Justin Bieber's 'Purpose' Tour is half-concert, half-sermon
Not long after he announced that he would no longer be doing meet-and-greets with fans on his Purpose World Tour because it leaves him "drained and unhappy," Justin Bieber stood in front of thousands of fans at Los Angeles' Staples Center and gave a similar apology of sorts.
"Life is so tough sometimes. I wanna be present, I wanna be in the moment," he said. "But sometimes you gotta put on a fake smile."
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The "Sorry" singer could have easily not said a thing. He could have kept that fourth wall intact and kept right on faking it because, for the most part, that smile was expertly, almost alarmingly convincing.
His third and final L.A. show was a pop spectacle of the most high-energy and over-the-top variety. And most of the crowd didn't seem to notice that when he performed with an army of backup dancers like he did on his Believe Tour, he seemed to do it in a mechanical way, seemingly weighing his bubblegum pop past with a more adult present in which Kanye West is singing his praises.
When Bieber took the stage Wednesday night, he rose up through the floor in what looked like the pop star equivalent of Ron Burgundy's glass case of emotion for an energizing performance of "Mark My Words." He followed that up with performances of Purpose dance darling "Where Are U Now" and "Get Used To It" that had the entire Staples Center on their feet.
For "I'll Show You," another Skrillex dance-pop production, Bieber stood in the middle of an even larger case of emotion, as a whirlwind of lights encircled him. Acrobats twirled above him during "The Feeling," but by far the most over-the-top moment came during "Company," when he and his dancers performed on a trampoline above the audience, Bieber showing off his backflip skills.
It was very easy to get caught up in all of it, and the crowd -- still mostly composed of women in their teens to early-20s -- seemed happy to do so, particularly during throwbacks "Boyfriend" and "Baby."
But while all of that was fun, Bieber was at his best not when there was an army of dancers around him, but alone. It was during acoustic performances of "Love Yourself" and new song "Insecurities" that Bieber most persuasively reminded the crowd that despite all the things that happened over the past few years, he's first and foremost a damn good musician.
And it was right around then that the show took a decidedly religious turn, which makes sense when you remember that Purpose is, at its core, quite spiritual. When he sang "Purpose" -- a song on which he pleads "Ask you to forgive me for my sins, oh would you please?" -- he wasn't doing it to the girls reaching out for his hand, but to God, looking above him, lying down at one point to take it all in.
What followed was a performance of "Sorry" in which fake rain poured over him. While Bieber was reportedly baptized in a bathtub in December, he was arguably baptized yet again right there. How's that for an apology?
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Topics Music
