Glow In the Dark Tour - Second Time Around
Ladies and gentleman, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Kanye West is kind of a big deal. Mr. West hit San Jose last Friday for the second round of his Glow in the Dark tour (though almost nothing glowed in the dark) and I went to witness the spectacle of the loved and hated Kanye West. Opening for West was an all-star crew of West were his protégé Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D. and Rihanna; in that order. While I feel like the order is all wrong, they did their job – at least most of them.
Lupe had the daunting task of getting people out of their seats and on their feet as well as getting people to come inside the arena rather than mull around in the halls outside staring at the same six concert t-shirts over and over again. A task that should be pretty simple considering the success of his latest album The Cool, right? Wrong. As a huge Lupe fan, to say I was disappointed only scratches the surface. His performance couldn’t even be considered mediocre at best. Granted he had only about an eighth of the stage but it was no excuse for the absence of energy and excitement in his voice and body language. Even his song Superstar, which is getting major radio play, was lackluster- the only thing keeping it alive was the fact that singer Matthew Santos, who loans his voice to the infectious chorus, was on stage with him. I saw Lupe in April and it was a completely different story. He not only had a bangin’ 10-piece band but he himself was on fire and connecting with the crowd. Lupe, or “the coolest nigga” as he dubs himself in his album definitely shortchanged the people in the HP Pavilion and he left it up to N.E.R.D to build back excitement.
And build it back they did. Pharrell, Chad and Shay (collectively N.E.R.D.) came out with such a presence that it made all the girls scream, all the boys nod, and everybody bounce to the beat. They had two drummers, two guitarists, a bassist and a keyboardist (Chad) to back up the vocals of Shay and front man Pharrell and it resulted in sound vibrations made in heaven. Songs like She Wants to Move and the new singles Spaz and Everyone Nose were crowd pleasers and got the arena shaking. However, the vocals were a bit hard to hear but one couldn’t be too upset because they were being overshadowed by the boldness and electricity of the booming, battling percussionists. Yes, I said battling. The two drummers had a little duel at the end of the performance of their first hit Rockstar and it was one of the most wonderful displays of banging on hollow cylinders that I have ever seen. N.E.R.D.’s performance was so electric that Lupe and his backup singer came back on stage to do a hip-hop take on ska dancing to Rockstar and Spaz. The threesome ended the show with another version of Everyone Nose but with the baseline of Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes and my excitement was so intense it almost began to run down my leg. N.E.R.D stole the show, they were the best act, and although Kanye was a close second, these guys killed it.
Up next was Rihanna. For a girl who doesn’t write any of her songs – I was not completely disgusted. In all actuality I enjoyed myself. Rihanna came out in an impressive get-up and had three outfit changes throughout the show. She performed almost all of her hits from her first appearance in the States with Pon de Replay to the latest Ne-Yo written ballad Take a Bow although the tempo seemed a bit off on all of her songs. Umbrella and Don’t Stop the Music were kind of weak considering that they are probably two of her biggest hits but the ballads Unfaithful and Take a Bow were both not only well sung but well performed. For a nice little treat, in the middle of her set she also did covers of M.I.A.’s Paper Planes (to the delight and mimicking gunshots of the crowd) and Lauryn Hill’s Doo Wop (That Thing). Rihanna held her own and overall, kept the energy of the crowd high and, darn that girl, she looked good doing it.
Ah yes, that brings us to Mr. West. And he definitely gets points for creativity (tackiness aside). West transformed the stage into a spaceship that crash landed on a foreign planet with his female computer as his only companion. West was alone on the stage and even his entire band was beneath the stage and most people probably didn’t know they were there until he acknowledged them at the end. The fact that he was alone for his entire set, yet the crowd was not daunted and screamed his lyrics relentlessly speaks volumes about his music - those must be some damn good songs. Lyrics and rhythms so good that even the corniness of his spaceship pleading for Kanye to fix the spaceship because it needed the “brightest star in the universe.” Well, that bright star played almost all of the songs you can think of: Spaceship, Jesus Walks, All Falls Down, Heard Em’ Say, Champion, Homecoming, Gold Digger, Stronger, Flashing Lights, Can’t Tell Me Nothing...basically everything. He played Touch the Sky but, to my dismay, didn’t bring out Lupe who was probably only 20 yards away.
When he played Hey Mama the crowd showed respect and didn’t sing along but rather paid homage to West’s recently deceased mother by allowing Kanye to sing by himself. Hey Mama was then followed by a jump into Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing and the HP Pavilion turned into a gigantic karaoke bar. The best song of the night was undoubtedly Good Life. The instrumentals were sharp, Kanye’s timing perfect and the crowd’s energy at its peak. The track went on for about ten minutes while we went into a chant over the verse “I, I go for mine. I got to shine. Now throw your hands up in the sky.” While chanting this you could watch the faces in the crowd change from excitement to annoyance and finally to realization as the chant became an axiom for self-improvement and motivation and everyone began celebrating themselves and their aspirations in time with the beat. Most remarkably in this concert was the speech Kanye gave the crowd. Right before his final song Touch the Sky he started speaking to the audience in a way I have never experienced. He was honest, forthright and genuine. I have never in my life been a part of a connection so strong between performer and audience. Kanye spoke directly to us and directly from his heart and he made sense and we got to know Kanye the man, not only the performer. Kudos to him for that. I can say that from that I have a changed opinion about Kanye. He is not just a pompous musical genius but a man who wants to better the world and himself through his music, he wants to improve – and praise himself for his improvements. He’s goin for his, he’s shining and, for that satisfying of a show, I’ll throw my hands in the sky.
Lupe had the daunting task of getting people out of their seats and on their feet as well as getting people to come inside the arena rather than mull around in the halls outside staring at the same six concert t-shirts over and over again. A task that should be pretty simple considering the success of his latest album The Cool, right? Wrong. As a huge Lupe fan, to say I was disappointed only scratches the surface. His performance couldn’t even be considered mediocre at best. Granted he had only about an eighth of the stage but it was no excuse for the absence of energy and excitement in his voice and body language. Even his song Superstar, which is getting major radio play, was lackluster- the only thing keeping it alive was the fact that singer Matthew Santos, who loans his voice to the infectious chorus, was on stage with him. I saw Lupe in April and it was a completely different story. He not only had a bangin’ 10-piece band but he himself was on fire and connecting with the crowd. Lupe, or “the coolest nigga” as he dubs himself in his album definitely shortchanged the people in the HP Pavilion and he left it up to N.E.R.D to build back excitement.
And build it back they did. Pharrell, Chad and Shay (collectively N.E.R.D.) came out with such a presence that it made all the girls scream, all the boys nod, and everybody bounce to the beat. They had two drummers, two guitarists, a bassist and a keyboardist (Chad) to back up the vocals of Shay and front man Pharrell and it resulted in sound vibrations made in heaven. Songs like She Wants to Move and the new singles Spaz and Everyone Nose were crowd pleasers and got the arena shaking. However, the vocals were a bit hard to hear but one couldn’t be too upset because they were being overshadowed by the boldness and electricity of the booming, battling percussionists. Yes, I said battling. The two drummers had a little duel at the end of the performance of their first hit Rockstar and it was one of the most wonderful displays of banging on hollow cylinders that I have ever seen. N.E.R.D.’s performance was so electric that Lupe and his backup singer came back on stage to do a hip-hop take on ska dancing to Rockstar and Spaz. The threesome ended the show with another version of Everyone Nose but with the baseline of Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes and my excitement was so intense it almost began to run down my leg. N.E.R.D stole the show, they were the best act, and although Kanye was a close second, these guys killed it.
Up next was Rihanna. For a girl who doesn’t write any of her songs – I was not completely disgusted. In all actuality I enjoyed myself. Rihanna came out in an impressive get-up and had three outfit changes throughout the show. She performed almost all of her hits from her first appearance in the States with Pon de Replay to the latest Ne-Yo written ballad Take a Bow although the tempo seemed a bit off on all of her songs. Umbrella and Don’t Stop the Music were kind of weak considering that they are probably two of her biggest hits but the ballads Unfaithful and Take a Bow were both not only well sung but well performed. For a nice little treat, in the middle of her set she also did covers of M.I.A.’s Paper Planes (to the delight and mimicking gunshots of the crowd) and Lauryn Hill’s Doo Wop (That Thing). Rihanna held her own and overall, kept the energy of the crowd high and, darn that girl, she looked good doing it.
Ah yes, that brings us to Mr. West. And he definitely gets points for creativity (tackiness aside). West transformed the stage into a spaceship that crash landed on a foreign planet with his female computer as his only companion. West was alone on the stage and even his entire band was beneath the stage and most people probably didn’t know they were there until he acknowledged them at the end. The fact that he was alone for his entire set, yet the crowd was not daunted and screamed his lyrics relentlessly speaks volumes about his music - those must be some damn good songs. Lyrics and rhythms so good that even the corniness of his spaceship pleading for Kanye to fix the spaceship because it needed the “brightest star in the universe.” Well, that bright star played almost all of the songs you can think of: Spaceship, Jesus Walks, All Falls Down, Heard Em’ Say, Champion, Homecoming, Gold Digger, Stronger, Flashing Lights, Can’t Tell Me Nothing...basically everything. He played Touch the Sky but, to my dismay, didn’t bring out Lupe who was probably only 20 yards away.
When he played Hey Mama the crowd showed respect and didn’t sing along but rather paid homage to West’s recently deceased mother by allowing Kanye to sing by himself. Hey Mama was then followed by a jump into Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing and the HP Pavilion turned into a gigantic karaoke bar. The best song of the night was undoubtedly Good Life. The instrumentals were sharp, Kanye’s timing perfect and the crowd’s energy at its peak. The track went on for about ten minutes while we went into a chant over the verse “I, I go for mine. I got to shine. Now throw your hands up in the sky.” While chanting this you could watch the faces in the crowd change from excitement to annoyance and finally to realization as the chant became an axiom for self-improvement and motivation and everyone began celebrating themselves and their aspirations in time with the beat. Most remarkably in this concert was the speech Kanye gave the crowd. Right before his final song Touch the Sky he started speaking to the audience in a way I have never experienced. He was honest, forthright and genuine. I have never in my life been a part of a connection so strong between performer and audience. Kanye spoke directly to us and directly from his heart and he made sense and we got to know Kanye the man, not only the performer. Kudos to him for that. I can say that from that I have a changed opinion about Kanye. He is not just a pompous musical genius but a man who wants to better the world and himself through his music, he wants to improve – and praise himself for his improvements. He’s goin for his, he’s shining and, for that satisfying of a show, I’ll throw my hands in the sky.
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