"Shawn Mendes the Tour" - Chicago

By Zoe JacquatOn the evening of June 28th, Shawn Mendes performed his second show in Chicago, as part of “Shawn Mendes The Tour”.As fans entered the Allstate Arena they were handed Flow boxed water, which is recyclable and made with sustainable packaging. Flow boxed water is part of an initiative with the Shawn Mendes team and REVERB an environmental group that helps to lessen environmental waste on the tour.Shawn and his team took part in “tour greening” which implements the use of local food catering, green cleaning products, sustainable waste disposal and more. For the first fifty guests they handed out reusable Nalgene water bottles that had the logo on it, they also provided refillable water stations for some shows as well.Even the light up bracelets had the environment in mind. These particular bracelets called the X2’s were designed by the company PixMob. They are made from recyclable materials and the bracelets can be collected and reused. However, I found there was no collection boxes by my exit of the venue though I know that many fans would keep them anyways.Still, A for effort Shawn Mendes! Knowing that he sung a part in Little Dicky’s song “Earth” It makes sense that he is staying consistent with his values and using his influence to make a difference.As for the show itself, lighting and set design are a noticeable part of what makes a Shawn Mendes concert so entertaining.For two tours now, the stage design has featured both a main stage and a B stage. During the Illuminate Tour in 2017, there was a large globe that had images projected onto it that changed colors. This tour, the B stage features a giant glowing flower sprouting from the center. These special touches were done courtesy of set and production designer Nathan Paul Taylor and Creative director Paul Caslin.On this particular stage Shawn started off the set on piano by playing a cover of Whitney Houston’s “ I Wanna Dance With Somebody”, He continued the set with “Because I Had You”, “Patience” and “When Your Ready”. He stood up from the piano to then play “Like to Be You”, finishing the set with “Ruin”.The nice thing about having the two stages is that, if your willing to fend off other fans and security to nab a spot on the barricades, the payoff is great.On the main stage there were three screens, rotating silhouetted colorful images and real time footage of Shawn and his band performing. The visuals and video content were created by .Lightborne, Treatment, Sturdy and Paul CaslinLighting design for this tour was done by Louis Oliver, who has done other projects for artists including, CHVRCHES and Camila Cabello.These visuals added flavor to songs like “Nervous” which displayed a montage of flowers going along with his theme for this tour.The additional screens and visuals add to the overall experience.You’ve been there, standing in the nosebleeds of a concert not being able to see anything, and straining your eyes trying to get a glimpse of a singular artist on stage. In this case however the combination of visuals and lighting (Including the bracelets) make for a nice way for everyone to enjoy the show.There was a healthy mix of songs from his sophomore album Illuminate and his most recent 2018 self titled album - Shawn Mendes.The show kicked off with a single off the new album “Lost In Japan”. “Senorita”, being his latest release, was coupled with a performance of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” followed by “Mutual”. Of course he played “Stitches” which, fun fact, was on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 52 weeks and has over 590 million streams on Spotify.The evening was memorable, with well done set production and amazing performances. One memory that will always stand out for fans is how Shawn gets to and from the B stage each night. With Security deflecting fans and Shawn and his videographer Connor Brashier following behind, they successfully make the olympic level 200 meter dash to and from the main stage every night. Adding a layer of athleticism to the performance.