M83 at Club Nokia

Demi Lovato at Club Nokia in Los Angeles: Concert Review

by Jason Tucker

Demi Lovato took over the intimate Club Nokia on Friday night and delivered an inspirational message to the sold out crowd, which included my six year old daughter and me. She’s the real concert reviewer tonight; I’m merely her plus-one. The show started with the song All Night Long, the band started rocking out and Demi was raised up from below the raised part of the stage. The first few notes of the song started, the crowd went wild. Demi came out in a black skirt dancing with some stiped shirt dancers wearing dress jackets with disco balls for heads. The crowd loved every minute of it. Got Dynamite started and the theme here was her being in jail, dancers carried prison bars making a jail cell around Demi after which she “breaks down the walls” as described in the song. Towards the end of the song the dancers were dancing with lit dynamite sticks.

Hands Up started with a skit where Demi and one of the male dancers drove in a car, she acting as passenger making a “getaway” as stated in the song. Lots of theatrics in this song harking back to her roots with Sonny with a Chance. By the end of the song the dancers were welding tactical rifles with lights on them. Catch Me & Don’t Forget was an acoustic song with lots of singing along from the audience. Part way she switches to an electric guitar showing that Lovato is the real deal as a  singer, pianist and able to play the guitar. Who’s That Boy After a costume change a skit in which the two female dancers acted like they were on a dating game show looking to set Demi up on a date with either a good looking guy or a nerdy guy. The good looking guy wins this round. You’re My Only Shorty Demi sings and dances with the winner of the previous song and at the end the nerdy guy comes in and decks him and walks off stage with Lovato.

Showing her range, Demi hits the stage again this time singing a bit slower song, My Love Is Like A Star. She blew through a few of her songs in a medley of Get Back, Here We Go Again and La La Land which was a crowd pleaser. After another costume change she came out and sang Lightweight one of her newer tracks. A bit of performance art here with her dancers dancing with each other dressed in fancy attire. One of which dressed in a vest holding an umbrella while huge holes in it. At the end it begins to rain and Demi is left on stage holding the broken umbrella. A piano is brought on stage for but before she plays Skyscraper she addresses the crowd with the following:

“Before I play this next song I just want to take a moment to thank all of you guys for everything for being there for me over the past year. I can’t tell you how many times I just wanted to give up and I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air; but I had to think of every single one of your faces and every single one of your letters and every single one of your posters and it just kept me going. And a lot of you guys say that I inspire you but its really you guys that inspire me, thank you so much. And if there is anybody out here tonight that doesn’t feel beautiful enough or doesn’t feel worthy enough, you’re wrong. Because all you guys are so incredible. And if you are dealing with any of the issues I’ve been through don’t be afraid to speak up because someone will be there for you. And if you think you are alone put on my music and I’ll be there for you.”

The crowd sings along to Skyscraper while Lovato plays on the piano, tears and sniffles are heard from many of her die hard fans in the crowd. The crowd gets excited for this one, she come out and states that she didn’t write this song but loves it, she begins singing Lil Wayne’s song How to love. She pretended to finish the night off with Together which got the crowd going, arms swinging and all around excitement. At the end of the song the room goes dark and inside the pit area you can see a cloaked person enter with security, I heard a few girls say “I wonder if it’s Justin (Bieber)” who unbeknownst to them was actually in the VIP area up stairs with Selena Gomez. The cloaked figure gets on the small platform and drops the cloak, its Demi and the audience in the pit realizes it and begin rushing the small plaform and sang Remember December. The room goes quiet again as shes escorted back on stage, various dancers in all black with flashlights rush the stage and start dancing as Lovato is brought back on stage for her encore and title track Unbroken which was welcomed by the crowd. After the concert we heard that Justin Bieber had given free reign to the Staples Center and watched Titanic with his girlfriend Selena Gomez after selling out his past three shows at the arena.