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| Enjoy this ticket stub bc I didn't get any good action shots l o l |
I attended my first Kanye West concert on October 7 at the United Center in Chicago, IL.
I had been looking forward to this show for months. Kanye has been high on my “MUSICIANS I NEED 2 SEE B4 I DIE” list for a long time, and I was very excited to finally cross him off. I often heard about how legendary Kanye’s shows are. Shows on his past tours were frequently described as nothing less than performance art pieces. After years of reading and hearing about how amazing his shows are, I naturally had very high expectations.
Seeing as West’s hometown is Chicago, this made my expectations even higher. My boyfriend and I opted to attend the United Center show instead of his other Illinois show because we assumed the show would be extra mindblowing. Chicago is the city that made him the superstar that he is today. This show was packed full of young people, many of which were dressed to impress in Yeezus and The Life Of Pablo attire. It’s safe to say we weren’t the only ones who were expecting a night we would never forget.
This show was underwhelming and disappointing.
To be fair, Mr. West hasn’t exactly had an easy past couple of weeks. His wife, Kim Kardashian, was robbed at gunpoint in Paris last Monday. He cut his Sunday night show headlining the Meadows Festival Queens immediately upon hearing the news, citing a “family emergency” as his reason for ending the concert early. West subsequently cancelled two concerts following the incident so he could spend time with Kardashian and the rest of his family.
West’s United Center performance was his first show since the robbery. It was clear that West was even more on edge than usual. He was visibly unengaged, not appearing to have any interest in being there at all. He barely spoke throughout the show, saying only, “It’s good to be back”. Shockingly, West didn’t provide the audience with anything close to one of his trademark rants - something that has made him an infamous pop culture figure.
West’s apathy wasn’t the only downfall of this concert. The show felt extremely rushed. He barely played any full songs. The first half of the show felt like listening to a YouTube video mashup of Kanye West’s Greatest Hits as he jumped between rhymes and samples. Despite his lack of interest, the audience was very engrossed in the performance. Most people in the crowd knew every word to every song. West didn’t seem appreciative of this dedication, which was quite off-putting. He didn’t even say “Thank you” once throughout the entire set.
His unpleasant persona aside, West played quite well. While his performance didn’t have nearly as much energy as anticipated, he played his songs to the best of his ability. The standout moment was his performance of “Jesus Walks” off his debut album The College Dropout. His set spanned his entire career, which was another highlight. He played many of his hits (“Stronger”, “All of The Lights”) as well as some less well known cuts (“Touch The Sky”, “New Slaves”).
Aesthetically, this show was very unique. While West isn’t exactly known for minimalism, he embraced a simple setup for this tour. He had a small floating stage that hovered over the pit audience as well as an assortment of lights. The stage was perfect in size, giving him enough room to move around as he performed. It changed positions throughout the set, making sure that everyone in the arena had a good view of Yeezus for a little while. It didn’t distract from his performance, which is often a problem in arena-type venues.
This show wasn’t horrible, but it didn’t even come close to meeting my expectations. If West wasn’t emotionally ready to perform, he should have continued his string of cancellations
This begs the question: Do we expect too much from our musical idols?
Part of me thinks I'm being too hard on West. After all the trauma he's experienced in the past week, why should I expect him to give 100%? He absolutely deserves to spend time with his wife and children after what they've had to go through.
Another part of me thinks that I, someone who paid a lot of money to experience a supposedly amazing concert, has every right to be annoyed that the show was less than ideal. I would much rather have waited a few more months for West to put on one of his legendary performances instead of sit through a rushed concert that he probably didn't want to put on in the first place.
