\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\tShawn Mendes performs at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorgan Winston for Rolling Stone<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tHe performs \u201cNever Be Alone,\u201d from his 2015 debut Handwritten<\/em>, and it feels retroactively tailored to that connection. \u201cWhen you miss me, close your eyes,\u201d he sings. \u201cI may be far, but never gone.\u201d He pairs the song with footage from throughout his career. It lingers a while on clips from when he was a bright-eyed 17-year-old teen pop hitmaker.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s not a surprise that fans showed up in such an exalting capacity for Mendes. Most of the songs he performs have billions of streams and it\u2019s hard to resist a greatest hits show, especially one with a medley of \u201cTeach Me How to Love\u201d and \u201cLost in Japan.\u201d But even \u201cIsn\u2019t That Enough\u201d and \u201cHeavy,\u201d songs from Shawn <\/em>that stalled out, feel just as essential to his catalog here \u2014 so does \u201cWhy Why Why,\u201d it\u2019s not one of his most notable hits, but it\u2019s remarkable live. They serve as an apt reminder that, despite what the constant churn of the pop machine may suggest, it\u2019s alright to go away for a while.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tLast weekend, on this same stage at Forest Hills, singer-songwriter Lola Young<\/a> collapsed<\/a> during her set at All Things Go. She\u2019d made it through four songs before her performance abruptly ended, the crowd buzzing with shock. She likely planned to close her set with \u201cMessy,\u201d her breakthrough single that endured a viral run earlier this year. It\u2019ll be some time before she performs it again. \u201cI\u2019m going away for a while,\u201d Young wrote in a statement announcing that she would be indefinitely cancelling future appearances. \u201cI really hope you\u2019ll give me a second chance once I\u2019ve had some time to work on myself and come back stronger.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tThere\u2019s a sadness to her uncertainty, this implication that her eventual return will in some way be conditional. It isn\u2019t unfounded. Even the most well-meaning fans can be fickle and entitled at times, especially when someone else\u2019s emotions are viewed merely as a means of accessing, or escaping, their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tLast year, Chappell Roan cancelled her appearances<\/a> at All Things Go, telling fans, \u201cThings have gotten overwhelming over the past few weeks and I am really feeling it.\u201d The response online was less than compassionate. Some questioned what could be so difficult about getting on a stage and singing some songs, others suggested that she was unraveling all of the progress she\u2019d made in her career thus far. This sense of musical object impermanence is tied directly to the kind of preemptive doubt that Young expressed, and that Roan was effectively threatened with.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tShawn Mendes performs at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, New York.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorgan Winston for Rolling Stone<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tEarly in his set, Mendes interrogates this idea on \u201cMonster,\u201d his duet with Justin Bieber. \u201cSpill my words and tear me down until there\u2019s nothin\u2019 left,\u201d he sings. Later, he takes on Bieber\u2019s verse, sharpening the cadence. \u201cI was fifteen when the world put me on a pedestal\/I had big dreams of doin\u2019 shows and making memories.\u201d The record highlights the parallels between their careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe more veteran pop singer\u2019s relationship with touring began unraveling long before the collaboration was released in 2020. Bieber made it through more than 150 shows on the Purpose <\/em>World Tour between before cancelling the remaining dates. \u201cI want my career to be sustainable, but I also want my mind, heart, and soul to be sustainable,\u201d Bieber said at the time<\/a>. When he returned with the Justice <\/em>World Tour<\/a> in 2022, he made it through nearly 50 shows before cancelling the remaining 80. His grand return will come at Coachella<\/a> next year. Some fans are skeptical that they\u2019ll be walking into a repeat of Frank Ocean\u2019s 2023 Coachella appearance<\/a>. Still, they\u2019re willing to take the risk to hear Swag<\/em> live, and hopefully a few My World 2.0 <\/em>cuts.<\/p>\n \n\tEddie Benjamin, who collaborated closely with Bieber on the Swag <\/em>albums, opened the show for Mendes. <\/strong>At 23, he\u2019s getting a crash course in touring from a more settled version of Mendes, 27 now. It\u2019s a positive contrast to the perspective his previous opening acts gained. \u201cI remember being on tour with Shawn and seeing what it\u2019s like when you get to that next level \u2014 and it scared the fucking shit out of me,\u201d the Australian singer-songwriter Ruel, who opened for Mendes in 2019, recently told Rolling Stone<\/em><\/a>. \u201cIt definitely did not inspire me to be like, \u2018Fuck, I want to sell arenas.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tOver the past few years, we\u2019ve witnessed a generation of artists recalibrate their relationship with the idea of pop stardom that they\u2019d been sold. As it turns out, it doesn\u2019t have to be grueling, or exhaustive.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tLike his For Friends and Family Only Tour, Mendes kept the On the Road Again Tour limited, with only 20 dates scheduled. Coincidentally, the run shares a name with One Direction\u2019s final tour. Their On the Road Again Tour ran for 77 dates in the span of nine months in 2015. Zayn Malik quit the band a month into the stadium trek. It took him nearly 10 years before he was ready to be on a stage again for his own headlining solo tour. Next year, Malik is setting his sights on a Las Vegas residency, not too far off from his bandmate Harry Styles\u2019 five-city Love on Tour residencies. They\u2019re all figuring out what works best for them.<\/p>\n \n\tFor his final song of the night, Mendes settles at the piano for \u201cIn My Blood,\u201d his figure slightly obscured in darkness. \u201cHelp me,\u201d he sings. \u201cIt\u2019s like the walls are cavin\u2019 in.\u201d He doesn\u2019t spend long there. It\u2019s too far from the crowd. Grabbing his guitar, he gets closer to them, crying out, \u201cSometimes, I feel like givin\u2019 up\/But I just can\u2019t\/It isn\u2019t in my blood.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
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