“Like a champion,” talented dance-pop singer and actress Selena Gomez brought her Stars Dance Tour to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Saturday, August 24 in front of a sold-out crowd of thousands of her screaming fans. The tour is in promotion of her first solo studio album, ‘Stars Dance,’ and proves to everyone that Selena is ready to shed her Disney image and make the transition to a sophisticated songstress. The show featured many costume changes and showcased Selena’s awesome dance moves.
The show opened up with Selena’s friend, up-and-coming singer Christina Grimmie, who rocked the crowd with songs off her new album, ‘With Love,’ including the album’s title track which showed off her strong vocals. She got the crowd involved when she sang “Absolutely Final Goodbye,” asking the audience to sing back the word “goodbye” whenever she pointed at them.
Next on stage was everyone’s new favourite boy band from Huntington Beach, CA, who are also fresh off The X Factor USA – Emblem3! Their energetic set included songs from their debut album ‘Nothing to Lose,’ including the songs “Spaghetti” and “Sunset Blvd.” Nothing got the crowd going more than the performance of their infectious hit single, “Chloe (You’re The One I Want).”
At 8:30 p.m., Selena opened with an exciting video introduction which was followed by her club-banger dance anthem, “Bang Bang Bang.” The screams from the audience got louder as Selena performed all of her hit songs, both from her days with The Scene and from her new solo album. In fact, Selena played almost every song off ‘Stars Dance,’ only leaving out “Forget Forever”! She also performed covers of “Dream” by Priscilla Ahn, during which she showed off her harmonica skills, and “Royals” by Lorde.
Performing on an awesome S-shaped catwalk, Selena didn’t leave a minute where the crowd wasn’t entertained. She also didn’t forget to interact with the uber-energetic crowd of mostly teen girls and their parents. In fact, Selena even grabbed a bouquet of flowers from one young fan during “Naturally.”
Before she sang her empowering hit single “Who Says,” Selena delivered an important message: “You guys trust me, so thank you so much for trusting me with everything. You tell me stories at meet & greets and on Twitter and Facebook and open up about what you guys feel… it’s not worth trying to look cool. You guys are so perfect the way you are. Please don’t let anyone try to change you – ever. I wouldn’t want to be anybody else.”
The show closed with a confetti finale to her two latest singles, “Come & Get It” and “Slow Down.” Judging by the ever-growing squeals and screams from the crowd, no fan left the Stars Dance Tour unhappy.
Selena gave her fans exactly what they wanted and more. The stars definitely did dance in Toronto.