Beliebers' faith tested at venue

He came, he performed, and he conquered 15-year-olds' hearts. The crowd wasn't complaining, but Justin Bieber started the Mumbai leg of his 'Purpose World Tour' lip-syncing — yes, lip-syncing! — dressed in a white tee and black shorts, with a black hand towel handy to wipe the sweltering May sweat off his brow.

At the end of the concert, the litter strewn around DY Patil Stadium was symptomatic of the gig's production level, which was garbage. The traffic leading into Navi Mumbai was a nightmare. The sound quality at the show was anything but world-class. The positioning of the food and beverage stalls was literally all over the place, security was minimal, dustbins were absent, as were signages and medical assistance, despite the heat.

The worst of all was that the star himself seemed to pander to the crowd with a few cursory salutations and mostly lip-synced songs. So all in all, the people who paid good money for their tickets, some reportedly to the tune of over Rs 70,000, could be justified in feeling immensely let-down.

There were only a couple of moments for which Bieber stopped lip-syncing — he picked up the guitar for Cold Water, and then sang his signature acoustic song, Love yourself, in front of a swooning, mostly teenage audience.

The hand towel, though, was never far away. He picked it up again as soon as he was done with the guitar and used it as a dance prop as he went back to lip-syncing for Company.

P.S.: Bieber was also supposed to stay for a 'very select' party to be held Wednesday night. Instead, The Bieber cancelled the party and reportedly chose to fly out shortly after the concert.