When Yeezus calls, you answer. That’s why when at 5pm on the day of the show, I dropped all responsibilities and jumped at the opportunity to use a friend’s extra ticket to the Yeezus tour. After a few postponed/canceled dates due to equipment destroyed in a car accident, Yeezy and opener Kendrick Lamar were back on schedule in time to play the Garden to an eager audience of 10,000+.
Kendrick never really had a chance. He puts on a pretty good show, but on a stage that was clearly designed for Kanye, his straight-forward rap show seemed uneventful. He got the crowd moving as well as he knows how, but even on it’s best day, “Backseat Freestyle” just can’t beat “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” Then again, his purpose that night was simply to warm up the crowd, which is exactly what he did. The transition from normal life straight to Yeezus would have been way too jarring without a little Kendrick appetizer.
In light of his recent interviews with Zane Lowe of BBC Radio 1 and Jimmy Kimmel, the success of this tour is even more important. During the BBC interview, he spoke extensively on his creative aspirations outside of music. While most people, including Jimmy Kimmel, scoffed at that, his new tour demonstrates that we might just want to sit back, and let Kanye do absolutely whatever he wants. It is always cool. Like this show.
When I say that this show was on another level than most shows, I am not exaggerating. Kanye’s shows are always as much performance art as they are concert, and with the DONDA-produced Yeezus tour, he continues the pattern, bringing in huge theatrics to complement his outstanding energy on stage. Many people would go to a Kanye show for one reason: to see what crazy thing he does. He is known for his on-stage rants, critiques of culture, and all-out emotional tirade. But there is a whole lot more to his performance than that. He played every song off of Yeezus, also dropping some career highlights such as “Power,” “Runaway,” “Jesus Walks,” “Diamonds From Sierra Leone,” “Good Life,” and many many more.
Some highlights:
• The stage was a mountain
• He wore jeweled face masks and didn’t show his face until the last few songs
• The mountain split open, Jesus came out, and Kanye called him “white Jesus.” Then he performed “Jesus Walks”
• Kanye’s twelve dancers/disciples surrounded him, carried him around, stood on a mountain, and lit flares
• A dancer dressed as a demon monkey followed him around on stage
• He gave a 6-minute extended speech in Auto-tune at the end of “Runaway”
If that doesn’t make you jealous, just look at the pictures. Check out the expansive setlist here.
