In Kanye West’s world, there is just him. He is not only the star, but the ship and the galaxy too and we are fortunate to simply marvel and bask.
This is the underlying message of his Glow in the Dark Tour, the show he presented at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater Sunday. The show also featured rapper Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna and N.E.R.D., the rock group comprised of Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Shay Haley of Virginia Beach.
Previous reviews from media outlets have hyped the show to the hilt, with rave gushing about art direction, breadth and scope and the idea that West has irrevocably set higher standards for hip hop shows and concerts in general.
Perhaps they showed a different show.
West’s show begins with him falling onto some planet he does not know or recognize. We know this because he communicates with his ship, Jane, through the course of the program. West, dressed in jeans, a T-shirt with a harness over it and brilliant high-top sneakers, reveals something to the effect that he’s on a mission—one that involves him restoring creativity to Earth.
He is epic, really, and as he opened the show with “Good Morning” from his latest album, it is clear that West is certainly a gift to hip hop and music in general.
During his set, he danced rapped with an intensity and passion that practically unseen at rap concerts today. His jerking and sweating and steam rising off his head is visual proof that he goes somewhere we do not understand and are truthfully lucky to bear witness to.
The set, however, did not live up to what were probably unfair expectations. West’s stage consisted of a rocky, wavy terrain surface with a large screen behind him. Center in the plateau was another screen adjustable in height. That was it. No hype men, no dancers, no singers, not even—contrary to at least literal interpretations of the tour’s name—anything glowing in the dark.
It was all Kanye, all the time. If you or your loved ones are one in the army of super excited Kanye fans wearing printed hoodies and fancy sneakers, this was right up your alley. Casual Kanye listeners, however, might have found this a touch boring at points and slightly melodramatic. And those on the furthest end of the spectrum, those not sold on the idea that Kanye is the light and the way, would no doubt have liked to change places with him and themselves be flung to outer space.
The surprising irony of the show, despite the lack of glow in the dark things, was that Kanye is such a mesmerizing performer he does not really need Bruckheimer fire and explosions; one wishes there was a way to merge his musical and visual vision into something more subtle. But then, this is Kanye West, and subtlety has proven not to be a defining trait.
Also un-subtle was the rock group No One Ever Really Dies, who put on a lively, inspired set. Of this group Pharrell is the obvious star, but he somehow never overshadowed either his group’s music or other members. They came out to an apparently new song from their forthcoming album “Seeing Sounds” and, through the rain, performed a song that might be described as a mixture of gangsta rap and heavy metal. “Are you ADHD?” they screamed during the chorus. The rain stopped.
N.E.R.D. tore through their oeuvre, doing songs including “Brain,” “Lapdance,” and another new thrash-rap song called “Spaz.” Chris Brown, the singer from Tappahannock who is rumored to be dating another singer on the tour, Rihanna, surprised everyone with an appearance and some high energy dance moves.
“I don’t need to say nothing corny,” said Pharrell, with Shay playing the energetic rapper and Chad playing the super-cool keyboard player, “Y’all know where we’re from. You know we’re from here. We eat at 7-11. We know the big booty girls hang out at Military Circle Mall, and we know there’s a lot of talent here in the 7 Cities. Thank you for inspiring this song,” he said, before they played, “Rock Star.”
They played “Everyone Nose” and did a rendition of “The Beeper Song” with their friend, Norfolk rapper Fam-Lay, and invited girls on stage to dance for “She Wants to Move.”
As they finished their set, Pharrell, who is perhaps by now aware of his own iconography, formed his hands into the “two up, two down” – a gesture symbolizing Virginia. Everyone followed along and the instant they left the stage, the heavy rain came down again.
Malcolm Venable, (757) 446-2662, malcolm.venable@pilotonline.com
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Y'all know...
"You know we’re from here. We eat at 7-11. We know the big booty girls hang out at Military Circle Mall, and we know there’s a lot of talent here in the 7 Cities".
Yes sir...the youth and future of Virginia and the United States!
Kanye killed it!
I guess everyone expects him to be an ego-maniac, so you look for reasons to back up your preconceptions. If anyone saw his show at the Coliseum a few years ago, it was basically just Kanye on stage there... everyone from the band to back-up singers was behind an opaque screen onto which they projected images and lights, forming, at best, only shadows of those behind Kanye. How many hip-hop shows end up with 100 people on stage - all the hype men, singers, dancers, artists, cousins, and best friends that could fit into the tour bus - creating a 20 minute set of inaudible chaos? Had he gone that route, he would be criticized for that, too. Kanye keeps it pure, simple and to the point. I loved the show. I was never bored for a minute and I thought the screen behind him and the lighting (which, on a black stage seemed to make him "glow in the dark") were both visually pretty cool to look at. If you didn't like the show, fine. Don't like his "arrogance", fine. To get that many people to wait in the rain, through a tornado watch, wait soaking wet and freezing another 3 hours for your set, and still never sit down..... he's doing something right.
The Rain Couldn't Stop Me...
I have seen Kanye at the Coliseum and luckily I was able to make this concert while 7 months pregnant. We arrived a bit late so we only caught a couple of Lupe's songs but it was enough to set the mood, we were on the lawn at first but the rain just added to our energy. Right before NERD came out a sheriff told us to get off the lawn and due to my pregnancy (and some politiking), we were moved to much better seats in the covered handicap section, behind the floor seats. It rained much harder after that but we couldn't tell. NERD was phenomenal as expected and the surprise Chris Brown Krunk was right on time, Rihanna was alright but she wasted most of her energy on the first few songs. Kanye was unbelievable, the man can put on a show, I could not take my eyes off stage and I almost lost it when he performed Hey Mama. Kanye's performance was the perfect Mother's Day gift and he topped it off with little giftbooks given to us on the way out. When I left I could hardly breathe and my legs still hurt from bouncing around with this belly but it was more than worth it and I would do it again today if I had the chance.
The weather ruined it...
I was really looking forward to this concert. I'd like to know what kind of weather would force them to reschedule an event? Where's the last place you want to be if a tornado hits? Out in the open with no cover. I had to leave after N.E.R.D. finished their set - I was soaked all the way through and I had seats in the covered area. What would their plan have been if a tornado hit? Where would everyone go?
MMMM K
So not a pan but also not living up to the hype.pretentiousness and not humble attribute. Seems to fit hip-hop with the exception of Busta Rythms no one seems to be on a timeless time in Hip-hop it is more about self-grandising then anything else. Where are the chops in today's hip-hop which came from Bee-bop? Where is the social consciousness that I dug with Kanye when he spoke the truth about New Orleans. The description of the show sounded like an ego drive rather then giving the gift of music and message
IMPRESSED? NOT A CHANCE
I guess Kanye West isn't quite as relevant as he thought he was. A mere 7100 showed up last night, and don't you dare blame it on the weather. Even with good weather, only 8500 were expected. I think Kanye West is way more impressed with himself than anyone else is.
Had you stuck around.
Title of the article should have been. Although tornado warnings did not allow full stage setup Kanye Championed a great show, Turning Tragedy to Triumph. N.E.R.D. did take it to another level though and Rhianna was disappointing. What was more disappointing was that Kanye, Pharrell and Lupe didn't perform together. Great Show.
agree and disagree
I too had read about the big production from Kanye's blog and other outlets and I was mildly disappointed with the set. I loved the lighting, the graphics, but the "space landscape" was not up to the expectations set by Mr. West. As far a performance goes, I was really impressed by his backing band and if Ye's vocals were a bit off, he made up for it with his umlimited energy. One thing to his credit: I have been to many concerts at the Amphitheater ranging from Jimmy Buffett to the Warped Tour and this was BY FAR the most I had seen a crowd be into a show. I mean, did you see the pre-Kanye danceoff? I give the audience a 10 out of 10. And yes, NERD did indeed KILL IT!