AKON

My awesome teacher assistant, Crystal, got free tickets to the AKON concert here in Beijing and gave one to me!  Okay so I admit I am not a hardcore fan of Akon, but I don't turn off the radio when he comes on and I thought it would be super fun to go anyway.  The concert was held at the MasterCard center which is the venue where the 2008 Olympic basketball competition was. In comparison with concert venues in the states such as The Staples Center or the Toyota Center, this place is pretty small. Just 3 levels of seats and the floor.  Beijing has a huge population of about 13 million and the concert still wasn't sold out and from what I can tell he is pretty popular here.  Chinese people are also fairly calm so they don't get up and scream as loud as us obnoxious westerners.  But I went and showed the Chinese how to really scream by shouting "I love you Akon" several times just because I could and for no other reason.  The show wasn't very long.  Just about an hour and 15 minutes.  I have heard that other concerts that have come to Beijing run about the same length of time and that even when Beyonce came it wasn't a long or elaborate show.  I am wondering if the powers that be have some major restrictions on what performers can and cannot do but at the same time I find it confusing because local Chinese performers tend to be a part of some pretty elaborate concerts (mostly in Shanghai).  but I digress, Akon had some young Chinese girls screaming as he ripped off his shirt and threw it at them and I could have done without the "She's Getting Naked" song.  He sang "Hold My Hand" as a tribute to Michael Jackson which I thought was nice. He ended singing a song dedicated to his homeland of Senegal titled "Freedom."  I think he forgot for a moment where he was because a song by that title would normally not be very accepted here by local officials but no one seemed to care so right on with that.  Enjoy the pics!