Thousands of glowstick-waving youngsters packed Scotiabank Place to the rafters to see singer-actress Selena Gomez in person on Friday night. Not on television, not on a computer screen, but on a big stage flashing with lights and pulsing with the beat of a live band.
The 19-year-old American singer-actress has been attracting huge crowds to all of her the concerts on the Canadian leg of her We Own The Night tour, which started in Victoria a couple of weeks ago and wraps up in Montreal on Sunday. Ottawa was no exception, with a sold-out crowd of 15,000 in attendance.
Clearly, the dark-haired Texan is one of the hottest stars in the entertainment business these days, and it's not because her boyfriend is Justin Bieber, the Canadian teen pop heartthrob and crown prince of Twitter. Of course, that doesn't hurt, but as everyone knows, this young woman's success stems from being a television star on the Disney network, a familiar face to a generation of children.
She's a familiar voice, too, as demonstrated by an audience that knew every word to her electro-bubblegum pop songs. It was girls' night out for the Grade 5 crowd, and they loved it, dancing and screaming themselves silly. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been an appearance by Bieber himself (or even the puppy they adopted in Winnipeg last week).
But no, this was Gomez's night. The starlet made her entrance in a gold sparkly outfit, crooning her way through sultry songs like A Year Without Rain, Hit The Lights and the fluid We Own The Night early in the show. Compared to the exuberant fans bouncing in their seats, Gomez appeared a little low on energy, probably conserving her resources because of the cold she's been fighting this week. From the press box in the rafters, where the sound is not great, her voice sounded thin, straining to be heard above the band's throbbing bass.
Gomez's main method of engaging the crowd was to stride the stage, twirl, extend her arms and flash that high-powered smile. She didn't waste a lot of time chatting, but she did invite the fans to dance, sing and have a good time, as if they needed to be reminded. Gomez is a natural on stage, with a twinkle in her eye that seems to connect with everyone in the building.
Highlights of the setlist included upbeat tunes like Love You Like a Love Song and Bang Bang Bang, simple, fun and easy to sing along to, as well as the show-closing number, Magic, a remake of the 1974 softrock hit by the band Pilot.
There were some outfit changes, including an unfortunate cropped hoodie that looked like she had a towel over her head and a nice, flirty turquoise dress. At one point, a prerecorded video message on the big screen showed Gomez looking like the girl next door with her hair tousled, her big brown eyes pooling with sincerity. That's where she declared her love and respect for Britney Spears, and talked about how exciting it was to see her in concert, back when she was 11. It was the prelude to a medley of Spears tunes, but it also showed that Gomez hasn't forgotten her roots as a fan in the nosebleed section.