Bringing down security barriers, crowd surfing inside a giant balloon, taking off his shirt – Senegalese R&B star Akon\u2019s 38th birthday concert in Delhi had it all.\nSpending more time inside the crowd than on stage, Akon turned Saturday night\u2019s show into a never-seen-before spectacle which was less about the music and more of an expression of his love for his Indian fans.
\nAnd the \u2018Smack That\u2019 hitmaker also showed he doesn\u2019t discriminate among them, definitely not based on ticket rates.
\nAfter singing the first two songs, he noticed there was a huge crowd of people in the hind ground behind barricades.
\n\u201cI see a lot of people back there behind those gates. Why are they there? What, they got no money? Security, let them in, I am going to pay for them,\u201d he said, much to the delight of the silver class ticket holders, who jumped over the barricades to join the crowd with gold class tickets and were closer to the stage.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t feel comfortable if my people back there are suffering. Tonight there is no class, all are equal,\u201d he added.
\nAkon also got old and young alike dancing to his bongo beats, which was drowned by the crowd singing \u2018Happy Birthday\u2019 for him.
\nThe crowd joining him as he belted out hits like \u2018Don\u2019t Matter\u2019, \u2018Lonely\u2019, \u2018Dangerous\u2019 and \u2018Smack That\u2019. But that was just the beginning of the charmer named Akon.
\n\u201cYo Delhi! You know its my birthday tonight, so we are going to party extra hard,\u201d said Akon. He then walked onto the stage inside a giant transparent balloon and rolled over onto the crowd, surfing among them for more than five minutes.
\nHe stepped out of the balloon, jumped into the crowd and stayed among his fans for the rest of the concert, as they clambered to touch him. Peeling off his shirt, he also made his fans do so, while singing \u2018Taking It Off\u2019.
\nMoving from one end to the other among the crowd, Akon also took a baby girl into his arms, saying, \u201cIt is for children like these that we do what we do.\u201d
\nThe show started almost two hours late but Akon made sure he made up for every minute of it by literally reaching out to all his fans. He ended the concert with hope for more, saying, \u201cDelhi, we love you! See you next year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"