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Kanye West, Rihanna, N.E.R.D., and Lupe Fiasco I'm not opposed to hip hop, but then i've never been inclined to stop and give it much consideration. Veronica, on the other hand, has always been a hip hop enthusiast, and her interest in Kanye West peaked when he released the debut single off his third album Graduation, a duet with electronic heroes Daft Punk entitled "Stronger" that makes liberal use of samples from Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". We therefore secured tickets for ourselves and Gary to Mr. West's San Jose stop on his "Glow in the Dark" tour. We arrived in the middle of openers Lupe Fiasco, pausing in the parking lot to adorn ourselves with a variety of glowsticks purchased earlier in the day. We had great seats, in the stands directly across the floor head-on with the stage. We only caught Lupe Fiasco's final song, the one that samples the old "baby, fell asleep among the flowers, for a couple of hours, on a beautiful day" song currently in use in a TV advertising campaign. Not bad. One of Pharrell's many projects, N.E.R.D., was up next, and didn't wow me with their first few songs so i took Gary off to get drinks and food while V watched the show. I also picked up one of the irresistably cute teddy bear Kanye West T's. We returned just after N.E.R.D.'s set concluded, and V reported that it picked up after we left. I won't pretend that i had any kind of familiarity with the set list of any of the acts, for example the only N.E.R.D. song that was remotely familiar to me was the "almost over now, almost over now" refrain. We passed the time between sets surveying the crowd, an odd collection of urban youth accentuated by the juxtaposition of the bona fide street culture and the affluent high school kids. Rihanna came on third, resplendent in a black and neon leather get-up that supported Perez Hilton's evaluaion of her style as straying too close to "hooker". I recognized a few more of her songs, including "Shut Up and Drive", "Please Don't Stop the Music", and the irrepressibly hooky "Umbrella". The main man took the stage at 10:30pm. The music media have been praising the innovation of his stage set, something they've described as "the future of music tours". I was curious to see how much he'd borrowed from Daft Punk's multimedia Alive tour. The stage was set up with a rippled incline on which Kanye prowled, with large video screens behind him and under his feet. The concert was built around the story of Kanye as a space traveller, crash-landed with his ship and AI "Jane" on a strange planet. He'd talk and interact with the video screen for a few minutes before performing a couple of songs, then go back to advancing the plot of the story. A story that Veronica accurately compared to the ridiculously campy "Astronaut Jones" serials Tracy Morgan used to do on Saturday Night Live. It wasn't a good sign when, after the introductory crash landing, Kanye West delivered a Z-movie grade "where are we?" to the video screen. The videos were amazing, no doubt. As was the music. Kanye was alone on stage, although Veronica pointed out to me after the show that a large band was arranged in an orchestra pit at the front of the stage. Songs from Graduation comprised the most poignant moments of the show, with a terrific rendition of "Flashing Lights" and a rallying "Good Life" stealing the show. "Good Life" probably wins, because "Flashing Lights" was performed just after an especially retarded plot bit involving a mannequin hanging on a wire that was supposed to be an alien. Kanye must've spent all his money on the video screens. I was also intrigued when during "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (which employs an excellent Shirley Bassey sample) he encouraged the crowd to make a diamond with their hands. Ie, he asked them to make the shape of the pyramid, as Daft Punk do during their shows. "Diamond"? Really? Despite the man's monster ego (his status as the "most brilliant star in the universe" was mentioned more than a few times during the show), you have to appreciate his dedication to the music. His ode to his recently-deceased mother was delivered with heartfelt emotion, and i found myself tearing up during the celebration of "Good Life". During the more upbeat numbers like "Stronger" and "Gold Digger", Kanye marauded the stage with an enthralling intensity. V commented that his set is almost exhausting because it engrosses you so totally. She asked me afterward if i would go see the Glow in the Dark tour again, the way we saw multiple episodes of Daft Punk's Alive tour. And after listening to Graduation for the greater part of this week after the show, i definitely would. like we always do at this time
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