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Boston Calling 2025: T-Pain brings fun and finesse to rain-filled performance
The rain remained steady throughout the set, but so did the good vibes throughout the crowd.
Boston Calling 2025:
The rain could simply not bring T-Pain down if it tried.
Taking the Blue Stage on Friday evening, the multi-talented rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer brought the party to Boston Calling, kicking his set off with “Maybach Music 2” and an infectious energy that had the crowd bouncing.
T-Pain, born Faheem Rashad Najm, weaved together natural vocals and autotune, balanced original songs and covers, kept the energy upbeat and silly with jokes and dance moves, and ensured the crowd continued to move and sing throughout his hourlong performance.
Wearing a bright teal suit and blue hat and dripping in jewels and flair, T-Pain came out ready for a show. He was joined on stage by DJ Montay, who donned a vibrant pink suit and added to the fun-loving atmosphere.
“Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the mansion in Wiscansin,” a recording announced, as T-Pain smoothly brushed his shoulder and moved into songs like “Up Down (Do This All Day)” and Unk’s “2 Step.”
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The rain remained steady throughout the set, but so did the good vibes throughout the crowd.
About five minutes into the show, T-Pain paused to explain that he was trying to keep things “fancy” with a fresh suit and a grand estate-looking set, which featured statues of the rapper and greenery that one could expect outside of a mansion.
“I told Montay, OK, we going to go to this place and we going to be fancy. We’re going to wear suits,” he said.
“I’m going to make us look fly, but we gotta be fancy,” T-Pain said, while joking that he already put the fancy vibes aside with some – let’s say – provocative dancing in the first few minutes of his set.
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“Do you mind if we just try to start over one more time?” he asked the crowd, as they cheered in response.
The efforts to keep things high class became a bit throughout the set, juxtaposing with songs about alcohol, strippers, and the party life.
After a song-packed stretch – “I’m Sprung,” “Bartender,” “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper),” Kanye West’s “Good Life,” Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It,” and Chris Brown’s “Kiss Kiss,” among many others – T-Pain admitted he was having too much fun and could feel his voice started to give out.
“When I start having fun, I let go of all the singing s*** and I just want to have a party with y’all,” he said. “I didn’t have any formal training, so nobody told me how to not blow my f***ing voice out every show.”
“But I have found a solution,” he said, pointing to the audience for participation, as the singer led the crowd into Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
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From there, he slowed things down with “Tennessee Whiskey,” a David Allan Coe cover, followed by Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me.”
Around that time, the crowd, at least around this reporter, started yelling out requests for “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’),” which he would soon perform. But first, Pitbull’s “Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor)” and Flo Rida’s “Low.”
T-Pain wrapped up the set with DJ Khaled’s “I’m So Hood” and “All I Do is Win,” as the crowd indeed, kept their hands up to the very end.
Despite the (T-)rain, everyone’s hands were up for T-Pain’s set at Boston Calling on Friday. And they definitely stayed there. @boston.com
— Heather Alterisio (@heathalt.bsky.social) May 23, 2025 at 10:52 PM
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