Bieber fever hits Vancouver as Justin plays Rogers Arena

Doting parents and screaming girls converged on Vancouver’s Rogers Arena Wednesday night as teen pop star Justin Bieber’s world tour touched down.

Thousands of giddy fans and their guardians stood in a plaza outside the arena in the afternoon to take part in impromptu dance-offs and fan art craft sessions. A throng of more than a thousand fervid Beliebers, as they’re known, rushed screaming toward one entrance after someone shouted that they had spotted the Ontario-born entertainer about an hour before doors opened.

Burly middle-aged chiropractor James McKee looked out of place, yet sported a wide smile as all around him Top 40 music thumped and prepubescent screams reached upper octaves.

A month ago McKee, 48, decided to buy tickets so that he, his three daughters and his girlfriend could see Bieber while on vacation from their home in Meadow Lake, Sask.

“I’m insane, but I’m a good dad,” McKee said as girlfriend Simone Opaleke nodded in agreement.

McKee threw his daughters “off the trail” when he had refused to buy them tickets to Bieber’s concerts in Edmonton and Saskatoon.

Jazmin, 11, Alexa, 13, and 6-year-old Paxton started “screaming, yelling and dancing,” when the couple told the trio at lunch Wednesday, Opaleke said.

McKee, like many parents asked outside the arena, said Bieber’s family-friendly image is something that broadens his appeal.

“He sure seems like a really good kid,” McKee said. “He’s just a good Canadian kid, there’s something about Canadian kids.”

Nearby, 15-year-old Aman Minhas agreed, but added that she was really there for “his music. His voice is like a little angel.”

Minhas and a group of girlfriends decked out in silver boas and sparkly shirts also conceded the singer’s face might have something to do with the frenzied crowds outside the arena.

Vendor Robert Torres praised the family-friendly crowd as he hocked $10 blinking plastic novelty glasses.

“It’s a wonderful atmosphere here,” Torres said. He estimated he had sold 150 pairs by 6:45 p.m.

Scalpers also rejoiced as they sold lower-bowl tickets for over $250 to desperate Beliebers.

When the Believe tour was announced this winter and the 24-date North American concert schedule did not include Vancouver, Beliebers were outraged. Predictably, his many rabid fans took to Twitter, and Bieber was swayed.

Many fans also said they were there to see hometown favourite Carly Rae Jepsen of Mission, whose catchy pop song, Call Me Maybe rocketed to the top of the charts earlier this year with the help of Bieber. Jepsen was expected to perform her massive hit as well as songs from her new album, Kiss, during her opening set.

Earlier this week in a Postmedia live chat, Bieber’s mother Pattie Mallette touched on her troubled upbringing in Stratford, Ont., and her newly published autobiography entitled Nowhere But Up .

Mallette was the victim of sexual abuse from the age of three years old. She also struggled throughout her teenage life with drugs and alcohol.

When she was only 17 years old, Mallette attempted suicide by throwing herself in front of a truck. As a result, she spent a stint in a mental ward.

Soon after being released she became pregnant with Justin.

“The first thing I thought when I became pregnant was that it wasn’t true! I didn’t believe it,” said Mallette. “I talk about it in the book and explained how fearful I was. I was just so young.”

As a single mother, Mallette worked part-time jobs, while raising her son on government assistance in low-income housing.

“We lived below the poverty level for years and I worked 2 and 3 jobs to put food on the table,” Mallette recalls.