Pitbull’s new Vegas show is pretty awesome — PHOTOS
Why, Pitbull asks, do we submit ourselves to all “the struggle, the hustle and the sacrifice” of trying to get ahead in today’s world?
“To be able to live the American dream,” that’s why.
And the dream?
To be surrounded by six hot women in shades, black-sequin jackets and a long-legged trip down to their silver high-heeled boots.
Call his intro to “Back in Time” carrot-on-stick capitalism for all the men in the house.
But it also sums up the fascinating dual appeal of one Armando Christian Perez, who pulls off what could be a huge contradiction with the running theme of his Planet Hollywood show, “Time of Our Lives.”
On one hand, the 34-year-old rapper comes off as likable, compelling and completely sincere when he quotes Maya Angelou, preaches “the value of hard work,” and reminds us to “Keep anything positive you got going in your life. Anything negative, cut that (stuff) quick.”
And if you do this? You, too, can score the women, the sports cars, the bling, the designer duds; all the cliches of hip-hop superstardom seen on the video screen throughout.
Somehow, it works. A Maya Angelou name-check in a show that also fills the giant rear screen with close-ups of shapely, jiggling thong-bikini “culo.”
A sharp-dressed dude in shades, whose video clips could pass as TV commercials for Trump Tower. But one who tells us, “No matter how (expletive) big Donald Trump wanna build that wall, we’ll knock that bitch down,” because “music brings everyone together.”
Pitbull pointed out on opening night Wednesday that he is “the only artist-slash-rapper to ever get a residency in Vegas.” For now, though, it’s a limited run in the Axis at Planet Hollywood, with six more shows between Friday and Oct. 7.
But again, the Cuban-American from Miami doesn’t take this honor lightly. This also must be the first Vegas pop-dance show in history to open with a narrative scroll tracing the mafia’s migration from pre-Castro Havana to Las Vegas: “From the City of Vice to the City of Sin.”
Pitbull’s show turns out to be a perfect fit for the remodeled Axis and the club-generation visitors it targets with its standing-room general-admission areas up front. It’s a medium-budget production with the six dancers and five-piece band. But its visual high points, such as “Fireball,” become the concert dance party Planet Hollywood must have imagined for Britney Spears.
While the pop princess show comes off more like watching TV — over-rehearsed and stiffly locked to track — this one has a convincingly live energy. Part of it’s the Latin influence, a live drummer and percussionist supplying infectious rhythms in lieu of the chest-rattling thump of harder-edged rap.
Granted, Pitbull has the opposite problem of, say, Boyz II Men at The Mirage. They struggle for upbeat songs to break up the ballads. His challenge is how to sustain one dance-driven hit after the next. The only breaks turn out to be complete halts to address the crowd.
And sometimes he seems a little lonely up there, or as lonely as a guy surrounded by six lightly dressed women can be. On the radio, Pitbull is the ultimate collaborator, sometimes coming in so late on his hits that he seems like a guest star on his own track.
But the live show sometimes manages to minimize the “Oz face” use of video-screen co-stars, such as Marc Anthony on “Rain Over Me” and Christina Aguilera on “Feel This Moment.” They were balanced by times we would hear the piped-in singing without the visuals of the co-stars.
And the show was just long enough, at 90 minutes on the nose. After the confetti fell and the lights went up, people were still dancing to the exit music coming through the sound system.
Pitbull would call that a good night’s work. Hard work — at least if he’s paid by the word — and a job well done.
— Read more from Mike Weatherford at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com. Follow him @Mikeweatherford.
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