Kanye West in concert - 16th April 2008

(c) MTV.com & Kevin Winter / Getty Images

So that's Kanye of course, and as one might guess, I didn't take that picture.



This was the only picture I got to take. After a 35 minute bus ride where the Asian dude standing behind me was too cool to talk to me (and I tried, but he was insistent on ignoring me and talking to the white girls he came with) while a couple of ang mo girls sitting down were nice enough to talk with me in dribs and drabs (as the momentary lulls in the insane screaming on 74 allowed), I got off the bus, and took this picture of the Key Arena.

After walking 100 m to the entrance, it was evident I had made a grave error in my calculation.

"Please open your bag, sir."

"No problem!" (and I thought, well, no problems, until...)

"Sir, you're going to have to put your camera back in your car, we don't allow cameras inside."

(in a fit of irritated spite) "I don't have a car."

"Well, how did you come?"

"By busssssssssssss."

(American brain working, so one could hear the cogs grinding) "Ok, hand me your batteries."

"Ok, there you go."

I get into the arena. I sit down. 25 minutes later when the arena is 70% full...

-flash-

-Tris turns around, to see a group of bimbos posing-

-flash from other side-

-Tris turns around, to see a mixed group of jocks and bimbos posing.-

And then the flashes all attacked the Tris, revealing that Tris was either 1) stupid, 2) biased against (I wouldn't say racism since the dude confiscated the batteries of the folks before me) or 3) both of the above for not hiding the camera better.

Thank God for phone cameras I say.


The Key Arena before the concert began.


The concert proper opened with Lupe Fiasco and a 45 minute set - something I did not realised until he got to his last song 'Superstar', which sad to say, is the only Lupe song I know. Nevertheless, it was a good start to the concert since Lupe is not the in-your-f**king-face kind of performer, but rather a slow jams-Imma enjoy myself kind of rapper. Crowd was a bit dead (perhaps the lack of familiarity) but as the songs got more recognisable, the energy went way up.

It was also around the same time as 'Superstar' as the two folks who were sitting next to me decided to take their places. And immediately I felt a pang of regret and anguish - I had the seat next to the get-a-room couple. The guy looked like Peter Crouch (a bit less gangly but same buck teeth) and the girl was your average American girl (i.e. kinda slutty), but once they got their seats they were AT IT LIKE PANDAS WHO WERE ON CRACK. Or rabbits - whichever animal you think needs the most lovin'.

I am thankful for the group behind me who refused to let them make out in peace, with the (rather cute, prob the Yalan type) Latino guy whipping out his phone and PROCEEEDED TO FILM THEM. Gotta love the Yanks at times. And the Asian girls he was with (with Chinese faces but waists the size of the continent) repeatedly heckled the couple, proclaming "That's gross! Get a room! EWWWWWWWW!!!!" Fantastic friends, wahahaha. :)


At 815 pm, N.E.R.D. took the stage - they brought on a live band, had nothing synthesised or pre-recorded and basically just tore it up with a live set. Pharrell was insane, he kept moving and rapping and singing; while his partner (sorry, his name escapes me) was just rapping and slamming - these two guys were insane and their band was insane, and this was probably the highest energy performance of the night. Pharrell lost his voice at the end of the set, but 40 minutes of N.E.R.D really got the crowd pumped.

Couple at this time had disappeared to make out somewhere else or something, while the dudes next to me smoked weed.


After 40 minutes of stage-shifting (which got me irritated because the last bus was leaving at 1030), Rihanna took the stage at 920 with the insane stage set that you see here. A bit too flashy for me, but at least I knew all the songs, from S.O.S. to Rehab to Chloe's fav song Unfaithful to Umbrella (eh eh eh) to Break It Off. A lot of dancing, a lot of grooving, a lot of loud pumping music and fluorescent colours with Rihanna's singing (mostly live) making for a pretty intense 45 minute set.

I was considering leaving to catch the last bus but one does not pay 66 dollars for a Kanye concert to not see Kanye - though I did not like the extreme length of changeover. I understand the love for complex sets but the transition made a lot of folks restless (45 minutes in between is far too long).





But as the above pictures attest, Mr. West really knows how to put on a show.

Kanye incorporated an interesting storyline into the concert, and the songs were pretty well worked into the routine. The story ran that Kanye was a space traveller plowing the universe for inspiration when he crashes on a desert planet, with only his spaceship console 'Jane' for company. I can't remember the exact order of songs now, but I know he started with 'Good Morning'; when he kaopeh'd about the crash Jane reminded him "This is not your first crash, Mr. West" where he broke into 'Through The Wire'; he then said a prayer to God and promised not to ruin any more award shows (self-jack! hahaha) and sang 'Jesus Walks'; his complaint about being lonely on a desert planet had Jane offering to be of help, after which "SHE TAKE MY MONEEEYYYYY" blared; and of course with his huge ego he was to be the savior of the world and that he alone could bring them home, where the opening strains of 'Stronger' began.

As I said, Mr. West really knows how to put on a fantastic show. I left after 'Stronger' for fear of not catching a cab, but I got home happy, satisfied and convinced that I'd spent my money extremely well. A bit of a shame that I had no one to watch it with, but you know, if it's there, go for it and regret the details later. :)