Going into a Shawn Mendes concert, I was apprehensive. Big stadium boy-and-his-guitar pop stars are rarely interesting and almost never original. Mendes, second only to Ed Sheeran in popularity within the archetype, proved the truth of the second but found it in himself to bring a degree of excitement to the newly rechristened PPG Paints Arena. Pulling out the electric guitar to rip through a few tracks from sophomore album Illuminate, Mendes proved to have at least one mode outside of soulful crooning. Having no knowledge of the songs previously, little jumped out at me, and I felt no need to throw on Illuminate on the ride home. That said, maybe Shawn Mendes doesn’t need a high school writer on assignment from his high school newspaper to go home and listen to his records after a show, and maybe he doesn’t need to make you feel like you’re missing out by not listening further. Maybe Shawn Mendes exists to entertain and nothing more, which is in some respects a noble goal, and he pulls it off, for the most part avoiding boredom (excepting a long series of ballads in the middle part of the set). Shawn Mendes isn’t Radiohead, Shawn Mendes isn’t Metallica, Shawn Mendes isn’t Kanye West. He fits into a very fine mold that has and will always prove to be popular. One can’t help but feel that if you were interested in this, you may as well have waited a month and seen Ed Sheeran instead.

Mendes fits remarkably well into that popstar mold, handling himself effortlessly while navigating through his two albums’ worth of material without a trace of naturality to be found in the proceedings. There was little stage banter, but when it did come it was demonstrably effective on the overwhelmingly young and female crowd. The feeling that the exact same words were said at the exact same time every night was difficult to shake, but the impact of that on the show is negligible. I think I speak for both myself and my compatriot, fellow staff writer Joseph McShea, when I say that while Mendes puts on a good show, he doesn’t capture the attention of an outside viewer, and provides nothing below surface level. Any fan of his would certainly enjoy the live experience, but to those unfamiliar (such as ourselves), there was little of interest to take away. Coming at it from the perspective of those who love the music and the man that is Shawn Mendes, the crowd around us and especially below on the floor were clearly enjoying themselves to a fantastic degree, and in the end, that’s what really matters.

The verdict? While not shattering your perception of what music is or what it stands for, Shawn Mendes will keep you satisfactorily entertained for two hours, although he accomplishes very little more than that. If you love his music and want to see it formed competently and at times energetically, you’ll by all means enjoy the show. If not, this is not the one to splurge for.

All concert tickets and opportunities are provided by Moxie: Bringing Music to Schools since 1997.