Monday’s Activities Include: Demi Lovato concert, no sitter

T. and I took the train to the Demi Lovato concert at TD garden. Kehlani was the first opener. She was fun and good. DJ Khaled was the second opener. He is delightfully goofy and the crowd loved him. Obviously, everyone knows that Demi Lovato has a big voice, and her songs are often quite dramatic. I _should_ have put this all together with the costuming and thought “opera”! But I did not. This show felt more like an opera than a rock concert. The staging had the band elevated and often not visible (so not exactly an orchestra pit, but honestly not that different, either) — and it is a really extensive set of instruments and musicians and additional singers. That frees up the stage to use stage machinery. Obviously, fog / smoke effects. But she also used an elevator, and there was a secondary stage, and she used the side stairs and the aisles on the floor. The bed on the secondary stage was particularly effective (I think she said it usually rotates but wasn’t for that show). Everyone does backup dancers, but she’s got a great range of them, including several ballet dancers, and for a few of the songs, really effective choreography that reflects an entire compact little story of a stormy relationship with all the push away pull back dynamics that are present in so many pop music love songs.

Video screens and vignettes were used to tell backstory, and costuming was excellent all around. A really impressive show! The audience had the highest ratio of women to men of any show I’ve been to, and a full range of ages. The kiss cam was the only kiss cam I’ve ever really enjoyed watching. In addition to lots of same sex couples, I would _swear_ that some of the people kissing on camera were there together as friends or similar non-intimate relationships, who were nevertheless excited to kiss on camera. Great crowd and definitely my kind of people!

I don’t mind Demi Lovato’s music, but I doubt I would have picked this show for myself (T. picks the shows, and I veto based on schedule conflicts or, very rarely, if neither R. nor I can bring ourselves to go — actually not certain that has happened yet). And yet it is one of the ones I smiled at the most during. Go figure!