Akon wows fans at the Urban Music Festival

Grammy-Award-nominated singer Akon, who was in Dubai last year for the launch of MTV Arabia, was happy to be back in town.

When tabloid! spoke to him last time, he had just released his album Konvikt and was up for an American Music Award for favourite male r 'n' b/soul artist.

He won it, making it his first major win since he started recording music four years ago. "It was very cool," he said. "I finally got one."

Asked why he hadn't won any awards prior to this one he said: "Hey, we just keep making music. It's always political though. If we are talking about stats, I'd probably be walking off like Michael Jackson," he said.

Speaking of Jackson, an album was recently released with covers of the legend's songs and Akon was one of the artists to be picked for the job.

"That was always one of my favourite records. Michael Jackson reached out to me to do it. It was funny because this whole time I was trying to figure out how the hell I can get to Michael Jackson. Then one day my phone rings. That's how crazy it was. I thought it was a joke, a prank caller. So now I'm working on his new album," said Akon.

The singer was looking exhausted but laughed it away saying that it was a good thing. He and his entourage had just been touring in Africa and videos had been surfacing of him crowd surfing.

"Oh that's tradition. They will always catch me. There is just a certain energy," he said before his show in Dubai where, unfortunately, his crowd surfing turned into a stampede.

Apart from touring, Akon is keeping busy. He's working on his next album called The Acquitted which he plans to release towards the end of the year. He's also nourishing his Konvict Muzic label which has artists such as Brick and Lace and T-Pain, who he calls his brother.

"I keep him in a way to where we're separated but we're together so he can create and establish his own identity. Then people don't think Akon can't make it without Pain and the other way around," he said.

Akon also wants to spread his wings and explore new sides to his career. "I'm there, musically. Movies are now the next thing. That's going to be later down the line," he said.

But before any of that, Akon spent his few days in Dubai celebrating his birthday. And if you are curious about his age, you might as well forget it. "I'm 20 younger, how about that," he said smiling.

The show

Akon blew the roof off the Dubai Urban Music Festival with one of the most energetic live performances the emirate has ever seen.

The event on Friday was the first of its kind in Dubai but apparently very much needed with the Dubai Festival City concert arena packed with r 'n' b and hip hop fans who came to watch performances by Akon, Fat Joe, Black Violin and local act Kaspah and Ash featuring P. from Black Park.

The first two acts, Kaspah and Ash with P. and Black Violin started the day a little too early, but put on a great show. Black Violin, who performed in Dubai last year, wowed the audience with their amazing fusion of classical violin and hip hop beats.

While festival goers were getting ready for Fat Joe they had plenty to entertain themselves with. The event boasted everything from a beverage station hanging from a crane to a drumming session where people could grab a drum and join in the fun.

Fat Joe came on stage with his entourage screaming: "My name is Fat Joe, and we're gonna have a hell of a time tonight."

He kicked off his show with My Lifestyle but the sound was quite poor and throughout his entire show he didn't seem to finish a single sentence from his songs.

That was partly concealed by that fact that it was mostly playback. A lot of "yeah yeahs" and constant gunshot sounds drowned out any music from the Fat Joe crew and he cut short all of his popular songs like Lean Back, What's Love and We Thuggin'. All in all, Fat Joe was more like average Joe, or worse.

As the superstar that he is, Akon made his fans wait. But it was worth it.

His show was everything it should be and more. After an energetic and interactive warm-up session from his DJ, who was sporting a funky Mohawk and kilt, Akon appeared to a screaming crowd.

His opening song Shake Down got his fans dancing and wanting more as the r 'n' b singer sang hit after hit song including Ghetto, Don't Matter, Lonely, Bartender, Smack That, Mama Africa and I Wanna Love You.

Together with his DJ, he interacted with the crowds between each song putting on a perfectly crafted - and very well scripted - show.

Stripping

When it came to his hit single I'm In Love (With A Stripper), Akon said: "I figured if she's going to strip, then I might as well too." And as the female fans looked on paralysed Akon slowly started stripping, throwing his shirt into the crowd.

Bare chested and smiling cheekily, Akon went to the edge of the stage and touched hands with the screaming fans. At the end of his show, Akon flung himself into the crowd and suddenly disappeared.

There was an eerie five-minute silence as the music had stopped and people were desperately trying to get close to him, causing a stampede. Fans were seen being carried from the scene.

Finally, Akon clambered back up on stage and said: "Dubai, let me tell you something. There's a reason for everything I do. I'm not here to cause any problems. On this note, I want to leave you with this message: at the end of the day, we make mistakes. Sometimes every decision won't be the right one. So we should use this as an example to not do that again. Nothing happens tonight. And don't let anybody stop you from pursuing your dreams."

Akon's wives

Because Akon believes in polygamy he has more than one wife, although he won't disclose exactly how many.

"I have enough," he said.

How does he manage to keep them happy?

"Oh, they're happy. They get to reap all the benefits," he said laughing.

And children?

"I don't get to see them too much, but I fly them out to see me and they come to my concerts," he said.