Review of the Euphoria Tour at the Patriot Center (September 27th, 2011)

The Euphoria Tour last night was soooooooo much fun!  The show was held at the Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.  The venue is fairly small, so there aren't any horrible seats in the house.  I went with three girls from my college, and our seats were in the back (almost floor level) directly center to the stage and catwalk.  There was also a B-stage right in front of us for the Hero segment at the end of the show.

So, the show was supposed to start at 7:00pm ... but you know how concerts go.  Prince Royce took the stage around 7:35pm and performed five songs (two English, three Spanish).  I'm not familiar with him but one of the girls I was with has the biggest crush on him, so she was extremely excited.  Pitbull came onstage around 8:20pm and did a really long set that lasted almost an hour.  He had sooooooo much energy and enthusiasm and easily had the crowd up on their feet dancing.  He switched between genres (hip-hop, pop, and Latin), covering his big hits (Hey Baby, Calle Ocho, Hotel Room Service, Rain Over Me, Give Me Everything, etc), featured songs (On the Floor, DJ Got Us Falling In Love), and a few covers (Hello, Party Rock Anthem, and I'm In Miami Trick).  The featured and cover songs were not performed in full but just about everything else was.  Nayer performed her song Suave (Kiss Me) in the middle of Pitbull's set (damn she looked HOT and SEXY!) and returned for Give Me Everything.  You could tell Pitbull was just an opening act due to the length of his set and the detailed lighting and stage effects.  This concert was more like Enrique and Pitbull with Prince Royce than anything else.

After the second intermission, Enrique came on stage around 9:40pm, opening with Tonight (I'm Loving You) and then Dirty Dancer (with Usher and Lil Wayne projected on the screen).  Both were very electro and had awesome strobe light effects.  Next up was No Me Digas Que No and then shrieks of joy as Bailamos started.  The set then hit a slow, relaxed point where Enrique invited a Latino boy up on stage to do shots with him.  He then found out that this kid was only 17 and said, "Oh shit".  The kid (Luis) was really cool and collected and had the shot anyway (he had to pour it for himself though to keep Enrique from serving alcohol to a minor).  Enrique sang Experienca Religiosa (with Luis mouthing the words).  He then sang his favorite song Lloro Por Ti.  Enrique let Luis sing a verse into the microphone and then Luis took the microphone and sang more than half the song himself, walking down the catwalk with that superstar swag and reaching out into the crowd to touch the fans.  Enrique was laughing his ass off and then called him back to the mainstage so Enrique himself could finish the song.  Luis's voice was pretty good and his stage presence was great!  Luis was then taken backstage, and Enrique belted Be With You (I LOVE that song!!!).  The audience singing almost overpowered him on this one haha!  And towards the end of the song, confetti shot off and literally covered every square inch of the arena (including the very back seats).  One more Spanish song, Quendo Me Enamoro, followed before Enrique disappeared off the mainstage and within a few minutes appeared on the B-stage right in front of us.  He had put on a hoodie to disguise himself as he made his way through the back of the arena to the B-stage.  Taking of the hoodie, all the girls screamed as the instrumental for Hero started.  He told everybody to run down to the stage so he could see us all up close (our group didn't have far to go since the stage was right there) and as security tried to hold everybody back, Enrique stopped the song and told security to f%ck off and let everybody get close to the stage.  He then began to scan the crowd, calling out to certain hot girls.  One of the girls in my group made solid eye contact three times but in the end, he chose the girl standing next to her to go up on stage.  This girl was soooo ecstatic, jumping onto his body and hanging there the whole song.  At the end, Enrique and the girl French kissed and the audience cheered.  And as the lights started to dim, you could see the girl saying "Tu es mi amor" over again and Enrique called her "Loca" haha  After being taken away in a rolling crate, Enrique appeared back on the mainstage with Pitbull and the two of them sang I Like It as the audience (and Enrique and Pitbull) tossed giant blow up balls.  The lights came on, people started to leave, and then Enrique came back for an encore, singing a shorted version of Tonight (I'm F%cking You), this time with the expletive.  Nice way to end the show ... but then I realized that it was only 10:45pm.  Enrique had only been on stage for an hour and hadn't performed two of his biggest songs (Escape and Do You Know aka The Ping Pong Song).  I was very disappointed about that (now I know what you guys in Europe and Mexico felt like when Shakira started cutting songs from her Sale El Sol Tour!) and asked around.  Supposedly the venue had to be cleared out by 11:00pm ... so I guess that explains the cutting of the songs.  Still very unfortunate!

After the show, we contemplated waiting around near the tour buses to see Enrique and the crew ... but sooooo many other people seemed to have the same idea.  The place was covered in security, and while the show was going on, they had set up barricades near the buses.  We were laughing our asses off as people still tried to sneak through the wooded areas near the building to get to the buses.  I'm guessing security found them at some point.

Overall though, it was a great experience, especially considering our seats were awesome and only $45!  On the way home, my friends and I were contemplating who had the better performance:  Enrique or Pitbull.  And while we love Enrique, Pitbull seemed to have better stage presence and got the crowd more excited.  I wouldn't be surprised if he goes out on a solo tour in a year or two.  I videoed most of the show in 720p HD and the videos are currently being uploaded to my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/travelsoccerkid1).  Be sure to check them out to get a better idea of what the experience was like!