Pitbull- Mr. Worldwide himself- took over Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre last week, bringing the endless party of the I’m Back Tour to a massive sold out crowd. The party never stops when he’s in town and despite it being the middle of the week, the energy from the show continued long into the night.
It was a millennial’s dream lineup, with Lil Jon kicking off the night’s festivities by performing a medley of every verse he’s ever made famous. From “Shots” to “Get Low” to “Snap Yo Fingers”, the audience pulled out their best bygone club dance moves and relived a much simpler time as Lil Jon grinned and kept grooving.
The crowd was pumped before Pitbull even went onstage, with a plethora of bald capped baddies of all ages dancing with abandon- including a chaotic conga line- to the preshow playlist. When the lights went down, Pitbull emerged with his million dollar smile to deliver a set that was part fiesta and part uplifting seminar. Naturally he was flanked by a cadre of scantily clad dancers, all of whom encouraged the audience to drop it to the floor with them and hype up Pitbull even more.
Over two decades in the game means that Pitbull had plenty of bangers to pull from, including the impossibly catchy “Hotel Room Service”, “The Anthem” and “Culo”- and those were just scratching the surface. He’s got one mission with every show and that’s simply to have the best night of his life and make sure that every single person in the audience is along for the ride- and the Phoenix crowd surrendered to the incredible energy emanating from the stage.
Almost 20 songs later brought Lil Jon back to the stage for “JUMPIN” and “Damn I Love Miami” before Pitbull rounded out another Arizona show with “Fireball” and “Give Me Everything”- but not before his standard inspirational, motivational closing monologue. The fans were laser focused on the stage during this interlude, cheering wildly at Pitbull’s heartfelt words interspersed with the celebratory atmosphere. Safe to say that both Pitbull and his devoted fans left it all on the floor last Wednesday evening but they’ll both be ready to pick things back up on his next visit to the desert.
