Akon brings down class barriers at Gurgaon concert

Gurgaon, April 17 (IANS) If you had the cheapest pass to Akon`s concert here Saturday night, you definitely enjoyed more than the gold and VVIP pass holders! The Senegalese-American singer ordered the security to break the class barriers and allow everyone to unite and break into a party as he celebrated his 38th birthday in a grand way.The tickets had been sold in three categories: Silver (Rs.1,500), Gold (Rs.3,000) and VVIP (Rs.8,000). The VVIP enclosure was away from the stage, while the gold class ticket holders got to gather right in front of it. But the silver class pass holders stood behind the barricades that separated them from the reserved gold class pass holders. Akon expressed displeasure at this.

"I have a quick question! What is that separate section back behind those gates? What section is that?" he asked the audience as he pointed towards the silver class area. "That`s the silver class," the audience shouted back. "What class is this then?" he questioned back. "This is the gold class!" responded the audience. "Oh! You mean they didn`t have enough money? Come on all you people, come forward, come close! I am going to pay for it! Jump up the barriers! Let`s turn this into a party!" Akon said much to the delight of the audience members. There`s not much that the security could do thereafter. Young boys and girls just pushed the barricades and ran closer to the stage. And soon enough, the class barrier was nowhere to be seen. "I got to tell you people that if my audience is suffering, I am not comfortable. There should be no class, and no matter how successful you are, I want to see you all together here," said Akon. The singer gave the audience the time of their lives as he sang, jumped and danced with them, and even went crowd surfing in a transparent balloon! If that wasn`t enough, he jumped right into the crowd and went in all directions - only on the support of his fans` hands. From the stage, he went right to the end of the crowd, much to the dismay of the VVIP crowd, who sat separately - away from all the action. "I so want to go to the gold pass area! I paid Rs.8,000 and got to have no crazy fun!" cribbed 15-year-old Sana Arya, who came with her parents. Bhavna Batra, a housewife, who was quite fed up waiting for the concert`s two-hour delay, said: "The wait was compensated by his performances. He put up a remarkable show. The way Akon interacted with his fans was excellent. No Indian singer would have dared to jump into the crowd like he did." Akon sang popular hits like "Don`t matter", "Ghetto", "Smack that", "I Wanna love you", "Dangerous" and "Beautiful", "Taking it off", "Sunrise" among others, to regale his Indian fans. He also cut his birthday cake on the stage, and shared it with some of his fans - proving himself as a people`s person. "Yahi Shah Rukh Khan hota na, toh durr se hi naachke chalaa jaata. Yeh hota hai concert! (If it was Shah Rukh Khan performing, he would have just remained on the stage. This is what you call a concert!)" commented middle-aged Ashwini Batra. IANS