Pitbull
Ruoff Music Center
by Shrithik Karthik
Pitbull made his tour stop at Ruoff Music Center on Sunday, September 1st, as part of his “Party After Dark Tour” with T-Pain and delivered a party-like experience that was indeed a blast.
T-Pain
T-Pain has been known to be a fantastic performer, with so many hits in his expansive catalog. I knew that today would be a treat. Before we jump into Pitbull’s performance, I want to say T-Pain blew it out of the ballpark as an opener. WOW, he absolutely gave it his all and even went above and beyond any expectations I had for him. He’s been on his own tour these past summers, and unfortunately, I couldn’t see him on those. Still, finally, after many years, I’m so glad I could see him on this tour. Indeed, what was there to not love about his set. The energy, stage presence, crowd control, vibes, humor, everything was top-notch.
On top of that, he moved, like, wow, the man can dance. He treated that stage like it was his personal dance floor, all while singing, rapping, vibing, and more. T-Pain also has a really extensive catalog with so many hits from over the years, and the crowd was practically a little of every age, so there were definitely a lot of T-Pain fans.
I really liked his stage design; he had a few LED walls that projected lights of all colors, and it was a nice touch to his dancing and singing. He did many cool things on stage, talking to his DJ about being classy and fancy, evening things out, and vibing. Their chemistry on stage worked really well and was a nice touch. Something about this set was just revolutionary because whatever he was going to do next was always so unexpected. When he played the Fe! n remix, one of Travis Scott’s most recent hits, the crowd lost it, and so did I. Like that was not on my 2024 bingo card. He did that remix, which was so good because he mixed it with one of his songs and a Rich Baby Daddy sample remix, which was also so good; I had so much fun during those songs. As his set went on, he played his biggest hits, one of which was “Low” – by Flo Rida, which he’s a feature on, and that was FANTASTIC; the crowd especially loved this one. Near the end, he even played a version of “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled, which was also fun. This whole experience was so silly, but in the best way possible, it was great that he didn’t take himself so seriously and knew how to have fun on stage. You could tell he gave this performance his absolute all because of how drenched he was in a sweat at the end. He truly gave one of the best opener experiences I’ve ever had at a concert in 2024, I was practically obsessed with his performance. In fact, it was so good that even if you went just for T-Pain, you would have gotten your money’s worth.
Pitbull
It was finally time for the star of the show, Pitbull! Coming on around 9:10, the sun had set, and it was dark out, perfect weather, not too cold or hot; it was practically the best experience you could have, especially for a tour named “Party After Dark.” He made the bold and obviously correct choice of opening to “Thunderstruck” by ACDC, which was accented beautifully by the band; at the end, Pitbull emerged out of nowhere high center stage and got right into the music. This was no slow start; we got right into it playing “Don’t Stop the Party,” practically a must-play song at every party. The choice of special effects that he used was perfect; a light mix of CO2, pyrotechnics, cold sparks, lasers, beams, and fireworks were all really nice touches. At the end of “Don’t Stop the Party,” the beat dropped, sparks went everywhere, which was a nice effect, and his aura after that was insane!
Shoutout out to the backup dancers who set the tone because they were phenomenal; their energy, their technique, and their moves were unbeatable. To be dancing that energetically for that long is such an insane feat, and you could never tell that they were tired because they were practically on the go mode the whole time. Pitbull also had moves on him, and he interacted with the dancers, too. You’d have to see some moves for yourself in person. This whole tour had 3 very distinct acts, and it felt like fantastic storytelling throughout the show. You could tell just how much planning, practice, and time went into making this tour happen. From the set design, the costume changes, and the fun intermission where the DJ played throwback hits, everything was so well thought out and pre-planned, making this an immaculate experience.
One of my favorite concert effects is the flames from the pyro machines; they make for amazing pictures, fundamentally change the energy in the arena, and warm everyone up, which sometimes, out of these outdoor shows late in the season, is practically a must. “Gasolina” and “Fireball” were my favorite songs that he performed that night due to how much the energy shifted when the pyro machines started blazing. The venue warmed up at least 10 degrees immediately, and you could tell everyone got so much more hype. It was also a great theme, with all the dancers wearing red and the stage LEDs all blazing red; I was obsessed with this part of the show. The machines weren’t even your single traditional stream fire shooters; they were the ones that shot in multiple directions, and the other ones had huge funnels of fire, maybe five times the size of the normal ones.
After more fun songs and an overall good time, Pitbull changed his outfit once more, choosing to wear a cowboy hat and subsequently playing Timber. This was quickly one of the biggest crowd favorites; the ENTIRE arena was practically screaming their lungs off for this one, but honestly, how couldn’t you. Before the show’s end, Pitbull gave a motivational speech about giving back to the community and believing in others. Almost shed a tear after hearing that. He gave a quick backstory about his life, mainly talking about a woman named Hope Martinez who believed in Pitbull and changed the trajectory of his life. This is true because, over his career, he’s amassed over 15 billion views on YouTube alone, and he’s been on many tours that have sold out. Hearing him tell us those things was excellent and motivated me to help as many people as possible. I had a fantastic time. It was one of the best concerts I’ve attended this year. To say I had a great time is an understatement; I had an AMAZING time. I highly recommend seeing Pitbull on tour at least once in your lifetime, this was a highly memorable experience. He has more than 17 dates left on his tour, and if he’s coming to your city sometime soon, you HAVE to go!
