Saturday night I took my nine year old daughter Elli to the hell that was Justin Bieber’s sell-out concert at the irritatingly unfriendly E Center.---

The deafening screams of thousands of Bieber-infatuated young girls aside, Bieber’s workman-like hour-and-a-half-plus-performance was admirable for its precociousness if it not for overwhelming display of talent. With his apparently recently broken voice, he mined the dreams of pre-teens with an almost grim determination, at one point sailing across the audience in a metal heart while playing two acoustic numbers, at another spray painting on a wall 'love u girls.' Whose heart wouldn’t melt at such generalised devotion?

The pre-teen fans were forced by the E Center to leave their 'Marry me Justin' handmade posters at the door. The lack of personnel to help you find your seats in the dark was atrocious, not to mention having to pay $54 per ticket for views from the rafters and facing a $10 cash-only charge to park at the E Center. Talk about gouging.

When Bieber and support act Sean Kingston did Kingston's 'Eenie Meanie' the upper seats where I was next to my dancing princess shook unpleasantly to the rhythm of far too many pogoing girls. While I idly pondered how I would save my daughter if the platform collapsed, I also marveled at the cruel reality of pre-teen stardom. That song runs “Shawty [Bieber’s nickname] is an eenie meanie miney mo lova.’ So much for the days of undying fidelity circa-1980s shlock 'Endless Love.'

My daughter, of course, did not share my general disbelief at the Bieber circus. Here’s her review:

It was my first concert and I loved it. I sang along to every song and danced to them too. Justin’s nice and sings well. Two of my favorite songs are 'Eenie Meenie' and 'Never Say Never.' Sean Kingston was there too and I liked his music. I really liked when Justin was singing One less lonely girl and he pointed to lots of girls. Later on, he picked a random girl from the audience and he gave her flowers and sang to her and she was really lucky.

Elli Dark