Ke$ha was first to hit the stage and was out in full force before the hot summer Texas sun had set on the Pavilion.

She certainly didn’t need that big ball in the sky to heat things up; she had all the candle power she needed to do that on her own. It’s all the ‘other’ things she says/does on stage that doesn’t really work for me.

It did, however, seem to be working for the crowd of very loyal fans. Many had transformed themselves into Ke$ha clones prior to arriving in The Woodlands. I’ve never seen so much glitter glued firmly in place in some pretty interesting body geography. It was an impressive if somewhat shocking sight to see, fun to photograph and might possibly have inspired thoughts that could get some guys arrested…not this guy, of course!

Ke$ha had all the males in the audience well within her control and then brought in reinforcements to entertain the female fans in attendance. Six well decorated and well sculpted warriors danced very closely to her several times during her set. This gave new meaning to the term ‘dancing cheek to cheek’. Between Ke$ha and her ‘supporting cast’ all eyes in the audience stayed firmly focused on the stage.

She ripped through 13 songs and got a lot of help from the audience as they sang along. Their voices rose particularly high during We R Who We R and Tik Tok.

This California girl has a strong following here in Texas. Her talents were obvious and not always about her singing voice or song content. She knows how to get an audience revved up. It takes a special kind of talent to entertain and captivate. I tip my hat to her.

Armando Perez, the real headliner of the night, is another story. Or maybe he’s the same story, different gender, on steroids?! Ke$ha’s show was six sexy guys and one sexy lady. Armando’s was four sexy ladies and one hot Latino male.

Armando went through about 26 songs while on stage. For me it sounded more like one very long song with 24 well timed breaks.

On a more positive note, I wish I could have worked out to the tune(s) that came off stage as his song(s) have a great beat and inspire movement of the human body. The effect was loud, throbbing and involuntary. My sympathies if you happened to live in ear shot of the Pavilion and were trying to get to sleep early that Saturday night. Bet that didn’t happen!

Armando, as you may already know, goes by Pitbull on stage – and probably off as well. It seems Armando Perez took on that name because he believes he has many of the characteristics of a Pit bull dog – a death lock grip and a fight to the end mindset. He’s been quoted as saying ‘They’re basically everything that I am. It’s been a constant fight’.  I think he may have been referring to trying to be a success in the music business with limited talent. Hard to argue that he hasn’t pulled it off!

I’ve had a very positive experience with Perez when I photographed his ‘meet and greet’ before the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo appearance earlier this year. He was a very nice, professional guy and went out of his way to thank me for doing the shoot. He also had almost one hundred young women lined up to meet him that night and treated each one as if they were the only ones there. He endured like a champ having these women slobber, hug and kiss all over him.

Now you might be saying, duh, not tough duty at all. But think about experiencing that night after night after night. Many artists have told me that it gets very old, but apparently it hasn’t yet for this Pitbull.  Way to go – grab on with your teeth and fight ‘til the end!

Until next time hope you keep it between the navigational beacons.