Fans furious as Justin Bieber resorts to lip-syncing during maiden concert in Mumbai
Justin Bieber performing in Mumbai. Picture Courtesy: India.com
A number of Justin Beiber’s fans, many of whom had paid thousands of rupees to watch his first ever concert in Mumbai, were left furious and disappointed after discovering that the pop sensation was lip-syncing some of his songs.
The 23-year-old singer, who was in India as part of the Asia leg of his Purpose World Tour, is believed to have left the country, contrary to reports that he would visit New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra.
Dressed casually in a white t-shirt and black shorts, the 23-year-old Canadian singer made a stunning entry to the stage and kick-started his concert with his chart topping number “Mark My Words” from his latest album “Purpose”.
The track was followed by “Where Are You Now”, for which the singer was joined by backup dancers.
Director Anurag Basu, amongst the many thousands who packed into the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai yesterday evening with his daughter, a huge Bieber fan, said the “Cold Water” singer was “not prepared”.
“I would have been happy if he would have sung all songs live. He only sang four songs live. An artist of his calibre should sing live. He was not prepared,” Basu told news agency PTI.
Another fan at the event said, “I attended Coldplay’s concert and I think that was much better than this. Justin’s performance was low on energy and the worst part was he was lip-syncing to many of his songs.”
A couple who had flown in from Pune and paid Rs 36,000 per pass said Bieber’s lip-syncing was quite a turn-off. “It’s quite clear that he is not singing these songs,” the husband said.
Bharti Mamgain, a banker who accompanied her 10-year-old daughter Ria to the show, was equally upset. “I wish I had not paid a bomb for this awful concert.”
While his guitar performance for “Cold Water” met with a thunderous response, the Canadian singer faced huge flak on social media for his lip-syncing and relatively uninspiring stage presence, which made many question the exorbitant ticket price.
“Bieber was so bad it was hilarious. He had the stage presence of khichdi. Plus kaafi lip sync. (Lucky that my tickets were free :D),” AIB comic Ashish Shakya said on Twitter.
“I’ve never seen an artist give that many 0 fucks in my life. If you’re going 2 lip sync, atleast attempt 2 sync your lips #JustinBieberIndia,” wrote comic Kaneez Surka.
Taking a jibe at Bieber’s hit “Sorry”, a user wrote, “So Justin Bieber was lip syncing… Is it too late to say sorry now?”
“People paid 76K for seeing Justin lip sync to his own songs. Like seriously? #JustinBieberIndia #JustinBieberIndia,” added a Twitter user.
“Is it me that feels like Justin bieber did dubsmash for 75000 rupee ticket. (only lip syncing) #JustinBieberIndia,” tweeted another.
Fortunately for Bieber, who is no stranger to online hate, his legion of loyal fans came to his rescue. Seemingly, most of them either expected the signer to lip-sync some songs or just didn’t care about it.
Bieber’s performance started around 8 pm, several hours after fans had gathered in the stadium. He was on stage for for over one-and-half hours, singing hit numbers like “Baby”, “Sorry”, “No Sense”, “Company”, “No Pressure” and “Hold Tight”.
Bollywood bigwigs, including Sridevi, Boney Kapoor, Shweta Bachchan Nanda, Malaika Arora, Arbaaz Khan, Raveena Tandon and Arjun Rampal, were spotted at the venue with their children.
With PTI inputs
