Everybody Be Hatin’

Austin Mahone invaded Baltimore last night, August 19, on Austin’s Live Tour. He brought along Fifth Harmony, The Vamps, and Shawn Mendes for the show.

Shawn kicked things off with a small 4 song set, with just him and his guitar. While Shawn sounded good he had a tendency to hide behind his guitar.

Fifth Harmony took the stage next and performed songs off their Better Together EP and their upcoming studio album, Reflection. The girls sounded great but the set seemed fairly manufactured and they did not appear to be fully comfortable on stage. There was one exception: Lauren Jauregui, she looked to be having the most fun. Since the group is still new my hope is with time they will become more confident so when they are headlining their own tour they are better able to rock the stage.

The Vamps followed the X Factor girl group and I was not impressed. The lead singer, Brad Simpson, was all over the stage, which is usually a good thing, but not in this instance. Brad seemed to forget to sing in to his mic and the band had a tendency to scream in to theirs rather than sing.

Finally the man everyone was waiting for took the stage. Austin and his dancers performed to a backtrack for the majority of his set, but when he was singing he sounded great. Austin used the stage to his advantage and worked it well but it would have been nice if he had interacted with the crowd a bit more. Austin also never welcomed fans to his tour (but that’s just is a pet  peeve of mine).

Hopefully as the tour rolls on the acts will be more interactive with the audience; talk to the crowd more, make them feel like they are involved in the show and not just bystanders. Definitely a fun show if you’re a fan of one of these acts and good effort from all involved.

Favorite performances: Austin’s “Mmm Yeah” and “Fifth Harmony’s “Miss Movin’ On”.