March 10, 2014

Demi Lovato Neon Lights Tour

Sunday night Demi Lovato brought her Neon Lights tour to the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, CT for the second night in a row. I had a bit of a falling out with Demi, so to speak, so I was moreso going to this tour to see the opening acts – from The XFactor – Fifth Harmony and British Girl Group – Little Mix.  I was also pretty excited to see that Collins Key from this past season of America’s Got Talent would be on the tour as well.

When I got to my seat there was already a DJ on the stage – Cole Plante – who was spinning all the typical songs. (Although I swear he played Katy Perry’s Dark Horse at least 5 times throughout the night).  Around 7, Collins came out and had on a black t-shirt under his jacket and said he had the wrong shirt on, turned around and ended up doing some sort of quick change into a Demi t-shirt.  His catch phrase now seems to be “NO WAAY!” Which I thought was a little bit juvenile (although I guess the crowd was a bit younger than me) and the fact that he kept asking us to say it – rather than amazing us to the point that we wanted to say it on our own got to be a little obnoxious.   He came back out during each of the breaks to do more magic with volunteers from the audience. Most of it was what he had already done on AGT.

Next up was Fifth Harmony – they were good and had a lot of crowd interaction, but I must be old because I thought their outfits were a bit much. Or rather, not much… clothing. At one point, Normani ran off stage. I thought something might have been going on with her top. Based on the tweets after the show – it seemed like I was right and her shirt was falling off so she ran off to get it fixed.

Little Mix was the next act and they were the ones I was most interested in seeing and they did not disappoint. They had 4 dancers with them as well as themselves and had a lot of great energy and even did 1 song entirely a cappella.

Then it was time for Demi! One thing I didn’t like though was how long the wait was after Collins left the stage (at about 845) and Demi taking the stage (close to 930).  If the stage was being set up between acts while Collins was distracting us – why did we have to sit around so much longer? (Although at that point I was pretty over Collins Key so I wouldn’t have wanted to see more of him)

Demi started her set out with Heart Attack. I had been counting songs because I knew that if Nick Jonas was going to come out to sing with her (like he did the 2 nights previous) he’d be coming out around song 6. But then she completely jumped from what I thought was the setlist over about 4 songs.  In addition to Nick not being there, Demi was sick so she cut the setlist down a bit. I was a bit disappointed with the shorter set – but if she was going to lose her voice and sing like crap for those extra songs – it was probably better that she did what she needed to do and cut out some of the songs.

The main set was 12 songs, with a 2 song encore.  For the last song of the main set – Neon Lights – we had been instructed to download her app. It is from Mobile Roadie, who also does the Hanson app. Fortunately my phone had enough space to install it (it’s been picky about those types of things lately!) and I figured I’d see what happens with it and how it is “interactive” during the show. It has what is called “Wham City Lights” and if you point the phone to the stage, it changes color and then when Demi gets to the chorus it gets the flash on the camera to blink along with the song. It was really neat and I’m glad I downloaded to check it out and see how it worked!

Read More

Book Review: Hobbit Lessons

hobbit

Hobbit Lessons could also be titled “Everything I Need To Know About Life, I Learned From The Hobbit”.  The author Devin Brown talks a bit about how The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books changed his life on a family vacation that he thought was going to be boring.  Instead he took a trip with Bilbo and friends. And learned a lot.  He breaks down some great life lessons that he learned from the books and explains how they relate to the books.  The end of each chapter kind of breaks down things one more time.

I’ve never read The Hobbit – I faked it in high school when we were supposed to read it for class – but I have seen all the Lord of the Rings movies and was familiar with what he was talking about.  But if you’ve never read the books or seen the movie or know anything about the series at all and are just looking for some great life lessons – I think that the book has enough information in it for you to follow along and not be confused and at the end of the day it’s the lessons that are the most important anyway.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

 

Hobbit Lessons

About the Book
For generations, The Hobbit has been loved and shared by readers who thrilled to the challenges faced by the band of fourteen. Most didn’t realize, however, that some of life’s greatest lessons could be learned by going along on that journey. Discover these and other exiting truths from Bilbo Baggins journey—without the danger of being eaten by a dragon:

· When adventure comes knocking, let it in (even if it makes you late for dinner)

· Have Your Friends’ Back (someone has yours)

· Be Fond of Waistcoats, Pocket Handkerchiefs and Even Arkenstones (Just Don’t Let Them Become Too Precious)

Tolkien scholar Devin Brown teases out the lessons Tolkien has woven into his timeless story in a way that becomes a story in itself. For those new to The Hobbit or long-time fans, this will bring the book and movies alive in a new way and provide life lessons about loyalty, selflessness, friendship, and dedication—lessons as precious as a golden ring.

Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com