Pitbull is trying to give over 20,000 people a language lesson. “I want to teach you a little bit of Spanish,” he says to the crowd, about 90% of whom are dressed in Mr Worldwide cosplay of bald caps, aviators and squiggly hand-drawn facial hair. The phrase he’s teaching? “Yo no quiero agua, yo quiero bebida”, which in English translates to “I don’t want water, I want a drink”. As people used to say: yolo.
This is the vibe of Pitbull’s Party After Dark tour, which returns to the UK for its second run this year. It’s a relentless ride through the era of hedonistic and carefree EDM pop that sprouted up after the 2008 financial crisis, and given renewed economic uncertainty and horrific global events, it’s unsurprising that people are still seeking escapism. Why shouldn’t that be delivered by a bald man in his 40s known for rapping “I saw, I came, I conquered / Or should I say: I saw, I conquered, I came”?
Tonight, Pitbull – who has more listeners every month on Spotify than Beyoncé or Lana Del Rey – is like a cult leader: the audience are zealously devoted, and that perhaps explains why they’re able to ignore the flaws. The set is regularly padded by dull DJ interludes, the main attraction disappearing off to change his jacket. The set list is chaotic, the band randomly interpolating The Final Countdown or songs by Guns N’ Roses and Beastie Boys. And when Pitbull is on stage the sound is so muddy that you can hardly make out what he’s rapping.
He is magnetic, though, and it’s easy to be seduced by indelible hits such as DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love Again, Feel This Moment, and line-dance jumper Timber. His frenetic, slightly cheesy performance style is like that of a children’s entertainer, albeit for kids hyped on vodka Red Bull rather than apple juice. During his well-rehearsed chat, meanwhile, it’s more booze-soaked motivational speaker. “Life is not a waste of time. And time is not a waste of life,” he informs the crowd. “Let’s not waste any time and get wasted tonight.”
The crowd wildly lap all this up. No one, Pitbull included, seems to care that as a package it’s not particularly good. This show is about losing yourself, taste and quality be damned. As the man himself says, repeatedly: “Dalé!”
• At the O2 Arena, London, 9 and 10 June
