Adam Levine graced Toronto with his presence on Tuesday, February 19 when Maroon 5 came into the city as part of their tour. The concert was great and they played an awesome mix of both old and new songs. They put on a great show on a fitting stage built in the shape of an “M” that Adam told the crowd was “his dream stage”.
What made this Toronto concert unique however was the marriage proposal publicized thanks to lead guitarist James Valentine who brought it to the attention of Adam. One smart and romantic guy decided to pop the question to his girl during “She Will Be Loved” and once she said yes, held up a sign saying well, “She Said Yes”. Pretty cute and a unique place to do so. I loved it!
Here are some pictures from the concert:
British band Lawson makes its first visit to Toronto
On Saturday, February 3 I caught British boy band Lawson’s first concert in Toronto at the Virgin Mobile Mod Club. The four-piece pop-band made their way across the pond for a short and sweet North American tour, playing just three shows including LA and New York. There was a great turnout and a lot of “geese” (the term their die-hard fans have deemed themselves) who showed up, ready to scream, dance and cheer! The day before on Friday I was fortunate enough to interview the swoon worthy boys, who I admit, I could’ve listened to talk all day (I’ve got a weakness for British accents). So look out for that interview soon!
In the meantime here is the concert review I wrote for muchmusic.com, some great shots I was able to capture from the concert as well as two awesome videos:
Lawson leaves a lasting impression after first North American tour By Naomi Leanage
North America has been welcoming the British invasion with open arms, so it was no surprise that the Virgin Mobile Mod Club was packed on Saturday, February 2 for Lawson’s first concert in Toronto.
After two sold out shows in LA and New York, the four-piece pop-rock band was ready to bring it all for the final show of their mini North American tour. Andy, Adam, Joel and Ryan walked onto the stage to be greeted by deafening screams.
There were no fancy outfits, or over the top lights—Lawson was simply equipped with their musical instruments and powerful vocals.
Playing fan favourites like “Learn To Love Again” and “When She Was Mine” they demonstrated just how talented they are.
Together the four boys owned stage, and not one member was left overshadowed. Though Andy’s vocals were the focus of many songs, the spotlight turned to his band members at all the right moments, giving Joel and Ryan the chance to show off stellar guitar riffs and Adam an impressive drum solo. These electric instrumentals proved that Lawson is not another pop boy band from across the pond.
The audience was treated to covers of Ed Sheeran’s “The A Team” and Adele’s “Hometown Glory”, as the band added their own flare to the usually slow and acoustic tracks. Hands flew in the air and screams took over the building when Lawson covered Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger”, playfully changing up the lyrics when appropriate to “I swear I won’t behave”, “But Toronto I don’t give a shit” and “Moves Like Lawson”.
Lawson was all about interacting with the audience, encouraging them to dance, clap and even pointing the microphone towards a few lucky audience members for them to sing a verse. The band even made the kind gesture to sing “Happy Birthday” with the audience to one lucky member who was celebrating theirs that night.
It wasn’t only the audience having fun, but the band as well, whose smiles hardly left their faces. It was clear that all four members were not only appreciative but in awe of this show they shared with Toronto fans.
“It means the world to come all the way from London to here, and we promise to come back, we love it here!” Andy said.
Repeatedly saying that this was one of their best gigs ever, the boys even took to twitter to post this claim for their thousands of followers all over the world.
After bidding farewell, the lights dimmed down and the band walked off, much to the dismay of the audience. But the crowd wasn’t done with Lawson and screamed for more chanting the band’s name over and over again until the boys finally reemerged onstage for an encore of two songs, beginning with “Make It Happen”.
Closing a show that left many girls breathless after screaming, chanting and singing along to “Standing in the Dark”, Lawson reminded the audience that beyond their good looks and adorable accents, they really know how to rock.
Highlights of the night:
The band covering Ed Sheeran’s “The A Team”! *swoons*
Just when you thought it couldn’t get better, they also cover Maroon 5′s “Moves Like Jagger”!
Thanks to AstroKik I was able to attend MuchMusic’s The Big Jingle for free and with great seats! (Section 118 holla).
My sister’s camera didn’t do its duty well this time (I’m blaming it on the lighting and fog effects), so for a rare night I saw a concert through my own eyes instead of a camera screen. I was able to fully enjoy the concert, dance around (during breaks they hosted dance parties), scream as loud as I can and of course swoon over the good looking performers.
It was a great concert and awesome that Canada had a Jingle themed concert to call their own this year.
Below are some of the decent pictures I did capture for your viewing pleasure:
Shawn Desman had the crowd singing “Dum Da Dum”:
Sky Blu party rocked solo but confirmed that LMFAO is reunited and back together (…Yeah, I didn’t know they were separated to begin with).
Rising Texan popstar Austin Mahone made his first trip to Canada a big one.
While Cody Simpson took the stage for the second night in a row after making a surprise guest appearance at Bieber’s show the night before.
Carly Rae Jepsen was greeted by tons of “Call Me Maybe” signs.
Simple Plan brought the nostalgia playing old hits along with their new songs. It also rained giant beach balls during “Summer Paradise” (which was awesome).
And the British band everyone was waiting for closed the show. The Wanted!
This is the third time I’ve seen them live, and if there’s one thing you learn about the five piece boyband, is that they are extremely interactive with their fans. Always pointing and making eye contact with fans during their performance. But no one would have expected this:Yup, that’s a sea of fan girls swarming the boys who are barely identifiable in the mob. It started off with one girl being pulled onto the catwalk to dance with the band, only to have more pulled onstage, only to have everyone on the floor do all that they can to climb on themselves. The Wanted actually embraced this and enjoyed being swarmed, unlike other performers who, let’s admit, would fear for their safety and get security in there asap.
Overall it was a great experience, can’t wait for next year! Hopefully there IS a next year.
I was fortunate enough to grab floor seats for Justin Bieber’s sold out Believe tour stop in Toronto. I’m not qualified to be called a Belieber, but his tunes are catchy and his face is…hot! Nonetheless I was super excited to attend. And Justin’s tweets the day before like:
These tweets had me even more excited. What could the surprises be?! Justin, why are you doing this to me?! Were the thoughts floating through my head.
Now as with every concert, one of my biggest concerns was what to wear. I’d usually opt for a casually chic outfit, but this time an igenious idea popped into my head. One, that I’m surprised I actually went through with.
“WE SHOULD WEAR OVERALLS TO THE JB CONCERT LOL” I told my concert buddy.
And that’s how it started, and how I ended up at the Justin Bieber concert dressed like this:
For those who live under a rock here’s the background to story as to why in the world I would decide to bring back an unflattering 90s fashion style that made me resemble the likes of Mary-Kate and Ashley in “It Takes Two”: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fash-track/justin-bieber-wears-overalls-accept-394015
I’m not one for pulling off stunts like this but the amount of likes and applauding comments on facebook, twitter and instagram that I received when posting my pic before I left were reassuring.
And luckily I wasn’t dressed like this alone, I invited my friend Alex and her sister Kristina to join in. We arrived at the venue to be stared at like no tomorrow. I guess you could say we experience what it’s like to be a mega celebrity. Everywhere we walked throughout the Air Canada Centre heads turned, eyes glared, and lots of “omg I love your overalls!” “so creative” compliments came our way.
After the abundance of compliments and laughs we got, I’m definitely proud of my idea, and proud of the fact that we all pulled through with it! Thank goodness for Value Village and the people who donated their overalls to them!
As for the concert, Bieber definitely knows how to put on a show! With such great theatrics and props, not to mention a laser light show and fireworks, it was definitely one of the most entertaining concerts I’ve been to! Though from section B6 of the floor, you couldn’t see much, I have my sister’s glorious camera to thank for the amazing photos I captured:
Yup, that’s a sea of fan girls swarming the boys who are barely identifiable in the mob. It started off with one girl being pulled onto the catwalk to dance with the band, only to have more pulled onstage, only to have everyone on the floor do all that they can to climb on themselves. The Wanted actually embraced this and enjoyed being swarmed, unlike other performers who, let’s admit, would fear for their safety and get security in there asap.
