A restless crowd gathered at Rod Laver Arena on Monday night (August 27, 2012) to catch a glimpse of Mr Worldwide and the star studded line up that joined him on his world tour “Planet Pit 2012” which included Taio Cruz and Australia’s own, Timomatic and Havana Brown.
Pitbull: Photo Ros O'Gorman
Unfortunately, Rod Laver Arena was quite empty when it bore witness to some crazy moves by Timomatic and his dancers. The ones who did attend were not disappointed and the performer didn’t seem to be either. The ex Australia’s Got Talent contestant was humbled and constantly assured his fans of his love and thanked them for supporting Australian artists. Timomatic introduced his new single, ‘Incredible’ which he described perfectly as a wedding song. The crowd were loving it, however his biggest responses came when he sang his singles, ‘If Looks Could Kill’ and ‘Set If Off’. Although the turnout for his performance was a little disappointing, everyone was on their feet during these songs before he said his last ‘peace out’ and finished his set.
DJ Havana Brown was next to take the stage and from the moment she walked out, the energy in the room shifted and everyone’s inner party animal was drawn out. Her entire set was completely explosive and she always managed to engage the audience whether she was throwing her fists in the air behind her decks or performing her singles along side her back up dancers. Even when a small malfunction with her headphones occurred she was still throwing her fists up and mouthing the words to every song. Her mix was a clever combination of recent Top 10 hits including songs by Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and LMFAO as well as some older tunes such as ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’ and ‘Jump Around’. One of her own songs she performed entitled ‘Big Banana’ definitely caught the attention of the men in the crowd, the choreography included a lot of crotch grabbing and thrusting but no one seemed to be complaining. The crowd were definitely at their rowdiest when she performed her smash hit, ‘We Run The Night’ before saying goodbye and thanking the audience. Australia is lucky to be home to the woman who is without doubt, the world’s sexiest DJ.
Taio Cruz made a dramatic laser-lit entrance before getting straight into his chart-topping hit, “Hangover”. From this point and until the end of his set, he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, although, I couldn’t help but question why an artist whose music is of such a heavy dance persuasion, didn’t actually dance or have dancers with him. Even when performing his new single ‘Fast Car’ an elaborate laser light show shone over him and the audience, which seemed like an attempt to distract from the fact that there just wasn’t really anything interesting happening on stage. It has to be acknowledged however that Taio Cruz writes and produces his own music, which can’t be said about many pop acts these days. Screams flooded the room however, when he performed two songs he collaborated with David Guetta on which were ‘Little Bad Girl’ and ‘Without You’. The showstopper in his set was without doubt ‘Dynamite’ which he began singing a capella, however the echo of the crowd singing with him was remarkable. Oddly enough, the smiley performer ended with the same song he opened with. It was quite confusing but the audience seemed to enjoy it. By this point the crowd was revved up and ready for the man of the night.
Finally Pitbull made his huge entrance with the audience losing their minds screaming when the sheet hiding him came down and revealed Mr Worldwide along with his band which included a DJ, a Keyboard player, a drummer, a percussionist and two synth players, one of which alternated between bass and synth and the other who alternated between saxophone and synth. Wearing his trademark black suit and black shades, Pitbull’s high energy was maintained as he danced, jumped and thrust his way through his entire set. His hips seemed uncontrollable which pleased the female audience members no end. Pitbull’s banter between songs however was quite disappointing and on that level, he struggled to connect with the crowd. At times it felt like watching a music video instead of being at a concert. The Cuban-American rapper got huge responses out of the crowd when he performed his biggest hits, ‘I Know You Want Me’ and ‘Hotel Room’ as well as the songs from his album ‘Planet Pit’ such as ‘International Love’ and ‘Rain Over Me’. The recent single ‘Back In Time’, which will be featured on his upcoming album ‘Global Warming’, also drove the audience mad. The concert became quite monotonic as it progressed, it would have been nice if he had done some slower songs to change up the dynamics a bit and keep people interested instead of a heavy dance beat running through the whole set. Interestingly, many of the songs played weren’t actually Pitbull’s. These included ‘Hello’, ‘Sexy And I Know It’, ‘Barbara Streisand’ and many more. Even ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’ was featured. Pitbull ended the night with his number one hit, ‘Give Me Everything’ during which he wore the Australian flag, before wiping his sweat with it. At the end of the song, Pitbull made some shout outs, thanked the audience and left the stage without doing an encore. The ending of his show was abrupt, but regardless, the crowd seemed to have left satisfied and very entertained.
Remaining shows are:
August 29, Brisbane, Entertainment Centre
September 1, Sydney, Allphones
