Just before the last song of Justin Bieber's main set in Ontario, while the teen idol slipped into position to magically appear amid billowing fog at the keys of a white baby grand, the DJ in his band shouted out a question to the fans that filled almost every seat of Citizen's Business Bank Arena on Sunday.
A simple query – "Who came here to fall in love with Justin Bieber tonight!?!?" – that produced the most deafening screams from a crowd made up mostly of daughters and moms who were predisposed to shriek at the slightest provocation.
Justin takes his jacket off – pandemonium! Toddler Justin sings the ABC song in a home-movie video montage – ecstasy! Justin points to the fans on one side of the arena – they roar! – and then the opposite – they roar more!
All of which makes the Bieb, who plays at Honda Center in Anaheim on Wednesday, bulletproof to criticism. Fans of the 16-year-old love him so blindly that if you point out a flaw – perhaps that his vocals can sometimes sound over-processed or thin – fans just don't care.
So let's start this thing off by noting the obvious: If you bought a ticket to this show, you almost certainly went home overjoyed by what you got in the course of 19 songs and 90 minutes, a show that featured Bieber singing and dancing and floating above the arena, home movies and family photos, and two guest turns by Jaden Smith, the Karate Kid himself.
The show opened with "Love Me," a typically catchy Bieber pop song that cleverly co-opts the Cardigans' "Lovefool" for the chorus, and found the pint-sized pop star marching in formation with his backup dancers, before dispatching them all with mock martial arts moves.
After noting that Ontario, Calif,. was founded by people from Ontario, Canada, where he comes from, Bieber slowed things down for a ballad, "U Smile," which had every girl in the arena singing along on its chorus of "When you smile I smile."
The set design offered plenty of room for Bieber to move around, with a second-floor ramp above the band and platforms jutting out to either side. But the big showpiece props were a handful of metal cages in which he floated over the arena floor, bringing the Bieber to the people.
The first one arrived early in the show, when he climbed into a heart-shaped contraption and, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, sang "Never Let You Go" and "Favorite Girl" while slowly gliding midway over the floor. Do we need to tell you that the fans screamed deliriously? No, we do not.
After coming back to earth, Bieber invited a fan onstage to serenade during "One Less Lonely Girl," complete with roses and a hug, sang "Overboard" as a duet with Jessica Jarrell, and – after announcing his motto as "Never Say Never," sang that song, complete with ninja backup dancers and a guest rap by Jaden Smith, star of "The Karate Kid," which used a Justin-Jaden duet on the soundtrack.
The pacing occasionally flagged – there were at least three video interludes, including tons of Bieber baby photos and a public service announcement not to text and drive, mostly to allow Bieber time to change clothes. And the band and sound mix sometimes overwhelmed his vocals, which don't come nearly as sweetly sung as in their studio versions. But then you have to remember the kid is just 16 years old, selling out arenas and clearly giving millions of fans exactly what they want.
The night wrapped up with a burst of energy: opening act Sean Kingston, whose set was very well received, came back to duet on "Eenie Meenie" before an encore of "Speaking In Tongues" – Bieber's unlikely rap song – and finally the big hit, "Baby," which sent all those little girls (and maybe their mothers, too), home with one more romantic sigh for their boyish heartthrob.
