SANTIAGO, Chile — The screams started early, like around 1 PM, a full eight hours before Justin Bieber took the stage at the Estadio Nacional on Saturday night. Actually, they started well before that, like on Friday morning, when the first throngs of True Beliebers began setting up camp on the street outside, passing the hours chanting, singing ("Baby" was a particular favorite), and, of course, screaming. Always screaming.
If you've ever attended a Bieber concert, you know what I'm talking about. His fans, young and overwhelmingly female, seem incapable of containing their excitement, and as such emit a particular high-pitched squeal, one that is near constant (though it tends to flare up every so often, like whenever a car with tinted windows drives by, or when Justin bobs his shoulders just so). But on Saturday night in Chile, things seemed to have been taken to another level — by my estimation and according to several folks in his inner circle — because not only were the screams incredibly loud, and constant, but there was a general level of insanity that bordered on, well, insane.
Make no mistake about it, Chile was ready for some Justin Bieber. His face was shown on national news every hour on the hour, his fans shut down the W Hotel (thanks to a report that he was staying there on Friday night, despite the fact he didn’t arrive in the country until Saturday), and 55,000 packed inside the Estadio to catch his show … with several thousand more listening from the streets. Vendors hawked JB headbands and glossy photos, homemade hats and bootleg T-shirts. There were phalanxes of police, angry-looking German Shepherds, trucks festooned with riot-gear finery, and so many security guards milling about that you might’ve thought Barack Obama was in town. It was a very big thing. Read More...
Tags Concerts, Justin Bieber
