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Justin Bieber Thrills In Toronto, Smiles & Delivers Goods At Purpose Tour Show

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 08:45 PST, May 19, 2016

Justin Bieber appears to have turned a positive corner, if his Purpose World Tour concert in Toronto, Canada, on Wednesday night is any indication. The superstar was reportedly in fine form and appeared happier than of late as he performed at the Air Canada Center.

This writer hasn’t joined the current chorus of media outlets screaming “Bieber’s heading for a breakdown” simply because the 22-year-old recently got a teensy face tattoo, walked barefoot in a Boston park on a hot day (gasp!), sat in a tree, and told the world via Instagram that he will no longer pose for impromptu photos with fans because he feels “like a zoo animal.” But what cannot be denied is the sadness seen on the singer’s face in recent weeks.

Not so last night. Local media reports and fan-obtained footage show a pop star who smiled often, punched out the hits, and thrilled the nearly 20,000-strong Toronto audience.

Watch Bieber’s exuberantly happy rendition of “What Do you Mean” in the clip below.

The Toronto Star‘s Ben Rayner and CBC News‘ Deana Sumanac-Johnson report the heartthrob delivered on-point, live vocals for some of his show — notably on his emotive Purpose album songs, “Life Is Worth Living,” “I’ll Show You,” and “Purpose” — and made no pretense about lip-syncing on the occasions when he did. While some might nitpick at any artists who use backing tracks, many artists do.

In Bieber’s case, the aim of his tour is as much about offering audiences a state-of-the-art, multi-sensory visual and aural pop-EDM-R&B extravaganza, as it is pumping out his chart-slaying Purpose album hits such as “What Do You Mean,” “Where Are U Now,” “Sorry,” and more.

The Toronto Star goes further than just praising Bieber’s concert for its music and spectacle and notes the deeper messages in last night’s show, writing, “The digital-video reels popping across the giant projection screen at the back of the stage all night long kept returning to images of Bieber looking numb in a variety of situations, being pawed at by a bevy of beautiful women…standing amidst a roomful of glowing TV sets while words like ‘paparazzi’ and ‘Bieber’ played across his frame…more significantly, he spent two of the first three songs on Wednesday’s set list in a form of enclosure.”

CBC News‘ Sumanac-Johnson adds her own take on Bieber’s ongoing role as a go-to punching bag for online trolls and the majority of maintream media. “Justin Bieber descended on stage trapped in a glass box that would, for the next few songs, alternate between being a prison and a dancing platform — a perfect visual metaphor for Bieber’s current position on fame and public life,” Johnson observed.

Meanwhile, Billboard‘s Canadian correspondent, Karen Bliss, insightfully blasted the current media attacks on the singer, as seen in the caricaturing of Bieber as “odd” or “strange” for chilling in a Boston park.

“If Justin Bieber can’t even climb a tree in a public park for fun without getting attacked and ridiculed by the media, then how can a young man/superstar under a perpetual spotlight have some fun? He makes it part of his live production, that’s how,” Bliss writes.

Bliss also notes the “well-designed funhouse of a stage, complete with a trampoline, conveyor belt, splash pool, water wall, ramps, trap doors, hydraulic risers, lasers, strobes, aerial performers, acrobatic dancers, and…effects. But there were also cages/boxes — cages/boxes that Bieber appeared inside and retreated to to sing. Symbolic? Bieber has been making it known recently that that is how fame is making him feel.”

In addition to commentary on how over-scrutinization was incorporated into the singer’s Purpose concert, Bliss also says it was fun. “The crowd…ate up everything and had a blast, on their feet, singing and dancing right from the opener ‘Mark My Words.'”

Speaking of fun. While performing his signature “Baby” hit towards the end of his show, the Biebs bust out “The Carlton” dance (as seen on The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air), before breaking into a huge smile.

Then there was that time the singer decided to showcase a funny walk at the end of the sexy “Hold Tight.”

All three Toronto reviewers reported Bieber was tender and seemed genuinely happy “in his interactions with the smallest of fans” during the performance of “Children,” which regularly features five local children at tour stops.

During the concert, the singer also looked out for a young fan, who was being pushed out of the way by older fans in the rush to reach a bottle of water used by the Biebs. The consensus on Justin Bieber’s Toronto Purpose show is that the pop powerhouse was solid and focused on the night and, most importantly, his fans had a terrific time.

[Images via Mat Hayward / Getty Images]

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