By Michael Kinney
OKLAHOMA CITY- Pitbull has mastered the skill of bringing 100 percent energy every second he is on stage. From the moment he appears on stage for his opening set until he closes the night out, the Miami native gives everything to the fans.
That was the case Sept. 4 when Pitbull (Armando Christian Pérez) and his Can’t Stop Us Now Tour pulled into Oklahoma City. Joined by Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, the Grammy Award winning entertainer had more than 10,000 fans at the Paycom Center jumping and dancing for almost four hours.
“We came to party,” Pitbull screamed to fans. “Let’s party then.”
Photos by: Torrey Purvey
Pitbull, aka Mr. World Wide and Mr. 305, is in the midst of a 50 stop tour. This was the first time the chart-topping entertainer had played at the newly crowned Paycom Center.
Dressed in a skintight, full-body suit, Azalea, 32, opened the night and performed for more than an hour. Her set list of 14 songs included hits like “Kream,” “Work,” “Black Widow,” and “Problem.”
The opening spot was originally scheduled to belong to Sean Paul. He may join the show later in the year.
However, the fans at the Paycom didn’t seem to mind. Even though Pitbull wasn’t going on until later I the night, the arena was nearly full for Azalea’s entire performance.
Azalea closed her portion of the evening with her biggest song Fancy.” The hit was originally a duet with Charli XCX and reached No. 1 on the charts for seven consecutive weeks.
Before Pitbull performed, he made his way down into the arena and mingled with the fans. That only added to the excitement level.
“Music reminds you that we bleed the same blood and breathe the same air,” Pitbull told the spectators. “Music believes in only one race- The human race.”
When Pitbull finally did jump on stage, he was joined by dancers, electric guitarists, drummers and keyboardists.
Dressed in all black, Pitbull was already at level 10 intensity-wise as soon as the spotlight hit him for the first time. The fans could do nothing but be sucked into his whirlpool of energy and go along for the ride.
For almost every song, Pitbull had the spectators fully involved. The arena felt like it was shaking and rocking from all the times he had thousands of people jumping up and down.
Pitbull’s set list was comprised of 21 songs. That included the four that came during his encore. Some were performed in English while others were given the Latin language treatment.
Some of the biggest hits included “Can’t Stop us Now,” “Don’t Stop the Party” and “Timber.”
He ended the night with his first No. 1 hit, “Give Me Everything.”
The few times the energy level dropped below a five, came when Pitbull told stories. That included how he got his first big break in 2005 when he was asked to be part of a tour with Eminem, 50 Cent and Lil Jon.
The 41-year-old also doled out inspirational messages to young and old alike. As much as the music, Mr. World Wide wanted the fans to leave the concert with a memory of more than just a good time.
“In the 80s we didn’t have no phones that could take pictures or videos. The beautiful thing about the 80s, you could slip, you could fall, you could fail, you could lose, you could f***k up, and nobody would have took a picture or video of it and try to f***k up your whole life with it and put it up on the internet. I want to make sure you all know, that it’s ok to slip, it’s ok to fall, it’s ok to lose, it’s ok to fail. They are called mistakes. But see you don’t make mistakes, mistakes make you… When it comes to life, live life. Don’t let life live you.”
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