Gurgaon, April 17 (IANS) It was a birthday one could only dream of - but for Akon, it was right here! As thousands of people sang "Happy Birthday" for the popular Senegalese-American singer and he cut his birthday cake at a concert here Saturday night, there was just one thing that he demanded from the public- "party extra hard!" And that, they certainly did!

The international pop star, who turned 38 Saturday, sang, danced, and jumped with the huge, 2000 plus audience at the HUDA Grounds here. A huge banner read "Happy Birthday Akon", and the singer was quite overwhelmed to know that the audience, from Gurgaon and New Delhi, was aware of his special day.

"Thank you Delhi! So you guys are already aware of my birthday! Let's party man! Everyone, put your hands up... Delhi, are you ready for the party?" Akon shouted out in the mike, much to the delight of the audience.

The singer, dressed in all black, made people forget their resentment about a two-hour delay and charged them to their energetic and spirited best as he began belting out some of his hits like "Don't matter", "Ghetto", "Smack that", "I Wanna love you", "Dangerous" and "Beautiful", "Taking it off", "Sunrise" among others.

After performing a few numbers, Akon said "that was just a warm-up party". He asked the audience to be ready to "party extra hard", and left the stage only to return in a humungous transparent bubble in which he began crowd surfing.

The euphoria thereafter knew no bounds. Akon had to admit: "Delhi, you're all party animals!"

Akon was elated when he picked up a young girl, around eight years old, in his arms, and she wished him happy birthday, with a peck on his cheek.

He kissed her back and replied: "Thank you so much, lady."

After making the crowd dancing to his tunes, Akon even cut his birthday cake and shared it with some of his lucky fans, who stood right at the foot of the huge stage.

"As you people know it's my birthday. I am going to cut my birthday cake and share it with you."

Akon has promised to be back next year. The singer will perform in Bangalore Sunday.

The concert was brought to the country by Netsurf Entertainment, B.M. Group and IVNO Events and Productions in association with Thrive Entertainment and S. Raj Entertainment.