On the 15th anniversary of “Buy You A Drink” going number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts, T-Pain was set to take to the stage at the Novo Theater in Los Angeles . Pre-show the venue was buzzing with energy – the Novo has never looked so full. The general admission pit spilled so far into the bar area that it almost touched the bar, while people in the balcony stood in the aisles unable to find seating. Yet the crowd was never overly rowdy, rude, or caused any problems.
No opener in sight, T-Pain took the stage at 10pm and did not get off until 11:45pm, with only a brief, two song interlude from T-Pain collaborator, Yung Gravy, as respite for the artist. The hour and forty-five minute show from Mr. Teddy Pinned-Her-Ass was all encompassing. The show featured club hits like “Apple Bottom Jeans”, T-Pain classics like “I’m in Love With a Stripper”, a section filled with dance records like “Hey Baby” with Pitbull, street anthems like “Welcome to My Hood,” and remixes (and T-mixes) of records like “Boo’d Up”, “Roll in Peace”, “Bartier Cardi”, “This is How We Do” it, etc. While some of the remixes were all original lyrics, T-Pain also incorporated big records from other acts into his hits. The second verse of “Blame It On the Alcohol” fit perfectly over the instrumental of Bruno Mars’ “24k Magic” and the combination of T-Pain’s “Booty Wurk” and Capella Gray’s “Gyalis” inspired one concert goer to start making it rain from the balcony.
The music was not the only memorable part of the show. The show included at least 5 outfit changes, an exclusive intermission from the “Nappy Boy Radio” podcast featuring Tiffany Haddish, all of T-Pain’s signature dance moves, and a heartfelt speech from the veteran artists as the entire venue chanted his name. During the speech T-Pain appeared to be moved to tears, telling the sold out crowd, “I don’t think yall know how much this means to me.” He went on to tell the crowd that he hadn’t believed in himself in a long time, citing the cancellation of his 2019 “1UP DLC Tour” as a major factor. He said “going from 2019, putting on a tour and having to cancel that tour because I couldn’t sell tickets – to go to a sold out show in f—ing LA is crazy to me.” He admitted to the crowd, “I wanted to give this s–t up with every fiber in my being,” ending the speech by thanking his wife and fans for not letting him give up, before launching into the second half of the shows, and two encores.
Tickets to the Wiscansin Tour here: https://tpain.com/tour/