Shawn Mendes concert experience

*If you’re after a more recent concert experience, you can read my Shawn Mendes VIP concert experience here. I’m talking all about meeting the man himself!

When I heard the short clips of Shawn Mendes singing on Vine for the very first time, I had goosebumps. It was as if his voice struck a chord with me (pun not intended), I fell in love with his tone, his voice and how passionate he was and still is for his music. I knew from that moment that I wanted to see him live one day and I finally got what I was hoping for last month when I saw the man himself perform at Manchester Arena.

This post is another one that’s a part of Holly and I’s #SeeingThroughSightLoss series. We love documenting our experiences and memories on our blogs therefore we couldn’t let the opportunity to write this post pass by.

I am very excited to write about my experience as this is a night that I definitely won’t ever forget and I’m glad that I can share this experience with you here on my blog.

The Illuminate world tour was announced back  in September and when I heard  that Shawn would be performing in Manchester, I got a bit too excited. I mentioned it to Holly and we both agreed we’d try to buy tickets and we were lucky in the sense that we got a pair.

April seemed like a lifetime away but it finally came around and on the 28th, Holly and I made our way to Manchester with both our mums in order to attend the concert.

This was my first time attending a concert so I was both very excited but also quite anxious as I didn’t know what to expect. I had pre-booked assistance at Manchester Arena as our mums weren’t coming with us to the concert itself and we thought it would be a great way of gaining independence as two blind people.

When we arrived at the arena, we explained the fact that we’re both vision impaired and have pre-booked assistance and this was given to us without any hassle which I was impressed by. The assistants took us to our seats and warned us before we went into the arena that it would be very dark. I can’t fault the assistance we received, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is in need of assistance who’s wanting to attend a concert/show at Manchester Arena, the service we received couldn’t have been better in my opinion.

The concert kicked off with Shawn’s support act, James TW, who had an incredible voice. I think he’ll definitely be one to watch in the future, his music was amazing.

Shawn came on stage following a half hour intermission and the entire arena went absolutely crazy as I’m sure you can imagine. The first song he performed was ‘There’s nothing holding me back’ which is one of my favourites at the moment. Holly and I both recorded bits and pieces of the concert as we thought it would be the perfect way to relive the night.

Here’s a few clips of my favourite songs that Shawn performed.

There was one point during the show when everyone screamed even louder than they had been and everyone stood up on their chairs and turned to face the crowd rather than the stage. Holly and I had no idea what was going on at this point since we both can’t see, #BlindGirlProblems,  but a girl who was sitting in front of us kindly told us that he had gone into the crowd and that everyone had turned around.

Every single song he performed was absolutely incredible, I’d say that he sounds even better live, I couldn’t fault him one bit and I would most definitely go see him in concert again.

I was in awe of his talent and the passion he has for his music. There were very touching moments during the show which made the experience so much more personal. There was something so authentic about the whole entire night.

The show lasted about an hour and a half which went very quickly. Shawn closed the show by singing Treat You Better which was incredible once again. He sounds so passionate about his music and when he sings, I really admire that about him.

Once Shawn went off stage the assistance was there waiting for us to take us back to the entrance to meet our parents. I think we were both quite surprised that he turned up straight away as we expected we’d have to wait a while but that wasn’t the case at all and it definitely put our minds at ease. Having such reliable assistance there to help us definitely made the experience more enjoyable.

We returned to our hotel after the concert and reflected on our experience and had a catch up which was really nice.

On the following day we went back to the arena and took some photos there as we love to keep pictures as memories and as we don’t see each other very often due to the distance, we always love having photos taken for the memories.

We had to say goodbye again mid-afternoon and return home which is always difficult for us to do since living so far apart from your best friend is never fun.

Despite the difficulty of saying goodbye, I have to say that particular weekend was one of the highlights of 2017 so far for me. It was my first ever concert and although I felt quite anxious before hand, I had an absolutely incredible experience and I am definitely looking forward to attending more concerts in the future.

I now love Shawn’s music even more than I did before, who knew that was possible? I just love how genuine he is, he’s so thankful to his audience and supporters and it was so lovely to experience the night with everyone else who love his music as much as Holly and I do.

Are you a fan of Shawn Mendes? What’s your favourite song by him?

Have you attended any concerts recently? If so, who did you go and see? Let me know in the comments as I would love to hear from you.

Elin x

Two years later and I MET the man himself! Read my Shawn Mendes VIP concert experience here.