Yeah you can occasionally make a bit of money. Yeah you get to hang out with some of your favourite artists. It is also true that you become quite popular once you have free drinks and entry to offer. And yes it is also a fantastic way for a number of otherwise talentless oaths to weed there way into the scene. Having said that, all the stress, risk and haterade that comes with being a promoter doesn't seem worth it.
The biggest hip hop/rnb tour of the year rolled through the Australia and the good folks at Non-Stop Touring are probably feeling quite relieved.
Yes The Game only made it to his Melbourne performance, and there were a number of peoples in Adelaide, Sydney and Auckland asking for refunds. The official story is that he came down with some sort of illness. There is also a rumour that he found out that he was not headlining and he walked. However, it is also just as likely that both of these stories are false and there is a truth out there that will continue to elude us eternally.
Even so, the performers that did make it to the stage more than made up for the absence of The Game. In particular Pitbull and Naughty by Nature put on superb performances, while Akon took it up an extra notch as he showed that he is not the sort of performer that is afraid to get the crowd involved or get involved with the crowd. While many stars like to keep there distance from the hordes, for most of the show Akon performed from on top of the front row barrier amongst screaming women scrambling to touch him.
Then as the show was winding down he tells the audience that he must be off the stage before 11:30 or his visa will be revoked, and to everybody's surprise he comes out performing on top of the shoulders of fans in the general admission. It helped to create the feeling of a real encore opposed to all the meaningless compulsory encores we have all witnessed many a time -- do we have to yell? The lights haven't come on, so we know you are coming back anyways!
However, in Adelaide this Thursday Akon took crowd participation one step further as he jumped offstage to break up a fight and drag out the troublemaker in a headlock. While security is too scared to do anything, Akon leaps into action. You got to love a hands on, do it yourself sort of a fellow that will not stand around as some thugs ruin his show for everybody. We have some rather poor phone camera footage. You can search youtube for more terrible quality footage if you please.
Oh also before you peep the video I would just like to add that Akon's tour DJ, Benny D, is the man. He is this rather tall fellow from the Virgin Islands who sports a Mohawk, blazer and a kilt. He started his career DJing and hyping up the crowd in a local stripclub and now he warms up for Akon in true rockstar fashion; playing some familiar tunes while moshing out standing on top of the turntables. Anyways, without further adieu here is the video.
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