SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — He may not be the most common name coming out of your mouth, but hey, everyone knows Sean Kingston, right?

Armory Square’s restaurant and club hybrid duo is bringing back a 2000’s classic, Sean Kingston.

If “Beautiful Girls” doesn’t ring a bell, maybe “Eenie Meenie” or “Fire Burning” will.

So how does Sean Kingston make his way to Syracuse? And when?

He’ll be here May 6, the weekend of Cinco De Mayo.

You can buy tickets HERE.

Margaritas and Margaritas After Dark has an itinerary of events planned, here is how they layout.

  • Thursday, May 4: Buy One Get One Margaritas in their restaurant
  • Friday, May 5: Live band from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 6: Sean Kingston at After Dark from 10:30 p.m. until 2 a.m.
  • Sunday, May 7: Brunch from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Sebastian Ramirez, Marketing and Entertainment coordinator for Margaritas and Margaritas After Dark talked about how he wanted Kingston to be the reason people come out to Margaritas for their weekend of events.

“I really like Sean Kingston and I wanted to hear him sing ‘Beautiful Girls’ so I thought, ‘Let’s book him,’” said Ramirez.

And they did.

As of recently, Kingston has been appearing more frequently at events, as opposed to concerts. With Ramirez rattling off that Kingston has sold out about the last 20 shows he’s done.

“It should be really exciting. A lot of people are expected to come out. We’re gonna have the patio open. Hopefully, it’s gonna be a really nice weekend,” said Drew McDermott, a bartender for Margaritas Mexican Cantina. “I think we’re gonna sell out the event, or we definitely should.”

When Ramirez was asked about how he got into contact with Kingston’s “people” he replied, “his mom.”

Through the grapevine, he was able to get ahold of Kingston’s label, which then led him to a number, that being, momma Kingston.

“On the phone she was like ‘yeah, I’m his mom!'” explained Ramirez.

Although not officially his manager, she does work as apart of his label.

While woefully downplaying all of the work that went into this, and every other event, it was clear that Ramirez was looking to sell out tickets and let the community enjoy something he was highly anticipating.

But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

“Yeah, so it took a lot for us to like, even figure out a system of how to scan tickets versus wristbands. We used to do wristbands at first, but it was awful. Imagine trying to wristband 400 people, and then those little white pieces of paper would just be everywhere,” said Ramirez.

And aside from the restaurant and clubs owners, Ramirez was one of the biggest advocates for Kingston’s performance, calling his efforts almost “annoying.”

“Every single day I was like, ‘Hey can I do this, hey can we do this?’,” he said. Ramirez runs the entire nightclub aspect of the business for them.

When Margaritas After Dark opened back in the fall of 2022, they were hosting events on the weekends for college-aged kids, with the appeal to them being higher with Syracuse University, Le Moyne and OCC right around the corner.

However, Friday’s (May 5) event with the live band is “catering more towards the older crowd,” said Ramirez.

Before this, most of Margaritas After Dark’s guest appearances were from out of town DJ’s, or they held themed parties, but Kingston is a big step for the business.

Ramirez has planned, corresponded and setup these events, including May 6’s festivities.

“There is a lot of artists, coming up, that will be attending Margaritas After Dark,” said Ramirez.

In terms of the surrounding area Ramirez states that there are good restaurants and good establishments nearby, which causes people to bar hop and restaurant hop, livening up downtown.

“A lot of the clubs I feel like have been dying out sort of. So I feel like it’s kind of reviving downtown. And it also brings business for other places because I know people come out before they go to the club. So I think it’s definitely good for restaurants and other businesses,” added McDermott.