating by eating chocolate instead, I headed down to watch Shawn Mendes perform at the O2 Arena in London.
There’s no doubt about it that Shawn Mendes knows how to put on a show. From the minute he enters the stage, singing ‘Lost in Japan’, he gets the crowd involved. Shawn has a continuous burst of energy, where he gets the audience to jump along with him and shouts “Now scream as loud as you can!”. A highlight had to be the crowd singing the chorus of ‘Stitches’ in unison. The deafening screams from teenagers seeing their favourite artist in front of their own eyes makes the atmosphere so special. Even the parents who had been dragged along by their children seemed to be enjoying themselves through the odd head nod.
But what really gave the show that little bit more was the added touches. Everyone was given a wristband on their way into the arena, which lit up various colours throughout the show and was in sync with the sound. This seemed to light up the entire arena, with bursts of colour bouncing from one corner of the O2 to another.
Shawn would often ask how the fans were doing after each song, where he received screams in response. Despite the thousands of people in the arena, it felt as if he was connecting with individuals, from bending down to greet those at the front and waving to those further away.
I can definitely say time flies when you’re having fun. Before I knew it, Shawn began his final song for the evening. He began with a cover of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ before transiting into ‘In My Blood’. The explosion of confetti and smoke really rounded the evening off as a blast.
From all of his tours, this has to be the best one yet. If you ever get the chance to experience the concert, I can’t recommend it enough. Seeing the reaction from the audience when the singer waved goodbye to the crowd, I think they couldn’t agree more!
