Live Review: Jason Derulo, T.I., Austin Mahone, Pia Mia

Young blonde pocket rocket Pia Mia bursts onto the stage with her entourage of dancers in all white. Her exciting high-energy performance filled with booty shaking and catchy choruses is a great way to kick off the all-star line up of urban pop entertainment. Mia performs her second single Touch for the first time ever with powerful and emotional vocals. The bombshell beauty has us in the palm of her hand as she winds up the crowd with her breakthrough hit Do It Again.

The arena fills with the sound of screaming girls crazy as Austin Mahone confidently struts his moves to get all his young teenage fan “Mahomies” swooning over him. The first half of his performance was more about the dancing than vocals as he does some impressive back flips and moonwalks whilst trying to keep up with his backing track. He slows things down and picks up his acoustic guitar for his voice to shine  on his favourite Ed Sheeran song Thinking Out Loud and the infectious Mmm Yeah has him rapping along and acting out plenty of charming boy band moves.

Extra special guest Tim Omaji jumps in on the action to help out DJ Nino Brown mixing up a storm on the decks between the intervals.

Performing a mash up of his biggest hits including Parachute and Set It Off, he raises the roof with his soulful vocals and explosive hip-hop moves.

“The king is here!” rapper T.I. shouts out to his fans eagerly awaiting his first Australian performance. Representing his hustle gang he gives a solid performance and captures attention with sound effects of guns loading and shooting between each song – that’s a little alarming at first. He gives us a taste of his new stuff that’s packed with hard-hitting beats to vibrate to our core, but it’s his old tracks that get the biggest reaction including Whatever You Like and Live Your Life.

From the moment Jason Derulo begins with In My Head he barely stops to catch a breath. He powers through a high intensity performance of choreographed acrobatic dancing and soaring falsettos. It’s not just the average pop show – he brings twice the entertainment with great live vocals and smooth flowing moves. Hit after hit he smashes through his catalogue of infectious chart-topping pop songs that everyone can’t help but sing along to. Wiggle sees him land the splits and he moves his rubbery body dipping and popping around the stage whilst Marry Me shows off his more sensitive side.

He inspires us to release all the negativity with our creative minds for his sleek, mid-temp ‘80’s throwback Cheyenne as a cascade of sparkling fireworks fall for the final chorus and he rips off his shirt to show off his toned body. He continues to flirt with the ladies and promises that if they’re not single, then by the end of Riding Solo they will be.

His latest hit Want To Want Me is a fun way to end on a high but before departing the stage Derulo and his entourage make sure to leave his Melbourne fans with something special. As an encore of Pull Up strikes up we all join in to learn how to do the whippy dance like we’re driving a big ass truck along to a bouncy squealing break.