Last night, Kanye West’s supposedly embattled Yeezus tour came to town for the first of four NYC dates. Spoiler: It went off without a hitch, unless you’re getting really nitpicky (and/or you were there on a date with Kevin James). Other stuff:
ABOUT THAT SCREEN
The ginormous, circular LED screen that hovers over Kanye’s craggy set was damaged in a recent highway accident, causing West to cancel or postpone a number of Yeezus dates. Recently, Vulture ran down the vital days spent fixing the screen, and something that jumped out at me from their report was this quote, from the tour's production designer John McGuire: "Without the screen, we lose a third of the show."
Was the screen that important? While undeniably beautiful thanks to its crystalline depictions of natural phenomena that approaches (BUT DOES NOT SURPASS) the "Bound 2" video’s Lisa Franked-out dreamscapes, I’m going to say it was more like 20% of the show. For the most part, there’s enough going on that you’re really not looking at that big halo screen so much, if you can even see it (it was not visible from some parts of the upper deck at the Barclays Center). It’s cool, but cooler stuff happens.
MASK CHANGE 1
9:34 PM
SURPRISINGLY ENDEARING MOMENT
Though I happen to feel that some of Kanye’s onstage ranting is prepackaged and at times a touch forced—he clearly knows that people expect him to do it and he obliges—last night’s lecture seemed particularly charged. He pinballed back and forth between a couple of topics, memorably namechecking Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain and shaming anyone in the audience who hadn’t seen it. But he began with a story about talking to a CEO who had called (?) just to give Kanye advice/compare him to Muhammad Ali. This all funnelled into a point about being yourself—he had recently performed "Can’t Tell Me Nothing"—but I had to wonder… what is this service? Did people pay Kanye to get on the phone, only so that these callers who were worth "multi billions" could give unsolicited advice to him? Is it a hotline? Where do I get this number?
Anyway, it was surprisingly touching, if a little hard to follow. In the end, there is something strangely charming about someone dressed like Paris Fashion Week Boba Fett prattling on about The Holy Mountain. For someone who made an album called The College Dropout, he's pretty much got the collegiate experience down with that whole thing.
MASK CHANGE 2
10:28 PM
OUT OF CONTEXT KENDRICK LAMAR QUOTE OR MUTUAL BENEFIT LYRIC?
"I hope I live a legacy… in your heart"
MOVIE EVERYONE ON KANYETOTHE IS WATCHING RIGHT NOW
The Holy Mountain
MASK OFF, FIRST TIME
10:45 pm
KANYE STUFF THAT HAPPENED WHILE I WAS AT THE BARCLAYS SHOW STILL BETTER THAN THE VIDEO
While Kanye was performing "Black Skinhead", he and his production team arranged the neat trick of having his LED screen avatar mimic the movements he was making on stage. Neat, in theory, but since Kanye ducked a lot during that song, his CGI double was always just kind of out of the frame. When it wasn’t, its arms were contorted and weird-looking.
JUST SAYING
Drake’s StubHub prices for comparable seats on a similarly situated weekday night at the same venue were triple Kanye’s
CONCLUSION
While it didn't resonate like the heartbreakingly sincere Glow in the Dark tour—I’ll never forget the instantly iconic moment of Kanye sitting on his set’s lunar surface, lost in thought and thinking of his mom while "Don’t Stop Believing" was screeching from the speakers—Yeezus once again certifies Kanye as one of the most imaginative and exciting artists working. From the demonic Aggro Crag set to the costuming (I’m going to call the vibe "satanic Taymor") to the merch stand stocked with confederate flag-checkered apparel that Kanye is daring you to buy as a test of your devotion, it’s hard to envision another artist delivering a show that succeeds on both their own terms and the audience’s.