Pitbull
SunFest, West Palm Beach
May 6, 2012
Better than: Not hearing Pitbull say dale.
Mr. 305 brought his notorious Miami flavor and fast-paced rhymes Sunday to the Bank of America stage at SunFest in West Palm Beach. Pitbull, who has been a staple in the South Florida hip-hop scene since 2004, took the stage promptly at 3 p.m. decked out in a tailored black suit, dress shoes, and sunglasses that we can only guess were exceptionally uncomfortable in the nearly 90-degree heat. But this is one of Pitbull's most endearing qualities. He shows up looking dapper for the crowd.
The temperature didn't appear to bother the thousands of eventgoers who flooded the lawn awaiting Pitbull's performance on Sunday, at least not at first. It was a sea of sweaty, sunburned, and scantily dressed fans, some holding signs that read "DALE!," the Spanish term of encouragement and flattery that is ever-present in many, if not all, of Pitbull's songs.
He opened the show with his hit featuring the God of Auto-Tune T-Pain's track "Hey Baby." Then the cameraman panned to a young lady at the front of the audience whose sign read "Pitbull I want to lick your face." Uh, what? Gross!!!
The crowd was immediately brought out of its sun coma when the
superstar began spitting his rhymes. The crowd seemed to know that the only
way to get through the day was to play along, even if it meant rubbing
sweaty arms with the hairy man beside them. Everyone jumped around
wildly in unison as the Cuban-American rapper samba-ed, ramba-ed, and
shimmied across the stage.
During the interludes between songs
like "I Like How It Feels" and "International Love," Pitbull's live
band (including bongo drums and saxophone) played snippets from other
famous songs like Lenny Kravtiz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way," "Smells
Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, and a tribute to Guns N' Roses with "Sweet
Child o' Mine." Pitbull rocked the eff out on the air drums during the
interludes, but it was noticeably bizarre, to say the least, since most
of his music has nothing to do with any of those genres.
We
think the audience might have agreed with that sentiment, as audible
sighs and grunts swept the crowd when each song was cut short. It didn't
help that the rapper was a bit unenthused in terms of hyping up the
crowd. The occasional "Let's hear it, West Palm Beach!" was thrown out
there, which helped and all, but the crowd eventually seemed to lose its
fire, leaving only die-hard brown-leather-bag-tanned locals awkwardly
moving their hips and clapping their hands not always to the beat.
In
fact, when a man dressed as the iconic Captain Morgan, the liquor brand
that sponsored the event, took the stage before Pitbull, the people
went wild. The Captain and his wenches launched free T-shirts into the
crowd from a T-shirt gun, and the people totally ate it up. It's like
they'd never seen a T-shirt before, which many of them were lacking in
the first place, so maybe they hadn't. We're not entirely sure, but it's
safe to say that it's really insane what people do for free stuff, even
if it's crap.
When Mr. Morgan left the stage, the audience was
at its wildest, which on a scale of one to ten was about a 6.5. What really
made the show difficult to get through was the sun at SunFest. Don't get
us wrong; we know that's part of the deal at music festivals, but the
lack of shade and unrelenting sun was just too painful, and a bottle of
low-shelf Dasani water cost just under $5. It took about ten minutes to
navigate through the sticky mass of bodies to find a spot or two open
underneath a tree at the back of the park.
Pitbull's set
lasted just over an hour, and he played his numerous hits like "Shut It
Down" featuring Akon, "Rain Over Me" featuring Marc Anthony,
"Watagatapitusberry," and club jammer "I Know You Want Me." Many of the
tracks Mr. Worldwide, Mr. 305, Mr. Miami AKA Armando Perez performed
featured other artists who weren't present, which was a little annoying.
As a person who really enjoys the concert experience, it's
disappointing that it felt like we were listening to the radio -- in
direct sunlight, surrounded by a mob of drunken, sweaty masses at 3
o'clock on a Sunday afternoon.
The upside, you ask? Watching
Pitull on the JumboTron screen closest to us, where his gyrations and
pelvic thrusts were showcased for all to see -- every single bit.
Critic's Notebook:
Random thought:
If you're going to take off your shirt, sir, you should have trimmed
that Afro of back hair. On that same note, nipples are most offensive
when they're not involved in nourishing an infant. Sweaty, hairy man
nipples = eww.
Random thought two: Arepas are the shit.
Random thought three: More
alcohol tents than water, none of which you could stand under to beat
the heat, is a problemo. Way to promote drunkenness and not make it easy
to rehydrate. We think the folks at SunFest should reevaluate this for
the future or at least throw a few pop-up tents on the lawns to provide
some refuge from the intense heat.
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