From the moment Kanye West hit the stage at I Wireless Center as part of his Glow in the Dark Tour, you realized it was not going to be your typical rapper on stage bouncing around with his entourage. This was a top notch one man performance that gave us a ride through space thanks to Kanye’s spaceship “Jane” which crash landed after colliding with a meteor shower leaving Kanye to wake up from a laying position and put on one of the most crowd pleasing performances in the history of this venue.
The set was a “rocky” out-of-this-world terrain with images on a screen as wide as the stage as the backdrop with lights and smoke all around, the middle part had a lighted floor that would eventually lift off. Jane was represented by a large red dot in the middle of a smaller screen in the center, with a control panel, and would come in and out of the performance providing perfect segues between songs and also made for a unique companion for West.
The electricity of West’s dynamic delivery was felt all around, from his opening song “Good morning” to “The good life”, to “Through the wire”, to “Can’t tell me nothing”, the crown sang along with West with conviction and energy. Later Jane provides a sexy computer-generated companion for the lonely West for the song “Gold digger”. He changes the tone with his emotional songs “Hey Mama” and “Jesus Walks” but the crowd still sang along. West went on to say that he finally produced his first song since his mother passed away.
Lupe Fiasco was the only other performer to join West on stage for the song “Touch the sky”. West said that he asked Lupe to collaborate with him after he heard a remix of his own song “Diamonds from Sierra Leon” which he said “scared” him. Lupe Fiasco also served as the opening act and was accompanied for on stage with up-and-coming singer Matthew Santos. N.E.R.D. was a no show, to the disappointment of many, but a special surprise appearance by Chris Brown during Rihanna’s performance of the popular “Umbrella” in a small way made up for their absence.
Rihanna’s performance was hot. Girls screamed and sang along with her, while the guys could not keep their eyes off the beauty from Barbados who was sporting a skin-thigh leather-like body suit. She got the crowd jumping with her club bangers and radio regulars “Please don’t stop the music”, “S.O.S.”, and “Shut up and drive”. Rihanna also displayed her vocal abilities with some of her lesser known love songs.
Overall the concert was very well put together and made for good combination of sounds and artistic styles. Kanye provided a performance that young and old can enjoy and finished gracefully with the club inspired “Stronger”. Even Kanye’s live group and singers even threw a crowd pleasing curve ball with their version of Journey’s “Don’t stop believing” while he sat on the corner drinking from his canteen. I can honestly say Kanye’s performance is the best Rap/Urban live performance I have ever seen and enjoyed, and one of my personal favorites of any genre. He is truly a gifted performer with many hits under his belt. In an industry that is all about making music for the moment Kanye is a defiant innovator whose music evolves and manages to have a lasting universal appeal.
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