Inside 50 Cent’s night at PAve: ‘Such a memorable night’

The words “in da club” were as close as PAve got to hinting at what was to come in its club later that day.

But that post on social media Saturday, combined with buzz building around town, was enough to fill the place without overwhelming it, just as manager John Geiken had hoped.

So when rapper 50 Cent, known for hits such as “In Da Club,” made an appearance at PAve not long after midnight Saturday, “it worked out great,” Geiken said.

Photos by Joshua Novak

The whole thing had happened fast. 50 Cent and his team, in town for a signing at Hy-Vee involving bottles of his Branson cognac and champagne, reached out earlier in the week wanting a spot to go out while in town.

“While he’s there, if he’s feeling like it, he might perform,” Geiken said they told him.

“I called the police department and gave them a heads-up so they weren’t caught off guard, and they were appreciative and put some extra people on the downtown area in the event it turned into craziness,” he said. “And ultimately, we decided on telling our staff to spread the word, so it was kind of a word-of-mouth thing (to) get the buzz going. And it helped us because people were kind of guessing when he would come, so they came all day long.”

Geiken said he was clear with the team that any event would be free to the public. At Hy-Vee, customers had to buy a bottle of alcohol to receive a guaranteed chance to meet the rapper.

“We’ve always felt pretty strongly about if we bring in entertainment or an event it should be free,” Geiken said. “There’s nothing wrong with charging for a show, but we want our customers to know they can come to PAve every night and get in and dance and have fun, and they don’t need to worry about a private event shutting it down.”

That resonated with 50 Cent’s team, he said.

“They actually really loved the idea that we would be willing to do that for our customers,” he said. “They were immediately like, that’s where we want to go. 50 says that’s a really admirable thing, and he respects that and wants to be there.”

And he was – for more than an hour – first on the rooftop patio mingling and pouring drinks for fans.

Photographer Joshua Novak, who helps PAve with social media content, documented it.

“He was honestly just pouring drinks for people and taking a lot of pictures with guests, and he’d pull in maybe five people from the crowd at a time to hang out,” Novak said. “And there was a wall of people waiting to see him.”

Making that all happen involved some behind-the-scenes wizardry too.

“Their brand, Branson, isn’t necessarily here in full effect. Everything that was in the area was going to be at Hy-Vee,” Geiken said. “Luckily, we had some helpful distributors who made it happen where we got the product delivered the day before the event, which was kind of nerve-wracking.”

At one point, Geiken got 50 Cent’s team pizza from neighboring Pizza Cheeks.

“He raved about that, so that was cool,” he said. “And then we ended up hanging out awhile, and he was like, ‘I want to go do some music.’ And we had everything cued up and ready to go with wireless mics, and we were under the impression he was going to stay on the patio in the area we had roped off.”

Not the case.

“He ended up saying, ‘No, I want to go on stage.’ So we got him all the way over to the stage, and he ended up performing like four songs, and it was super cool,” Geiken said. “And we were at that happy medium of busy, but not people trampling over each other. It was just a great crowd.”

Behind the camera, “it was fun,” Novak added. “There was a lot of energy. There were a lot of people there, and they were excited.”

50 Cent posted this recap video from PAve on his social media channels:

For PAve, which marks its five-year anniversary soon, it was an unbelievable way to celebrate, Geiken said.

He was born and grew up in Sioux Falls, has worked in the bar and entertainment industry for years and thought opening PAve was the culmination of a dream – until this weekend.

“It’s like, wow, I’ve done my dream, and then all of a sudden you’re sitting there watching 50 Cent perform on your stage. It was a surreal moment to say the least,” he said. “The number of phones in the air recording, everyone just had chills and looked at each other in disbelief.”

So what was the rapper really like?

“Everyone’s been saying the same thing – him, his entire team, were so nice,” Geiken said. “I was really caught off guard. Having worked with artists in the past, we’ve had some decent ones through the years, and I couldn’t believe how easygoing they were and how down-to-earth they were, and they loved South Dakota. They thought Sioux Falls was such a nice, chill place.”

Even the next day, 50 Cent’s manager messaged the team talked about wanting to come back, he added.

“The whole night was just such a memorable night, and it felt good to be able to give back to people,” Geiken said. “It was such a cool thing to offer to people.”

Here’s an additional recap of the night from Joshua Novak and videographer Keanu Phumipraphat: