I'm a Belieber!

Justin Bieber is a phenomenon! But before you judge me, let me qualify my claim…

He is an extraordinary performer, has an amazing voice, the ability to churn out popular beats with lyrics that you can't explain why it's etched into your memory, some awesome collabs and an appeal to the fairer sex that ranges from toddlers to mature women.

The vibe in Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday, 8 May was nothing short of spectacular. I thought that Lady Gaga's Little Monsters were a force to be reckoned with and if that is the case then Beliebers are in an entire different league altogether.

People were queuing since 2am on Wednesday morning to ensure that they were the first people to enter the stadium. Clad in Justin Bieber emblazoned merchandise these Beliebers are renowned for having the mob mentality. But witnessing it first hand, the picture is not as sinister as people paint.

These girls love him, connect with him and his lyrics and he can do no wrong in their eyes. They know the words to every, single song and at some point their singing was so loud that despite standing in golden circle, to the right of the stage, and slap-bang in front of the speakers with the sound blaring, they managed to drown out Bieber. After every song I had to plug my ears because the shrill that emanates from their mouths are what I can only imagine the frequency of a dog’s whistle sounds like.

There were so many out-of-towners who flew in especially to see Justin. I stood close to two women who were from Joburg and attended because the one's four year old daughter is besotted with Bieber.

Unfortunately, she slept through most of the concert. But they mentioned that she'll be attending the Joburg leg of the Believe Tour on Sunday, 12 May at FNB Stadium as well.

There was a nine year old girl who was completely overwhelmed by the experience and cried throughout the concert. Because of the varying ages of Beliebers, many of their parents attended with them. There was a guy who held his child (who must have been about two years old) for the entire concert, testament to his amazing upper-body strength.

Despite international news reports preparing concert-goers for Bieber's delayed starts on his tour and Computicket's SMS claiming he'll only be on at 9:30pm, Justin appeared before nine and his entrance was preceded by a ten minute countdown on the big screen and an explosion of both sound and fireworks. I was struck by how "grown-up" Bieber has become.

He came out in a white vest, displaying his buffness and array of tats. His performance was reminiscent of the popular kid in school and his posse (his dancers are quite mature). Bieber's performance included lots of pelvic thrusts and crotch-grabbing and at some point he stripped off his vest and had his "tighty-whiteys" exposed.

Between songs, the YouTube footage of young Bieber that propelled his journey to fame played and the juxtaposition of the more mature-image Bieber is trying to portray is obvious. He is growing up fast! At 19, Bieber is struggling to break the mould of the "child-star" image his earlier performances and cds portrayed. He is definitely on a rebranding mission.

He opened with All Around the World from his third studio album Believe and his other number one hits, Boyfriend, As long as you love me and Beauty and a Beat had the audience swooning. Never Say Never and Baby are still among the favourites and this was evident by the crowd's response to his performance.

Bieber has an inspirational mantra and instils in his Beliebers the believe that they can achieve anything they set their mind to. The one aspiration I had after witnessing his performance is wanting to be a back-up dancer on his tour. I might have to fight off all the Beliebers for the spot!