By Daniel Paiz

T-Pain and Akon heat up Red Rocks crowd despite frigid temperatures. These two veterans delivered their entire catalogues to a rambunctious crowd that had no problem singing their songs right back to them. The last-minute edition of DJ and producer Honeycomb was a smart move on T-Pain’s part, as this guy kept the crowd thawed out and grooving.

The Opener

Initially there was no opener scheduled. The day before the show, Honeycomb was added to the lineup, and he got the crowd moving. This DJ delivered a sampling of sounds ranging from Drum & Bass to Hip-Hop, and even throwing in some voice box and beatboxing fun at the end.

Apparently, T-Pain raided into Honeycomb’s Twitch stream at one time. Clearly that relationship blossomed enough to being asked to open up a very cold Red Rocks venue with fans jumping about (both to stay warm and to jam out). The stage was set for someone it seemed, from social media at least, wasn’t going to be there.

Akon

An artist who has been a part of countless commercial hits, there’s one thing lacking for Akon: his interest in posting what shows he has coming up. There was nothing on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, nowhere this writer checks for info. A new single just released, and a show from a week ago are what appear on this internationally known artist’s IG; this led me to a somewhat logical conclusion that Akon wasn’t going to be there.

Experience is an important thing to draw from, but sometimes people who aren’t like past experiences break the pattern. I was very wrong.

Akon walked out to a very excited crowd and tore the stage up. His set started with a song the internet seems to think he took from someone else; this latest single is called “Akon’s Beautiful Day” and a majority of the crowd knew it. The rest of his set was a major throwback.

Two of his earliest hits and arguably two of the most recognizable jams of his career if you were there from the beginning, Akon dropped “Locked Up” and “Ghetto” back-to-back. This might not seem significant if you didn’t grow up with him or follow him early on. If you or someone you know is a Millennial and/or as a teenager grew up with Akon’s debut album Trouble circa 2004, that album hit different. He played what seems like half his debut album this evening.

Bringing it back from 2004, Akon effortlessly shifted from his own hits to his extensive list of features. Tracks with Dr. Dre, Gwen Stefani, Eminem and more continued adding to the sing-along vibes. Akon’s biggest surprise of the night was his decision to include The Lonely Island’s 2011 popular song “I Just Had Sex”. Perhaps he played it for only 30 seconds as homage to some lyrics included in that song. “Beautiful”, “Right Now (Na Na Na)”, “Lonely” and more all piled in between the features and international tracks Akon put his own spin on.

The stage was set for the guy who not long ago was struggling career-wise.

T-Pain

In 2018, T-Pain had to cancel his tour at the time because of low ticket sales. Around this same time, he also decided to get rid of his manager and manage himself. Fast forward to now in 2024 and he’s sold-out Red Rocks on consecutive nights. The Florida creative spoke to the crowd several times about not giving up on yourself and realizing that getting to the finish line takes time. It’s evident the 40-year-old singer has been on quite a journey and is thankful for how far he’s come.

T-Pain led this packed venue of fans from warmed up to sizzling. Hit after hit, feature after feature, this independent artist showcased his moves, songwriting, and singing abilities. He did all of this despite feeling the altitude. He thanked the stage folks working to keep the spotlights on him, challenging them to follow him as he ran back and forth on stage, running out of breath.

“I had folks tell me not to do that up here [laughs]. I shouldn’t have done that. How did Akon not have a drop of sweat out here? Wearing full leather coming out here looking like a comedian [continues to catch his breath].

What was most impressive from Pain’s set was his covers section, where he tackled tracks across different genres. In case you hadn’t been on the internet the past couple of years, this guy has been showcasing his verbal range everywhere. Seeing it live was a treat. This headliner continually thanked the crowd for showing up and after a whirlwind of songs, dance moves, and more, venue lights ushered fans to head home for the evening.