The only thing better than the music at the Phoenix Pitbull concert was the fans

At one point between acts, some of the Pitbulls formed a conga line and shuffled around Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, beckoning others to join them. The pack of mostly young women dressed in bald caps and black and white suits, some adding sunglasses and drawn-on facial hair to the ensemble, twerked, laughed and danced through the venue as their antics were projected on the massive side screens.

I’m not exactly sure when it became the thing to do to dress up like Pitbull at his concerts, but it’s easy to see why: It’s fun as hell. On May 27 at Talking Stick, I saw a little boy Pitbull. Two Gen Z-ers who not only dressed up like Pitbull, but wore socks with the artist’s face on them and carried a flag of themselves dressed up as … Pitbull. Sexy Pitbulls in strapless corset tops and black miniskirts. Senior citizen Pitbulls. A woman who wore a bald cap over her hijab. A man who wore a bald cap on his bald head.

We are all Pitbull, it seems.

Mad props to Lil Jon, who took the bald-cap-induced happiness in the air and transformed it into a raging party during his electrifying opening set stuffed full of 2000s club bangers. (I texted my friend who was sitting on the lawn: “Man, this reminds me of our Scottsdale days.”)

The hip-hop icon gave us a few “yeahs,” “whats” and “OKs,” but even more snippets of hits — his own, songs he featured on and others. “Turn Down for What,” “Salt Shaker,” “Shots,” “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” and so many others clearly connected with the crowd, and Lil Jon’s enthusiasm for the material was infectious.

He took it down a notch when he thanked the crowd for supporting him through a difficult year: the rapper’s 27-year-old son, Nathan, known as DJ Young Slade, drowned in February. Being on stage and performing is his therapy, he declared.

Artists aren’t always so vulnerable from the stage, but it was a night for emotional candor and good-heartedness, it seemed, as Pitbull had several sweet moments with the crowd as well.

The Miami-born superstar wasted exactly zero seconds before getting the party started with, well, “Don’t Stop the Party.” And for the next hour and a half, Pitbull and his troupe of gorgeous dancers kept the audience moving.

I would consider myself a casual Pitbull fan, but I knew almost every song: “Timber,” “Give Me Everything,” “Hotel Room Service,” “International Love” and so on. Also on the setlist were other songs he’d featured on, including Jennifer Lopez’s “On the Floor” and Usher’s “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love.” He often spoke to the audience in Spanish, and a cover of Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” set the audience screaming and singing along.

Pitbull’s an interesting figure: a dance music icon who dresses like a midcentury crooner. He cavorts on stage with gorgeous, scantily-clad women but doesn’t seem pervy about it. He balances a lounge singer image with irresistible dance beats, stops singing about living large long enough to give the crowd what can only be described as a motivational speech filled with platitudes about working hard and self-respect and doing the right thing.

Near the end of the show, he brought Lil Jon back on stage to do their 2020 song, “Damn I Love Miami.” With their arms around each other, they reminisced about Pitbull opening for Lil Jon on tour two decades ago.

The show ended with “Give Me Everything,” and as shows often do, with a confetti cannon and heartfelt thanks. And after the last piece had fallen, the Pitbulls danced into the night.