Flashback to 2008 when Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato acted together in the film “Camp Rock.” They have now both begun their own music careers in pop music and into pop stardom. In a way this show felt like a Disney reunion tour except with much more mature content but it still retained its young audience.
With super-produced hits every song, a huge screen for visualizers and a band with all white instruments and outfits, Nick Jonas performed his set first. He and Demi Lovato shared the same band for both of their sets. Nick and his highly developed head voice had the girls screaming the whole night. At one point he took a fan’s phone on stage to video himself singing. Thankfully Nick had an actual guitarist for this tour unlike his virtual guitar solo performance at the Awards show performance.
He started off the night in denim attire and eventually changed into a black coat and black shoes. The background band really appeared to be having a fun time. The whole concert had a black and white color theme. He started the show with his song “Levels” which was the second song to really hit the radio waves after his song “Jealous.” During his interestingly titled song “Bacon,” he had a pan of sizzling bacon on the background screen. Nick said in an interview that he takes a lot of influence from The Weeknd, which is evident in his bad boy branding look, and the emphasis on head voice runs and riffs. The background band had seven people, including two background singers which made for a great full sound as opposed to many background tracks from a laptop.
He closed his performance with “Chains” and had the whole crowd singing. He left the stage and only a few moments later, Demi rose from a platform on the stage since they utilized the same band. She wore really high boots and the background visuals were very bright and flowered, a strong contrast to the dark images Nick’s performance had revolved around. I did notice a few times throughout her performance her vocals were a bit quiet, but neither of them were lip syncing. A lot of the productions for the two headliners’ songs reminded me, stylistically, of producer Mike Dean who produced The Weeknd’s album “Beauty Behind The Madness.” All of Lovato’s songs represent young female empowerment and most stem from her troubles a few years back with her own inner demons. Once again, all the songs were radio-ready singles.
She began with the song “Confident.” There were many signs in the audience and she acknowledged them. I could see the influence in her song “Neon Lights” from well replicated electronic dance music themes. She thanked the crowd and told a story about how she released this next song right when they made it, instead of waiting to release it and it was “Body Say.” It seemed to launch right into a mature song with topics older than her target audience. It sort of felt over replicated and shallow but that’s just the opinion of this author. It felt like all the songs that night were really high energy so it was nice when she did an older song “Fix A Heart” which was acoustic for an energy change. “Nightingale” showcased her powerful vocal range while she was still sitting on the stool from the last song.
Nick then came back out to play the white piano and they did a song called”Stone Cold,” but he did not sing. Many roses adorned the backdrop screen. After that song, Demi went off stage and Nick told a story about how Demi told him he needs to be more honest in his songwriting and then he sang “Chainsaw.” Nick then changed his outfit and sang “Jealous” to the crowd’s pleasure and they did a duo of Nick’s song “Close” and Demi sang her part. Then Demi went on and closed out the show with some more of her hits. It was neat that they took turns singing like that on stage, instead of acting like two totally separate acts. Taking turns works because of their parallel career history and friendship.
Demi Lovato setlist:
Confident
Heart Attack
Neon Lights
For You
Fix a Heart
Nightingale
Warrior
Stone Cold (with Nick Jonas – Jonas on Piano)
Close (with Nick Jonas – Nick Jonas song)
Skyscraper
Give Your Heart a Break
Cool for the Summer
Nick Jonas setlist:
Levels
Champagne Problems
Good thing (Sage the Gemini cover)
Who I Am (Nick Jonas & The Administration song)
The Difference
Bacon
Numb
Chains
Chainsaw
Jealous
Close
Photos by Gus Griesinger. We would like to thank Tracey Mancini from the First Niagara Arena for her assistance in getting BackstageAxxess credentials to review the show.
