CONCERT VIBES

WHY HELLO THERE PEOPLE 

As you can see, this post will definitely be a lot more light-hearted than some of my recent ones. 

Just over a month ago, I went to see Shawn Mendes live on his Illuminate tour when he was in the UK. Ashley’s parents bought her tickets for her and a friend, and I happened to be one of Ashley’s only friends who likes Shawn’s music. Thought I was about to say one of her only friends? 😉

It was after school, but the Meet & Greet that Ashley had been to was at 2pm. That meant I had to go with Ashley’s Grandma, who I hadn’t actually met prior to that day. She and Ashley’s mum were watching the convert too, just in slightly further away seats. Anyway, the drive there was fine, and Ashley’s Grandma was lovely. She was pointing out various little places on the way there that she’d grown up in.

Once we’d arrived and successfully passed the pat-down, we had to wait in line for quite a while, but eventually managed to get in, find Ashley’s mum, and then make our way to the seats after a quick stop for some Galaxy Minstrels and a Sprite. 

Our seats were much closer than I’d imagined, on the bottom side, but not on the floor, if you get what I mean? After slowly screaming with Ashley about how she’d managed to ask him a question in the Q&A, the supporting act, JamesTW started to perform. I hadn’t actually heard of him before, but his songs were beautiful, and I’m extremely jealous of his guitar skills. 😉 I’m still slightly disappointed Shawn didn’t bring out Camila Cabello or Jack & Jack but hey. 😀

The sheer noise of thousands of fangirling screaming as Shawn finally graced the stage was insane. It was so much louder than anything I think I’ve ever experienced but the adrenaline somehow meant we could all cope with it. The opening song was There’s Nothing Holding Me Back, one of his newest. 

My favourite has to be Lights On, which is easily my favourite of his songs anyway. There’s something so heartwarming about hearing one of your favourite songs sang live by the artist, that just can’t be explained until you’ve experienced it. 

Throughout the performance, I called my little sister about four times, since she’s probably a bigger Shawn Mendes fan than I am myself. I made sure she got to hear her favourite – Kid In Love. Whether any of the words were distinguishable over the screeching, I have no clue, but let’s just hope they were. 🙂

At around 9pm, it hit me that Fifth Harmony had been in that room before. And in that moment, I had a slight mental crisis. I snapchatted Britt, Hayley, Regina, Rachel and Penny with my face saying “hi dudes this is the closest I’ve ever been to Lauren Jauregui” and that pretty much sums it up. 🙂

Never Be Alone was super moving and as the whole audience joined in for the last chorus. Shawn said something about how he could hear the British accent, but the sound of a whole crowd singing together was so beautiful. Knowing you’re a part of thousands of people all united by the same thing was so empowering, and easily one of my favourite moments of the night.

The concert ended on Treat You Better, which was crazily loud but insanely good. After then, we made our way out and met up with Ashley’s mum and grandma.

 I ended up home for around 11:30pm after a long drive from the arena. 

After all that, it only made me want to see some of my other favourites live even more! 

And that’s all for now! Who’ve you ever seen live?

–Awkwardsaurus