Photos by Angela Thomas
Tuesday, September 9th, hundreds of teen girls and boys filled the seats at the Petersen Events Center to see pop icon Demi Lovato back in Pittsburgh for the first time in recent years. The concert first started off right on time, at 7pm, with the first opening act MKTO getting the crowd pumped up playing their upbeat songs including the hit song “Classic.”
After MTKO, a very special guest of Ms. Lovato’s named Spencer West rolled out onto the stage. West is an Inspirational Speaker who has done everything with this two hands, because that’s all he has. At a young age, he was diagnosed with a disease in his legs that does not allow him to use them. He relayed some important messages, telling everyone not to let anyone put you down and that you are a warrior. He said anything is possible and to never give up, which he proved himself when he climbed Mt. Kilimenjaro relying solely on upper body strength in his arms and spirit. It was an incredibly refreshing to hear something like this at concert.
After Spencer West’s inspiring speech, Christina Perri came out with her pure, soulful voice to play the piano to her first hit single “Jar of Hearts.” She crooned other beautiful hits like “A Thousand Years” and finished with her latest chart topper “Human.”
Finally, it was time for Demi to own the stage. Pittsburgh was the third stop on her world tour, and boy, did she deliver! Right of the bat, Demi came out with a bang to sing her recent electric pop song “Really Don’t Care” featuring Cher Lloyd. She continued her set list mixing in some old hits with her new ones.
She took to her twitter followers to help her pick what songs they wanted to hear. The top song requested by her 24.4 million Lovatics (her fan groups names) was “My Love is Like a Star.” Demi also took the time to dedicate “Warrior” to the women in Africa she met while spending her 21st birthday helping build houses and feed those in need. “I rather plaster walls than get plastered, I wanted to celebrate life rather than something that ruins it, Demi said. “Celebrating my 21st sober was f****** amazing!” While talking to the crowd she explained that she wanted this tour to be about the different elements she can bring to her music, like playing the piano, rather than focusing on her struggles while she was in a dark place. She captivated her fans with slow intimate songs only to bring down the house and rock out to the fast upbeat songs for about a two hours. It was an incredible night to be in attendance and to get to experience such a fully entertaining tour. Be sure to check out this amazing tour in a city near you, you’ll be dancing the night away!