Selena owns the night in upbeat show

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This article was published 22/10/2011 (5438 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Selena Gomez was the star of the show, but the big question on everyone’s mind Friday at the MTS Centre was whether boyfriend Justin Bieber was going to join her on stage.

The closest his fans got to seeing him was a dancer who dressed liked the Biebs during one of Gomez’s costume changes, but in the end it didn’t matter since Gomez more than held her own for a sold-out crowd of 12,500 young fans and their parents.

It wasn’t out of the question that Bieber would join Gomez on stage, since the couple spent the last couple of days hitting the town. They walked around The Forks Thursday before going to a private screening of a movie. On Friday they visited local no-kill animal shelter, D’Arcy’s Arc. Owner D’Arcy Johnston wouldn’t confirm if the couple left with an animal, but Bieber was spotted in the MTS Centre prior to the concert walking a dog in the building, so chances are good they did.

At least they were having fun. “I had a great day here in Winnipeg. I can’t wait to see y’all tomorrow!” Gomez tweeted Thursday on her Twitter account.

The crowd of young Gomez fans waving fluorescent signs with slogans like “Selena you rock,” and wearing homemade T-shirts were having a good time Friday, too, as the 19-year-old actress/pop star delivered a 80-minute set of feel-good dance-pop that was catchy enough to get parents bobbing their heads and inoffensive enough they had nothing to worry about in the lyrics department.

Gomez did get her start on Barney & Friends, after all, before moving on to star in the Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place.

It was a young crowd, but they were a loud crowd — their lungs may be small, but put thousands of them together and they can drown out any P.A. system.

As crazy as the fans were, the merchandise booths were equally insane before the show, as parents and fans lined up far down the concourse for $10 glow-sticks, $25 programs, $15 posters and $20 tote bags. Let’s see, 1,000 glow-sticks at $10 a pop = a good reason to start investing in the glow-stick industry.

But it appeared it wasn’t all going into Gomez’s pocket: Between the opening acts, a video of Gomez asking people to support her charity, UNICEF, was shown.

And it was apparent some money was put into the production. This was a high-tech show with five video screens, a dazzling light display, a semi-circular staircase leading to a ramp and a short stage extension.

Following a video introduction of scenes of a young Gomez growing up, she rose from the back of the stage decked out in a sparkling ball gown on a ramp behind her four-piece band, the Scene, and two backup vocalists. The arena erupted in screams as she emerged and launched into the electro-pop title track of her second album, 2010’s A Year Without Rain, and hooked up with four dancers for some choreographed moves.

The mid-tempo R&B-flavoured Hit the Lights and slinky Round & Round were next up before she slowed things down with the ballad The Way I Loved You and We Own the Night.

“So far, it sounds like you are the loudest crowd in Canada,” the 19-year-old cutie said after the second song, earning a huge roar of high-pitched screams. “So tonight is our night. We can do whatever we want together. And before I go farther, I’d like to congratulate you for getting the Jets back.”

Yes, that earned a cheer, too.

The show stayed upbeat with dance-oriented pop like When the Sun Goes Down, Intuition, Falling Down and Middle of Nowhere, which had the kids dancing and clapping, including my four-year-old niece, Emily Soares, whom I used as a gauge since this show was aimed squarely at her age range (not including parents, the average age was somewhere around 8).

She finished her 70-minute main set with Naturally before returning with Who Says, an uplifting number about believing in yourself with the lines, “Who says you’re not perfect?” followed by a speech about how everyone was beautiful, no matter what anyone says.

Told you she was positive. She even ended with a cover of Pilot’s 1974 single Magic, with the whole crowd singing along to the chorus “Oh ho ho, it’s magic you know,” as confetti shot out of cannons.

There were no real tricks during the concert, but it was magic for her young fans. What more could you ask for? Well, except maybe Bieber.

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca