TL;DR: I bought a ticket to Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas' concert and it was amazing
This past Tuesday (July 12th), I went to the Prudential Center to see my idol, Demi Lovato, and my childhood crush, Nick Jonas. I'll be honest, I've been very frazzled lately with work and bought the tickets in November when they first came out, so this concert was the last thing on my mind. But, when the day came, I gladly made my way to the arena, and experienced the future (now).
When I first got there, I signed up for the "Cast Centers" experience, where a group of selected fans sit down in a conference room and listen to a speaker selected by both Demi and Nick. After waiting in about five lines from outside the VIP section, to inside outside the doors, to inside the plaza, to inside the concourse, to actually being outside the door to the event, we (about 70 people) sat down and waited for the speakers. I remember sitting next to the two other fans and looking behind us really quick, and we saw Demi Lovato literally standing 10 feet from the door on a segway and a black vintage t-shirt with jeans. I couldn't believe I was actually looking at her in person, but when I turned back, she sped away. Ten minutes after that, the event started, and Nick Jonas, Marissa (Demi's best friend) and Demi herself walked in! (their manager was also there, I'm telling you, this is a power squad here). Nick then stood up and talked a little bit about himself, and then went on to introduce the speaker, Peter Tunney (if you don't know this man, look him up: he directed Nick's Video "Jealous," and is an amazing artist). He spoke about his experience of being satisfied with what you won't have, and how it helped him get out of challenging situations he faced in his life. Before we left, Nick, Demi, and the others left the room and we followed suit after a brief Q&A session.
I then made my way to my seat, and the show then started. Mike Posner opened up, and though I was a big fan of his in high school, he still sounded amazing, like the live videos I used to listen to. Then Nick came out, singing "Levels" as an opener, and wowed the crowd with his instrumentals and amazingly improved vocals. His outfit was much less formal than the one he wore at the event, rather wearing regular jeans and a t-shirt than skinny jeans and a hoodie. His set primarily consisted of music from his new album, and I particularly enjoyed that the women sitting next to me knew his songs, as I only knew a few ("Champagne Problems" and "Bacon" are extremely underrated songs). He was pretty amazing though, and I loved his surprise act he brought out in honor of being back in his home state and "living only 15/20 minutes from Newark": Fat Joe and Remy Ma for "All The Way Up." Sadly, many people in the audience didn't know the song, but it was hilarious to see Nick jamming out to it while he took his place in the back of the stage, letting them have the spotlight.
Soon after Nick performed a few songs, he introduced Demi after dropping the beat from his song "Chains," where the trumpets began to blast with the intro to confident. Demi walked out, her silhouette outline glowing. I could feel tears coming down my face, and it was incredible to compare what she looks like in person (beautiful) to on stage (perfect). She, in her set, even threw a couple of throwbacks in, such as her ballad "Fix a Heart," and even her classic "Skyscraper." Her vocals didn't fail to impress as well. Compared to her fellow Disney starlets, Demi is known for having a powerful voice, and being an advocate for mental health as well as body positivity. Her message of being confident about yourself truly showed with her performance, as well as with her outfits. Hers were more performance wear than casual, and were much more flashy than Nick's, showing their contrasting personalities.
Nick's closing song was "Close," which he ended up dueting on with Demi after playing the piano music for Demi on "Stone Cold," one of her most raw and emotional songs so far. The amount of people that stood up and clapped for him when he was leaving was amazing, considering it was also his hometown show. Demi continued her set, though playing more mainstream songs, as well as her inspirational pieces. She ended it with an obvious hit for the season, "Cool For The Summer," and there wasn't a person in the room not singing and dancing to her, riding out the end of the concert. When it ended, I felt incomplete in a sense, probably because I had an amazing time and never would have expected to see both Demi and Nick Jonas in person together at the same time. It was incredible, and emotional for me at the same time, since I've practically grown up with these two people, their music, and being on Disney Channel.
Last BIG Reason why you should go see the show: GRAPHIC DESIGN
Something during the show that captured my eye more than the singers was the panorama background during the show. The two singers both had a different style for each of their graphics. Nick, for example, had more romantic and sexual songs, so his panorama was mostly black and white and had women primarily in it showing themselves, though one of the videos was a scan of a canyon and creek, also in black and white. Demi's set, however, had much more color in it; her song "Lionheart" had lions in complete color coming to the front of the screen in a sort of trippy way, and "Skyscraper" had a group of birds similar to her tattoo in a flying pattern against a changing solid background color. However, in the combined efforts of Demi and Nick during "Stone Cold" the screen was full of red roses, which, individually at different points in the song, turned black, until the background was completely black and white, at which point Demi left the stage and Nick began to sing again. It was amazing, and definitely helped to bring attention to the stage during the show.
Overall, I had an amazing time at the concert, and you should DEFINITELY make a plan during the rest of this year to catch the concert in a city near you!!
