It was the reunion we all wanted and never saw coming- and last Saturday finally brought Big Time Rush back to Phoenix. Diehard fans of all ages got to live it big time at a sold out Arizona Financial Theatre.
Pop icon Spencer Sutherland and his golden voice opened the show and had the fans melting at his feet. His set was short but undeniably memorable (and who could ever get over that sultry cover of Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets”?). The gratitude to be onstage in front of such a large and receptive audience was written all over his face and he made good on a promise to come meet fans after the show, cementing him in the hearts of everyone in attendance.
Phoenix may have been over 30 stops into Big Time Rush’s Forever Tour, but the quartet emerged ready to blast off with “Windows Down”. Kendall Schmidt, Logan Henderson, James Maslow and Carlos Penavega found fame with their Nickelodeon show of the same name, but this reunion allowed them to branch out with new music while revisiting the songs we all love.
BTR has released several singles since their comeback and we got to experience all of them over the course of the night. They even dropped an unreleased banger on us and the entire crowd shuffle stepped to “Dale Pa’ Ya”. Nostalgia runs deep and we went right back to our middle and high school days when the band played “Halfway There”, “Stuck” and “No Idea”. Not for the last time that night, they also showered the stage during “Confetti Falling”.
An acoustic interlude had the band fully committing to the bit of both serious group reunited and goofy sitcom personalities with their choice of mashup covers before heading into the audience to pick the coveted spots for their “Worldwide” girls.
“We like a little bit of emotion, but mostly party”, Schmidt joked after the sweet but never saccharine moment was over.
BTR’s biggest song that never was got the star treatment when the boys launched themselves into the aisles to perform “Paralyzed” from atop the soundboard walls. They closed out with “If I Ruled the World” before re-emerging to the iconic opening notes of their show’s theme song- aptly titled “Big Time Rush”.
Every member of BTR might be happily taken, but they were our boyfriends for the night, dropping buckets of confetti on a joyful room. Big Time Rush is back- and here to stay- and on Saturday night, the city was theirs.
Check out all the photos from the show!
Story and photos by Olivia Khiel
