Sean Paul and Ashanti treated Manchester to an electric night of dancehall, hip hop and reggae on Easter Sunday, April 20. Visiting Manchester AO Arena as part of the pair's 13-date 'Bring It' tour which kicked off in Dublin on April 8, the pair transformed fans back to the 2000s.
As you would expect from a Sean Paul gig, the entire night was energetic and lively, giving fans a real noughties throwback with iconic hits from the early 00s. Two incredibly limber dancers on stage took a lot of my attention during the evening as they pranced around in synchrony to Sean Paul's bangers.
And during the Easter Sunday performance, American singer-songwriter and actress Ashanti, known best for hits Foolish and Rain on Me, brought out a surprise guest - Manchester's own rapper Aitch.
The 25-year-old rapper, best known for hits like 'Taste (Make It Shake)' and 'Rain', was summoned during Ashanti's set as she teased: "We are all the way in Manchester right now. I got people out here. I got family out here, you know what I'm saying? So I feel like, since we're in Manchester, it's only right that I bring out my family, my homie."
The packed-out AO arena erupted into cheers as the Moston musician Aitch burst onto the stage and greeted the crowd. The duo performed the Grammy award-winning US singer's hit track 'Rock wit U (Awww Baby)', which is sampled in Aitch's 'Baby'.
Aitch only stayed for the one song before vanishing off as quickly as he had appeared, but the hype that his short performance brought stayed for the entire evening. Ashanti's set lasted for around 60 minutes as she performed iconic noughties hits including Rain on Me, What's Luv, Body on Me, as well as Rock with U with Moston Singer Aitch.
Once Ashanti took her leave, at around 9pm, a DJ took over the stage to keep the audience engaged, excited and dancing before Sean Paul made his big appearance. The DJ did their job well, because looking out over the standing area of the AO Arena, there were no gaps or areas of stillness - just a sea of dancing fans.
At last, the man of the night appeared at around 9:40pm, and he performed an energetic and electric 90-minute set including iconic hits She Doesn't Mind, Baby Boy, No Lie, among others, with a huge Jamaican flag plastered on the set.
Finishing with arguably his most widely known hit Temperature, Sean Paul ended the night on a strong note, with fans staying until the very last second to avoid missing any of the excitement.
Only three nights of the Sean Paul tour remain with one in Cardiff alongside Ashanti, then Brighton and Bournemouth on his own.
