Lil Wayne represented for his hometown at GQ's jam-packed Super Bowl 2013 bash

GQs Super Bowl 2013 bash at St. Charles Avenues Elms Mansion, featuring a performance by Lil Wayne, was one of the weekends hottest tickets. A capacity crowd mobbed the Garden District mansion Saturday night for the fete, co-sponsored by Patron, Becks Sapphire and Mercedes-Benz.

The stage, on which Lil Wayne performed, was set up in a tent on the lawn. With hundreds of revelers jammed in shoulder-to-shoulder, there was little room to maneuver in the crowd, which, according to GQ, included celebs Hayden Panettiere, Chace Crawford, Kate Upton, Guy Fieri and Sir Paul McCartney, among others. The inside of the historic home served as a VIP area; I assume the stars were in there, and not out among the throngs. The catering staff, who maneuvered their trays of snacks through the crowd with grace, should probably receive medals for their efforts.

Just as our childhood birthday parties featured duck-duck-goose and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, the sponsored Super Bowl 2013 bashes in New Orleans this weekend offered games and distractions for guests. At the Elms Mansion on Saturday night, visitors could custom-screen print designs on Lacoste T-shirts, or have their tarot read by New Orleans artist and blogger Angeliska Polachek, at a station whose signage suggested, put a hex on the opposing team. At the Patron-sponsored photo booth, an array of instruments trombone, cornet, clarinet was laid out for guests to use as portrait props. New Orleans musician Irvin Mayfield watched groups of revelers pose as jazz bands with a look of amusement on his face; would Mayfield get his picture taken with a trumpet, my! friend asked him?

I already did, he said.

Lil Wayne, New Orleans rapper, appears at Lakeside Mall Lil Wayne, in town to attend Super Bowl 2013, electrified fans at Lakeside Mall Feb. 1, where he appeared to introduce a new clothing line. Watch as NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune music writer Alison Fensterstock discusses fashion and the possibility of a Hot Boys reunion. Look for a continuation of this video interview. Watch video

As befits the venerable style publication sponsoring the party, most of the guests (the crowd skewed male) were nattily dressed: lots of crisp gingham shirts, skinny knit ties and thick-rimmed glasses. Lil Wayne, as he assured me Friday afternoon at Macys in the Lakeside mall, did not cave to the brands tacit pressure to dress up. He took the stage shortly after 10 p.m. in a long-sleeved baseball tee and sunglasses with glow-in-the-dark earpieces; the top was quickly shed to reveal an undershirt, and then that came off, as well.

For his third public Super Bowl weekend appearance, shirtless Wayne played a half-hour set, backed by a DJ, dru! mmer and ! guitarist that added metal crunch and weight (as he told me Friday, he has been listening to Anthrax) to comparatively recent songs from his catalog like 67, John, No Worries and She Will. Young Money songstress Shanell joined the rapper onstage for How To Love, from 2011s Tha Carter IV.

As the Triggaman bells, a hallmark of bounce music, announced Ball Waynes recent bounce-infused collaboration with T.I., the video for which was shot in Hollygrove in October Wayne riffed a little homage to the native New Orleans hip-hop style. He tweaked the familiar rhyme DJ Jubilee raps as Trick, stop talking that it/ and buy Jubilee his outfit, quoting the original (and unprintable) lyrics, replacing outfit with Trukfit, the name of his year-old clothing line. (Nice branding and hometown tribute at the same time, Wayne.)

He closed the set with some cuts from his upcoming album, I Am Not A Human Being II, due out March 26.

So if youre not doing anything March 26, and youre financially able, you can buy my album, he suggested.

Sort of noticeably (and as New Orleans DJ Rusty Lazer posted online during the party) the hundreds of guests at the Elms Mansion packed the area around the stage, jostling and elbowing to get up close and snap photos, but didnt necessarily seem to be enjoying Waynes performance. The girl in front of me carried on a loud convers! ation wit! h her boyfriend, while the guy next to me appeared to be texting with his boss.

Which begs the obvious observation that the celebrity performances at Super Bowl parties are, essentially, just another attraction along the lines of a free Lacoste T-shirt or a tarot reading. Access is everything, and access to the GQ party was high on peoples wish lists, but apparently the thing you work to get access to in this case, a show by one of the genuine A-listers in town for the weekend, seen way more up-close and personal than anyone ever gets to see Lil Wayne these days not so much.

In any case, whether or not his guests were more concerned with getting on the next exclusive list than with his performance, Wayne made a point of doing a little ambassadorship for his native city.

I am from this great place where you are at right now, he said. We call it New Orleans.