West Joins Ego, Vision For Great Concert
By Curtis Ross, Tampa Tribune, Fla.
May 7–TAMPA — So there’s this spaceship, right? And it’s hurtling through the galaxy in search of inspiration because Earth is out of creativity, or so the voice-over tells us.
Anyway, it crashes, the spaceship does, right there on the stage of the Ford Amphitheatre, and who should emerge from the smoldering wreckage but “the brightest star in the galaxy” — there’s that voice-over again — Kanye West!
Well, who else? He’s established that he believes himself to be the greatest thing to hit the universe, so why not play it up?
Indeed, it would take an ego the size of, well, West’s to perform a full-length live set with absolutely nobody else on the stage save for yourself (and a cameo by opening act Lupe Fiasco near set’s end).
But it takes something far stronger than hubris to do that and make it an entertaining, even memorable, show.
It helps, of course, that West had three albums’ worth of hip-hop’s strongest pop music from which to draw.
West sequenced the set list to tell the story of his crash landing and eventual rescue from an unknown planet. When his talking spaceship reminded him that “this isn’t your first crash,” it cued “Through the Wire,” the story of the car accident that temporarily derailed West’s career. A prayer for rescue — in which West promises God that he’ll “stop spazzing out at awards shows” — preceded “Jesus Walks.” When West discovered that he and he alone could — naturally — power his broken spaceship, the vocoder intro to “Stronger” pulsed from the speakers.
What saves West’s ego from being insufferable is that it’s combined with a sense of humor and also with genuine emotion, displayed most openly on “Hey Mama,” a song written before the death of his mother last year. Afterward, West sat on the side of the stage as his band, hidden away beneath the stage, played Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
West makes no bones about the fact that he thinks a lot of himself, and on nights like Monday, it’s hard to disagree with him.
Lupe Fiasco took the stage at 6:15 p.m. with a blistering sunset threatening the retinas of the early crowd. His no-frills set — a black backdrop, a DJ and some contributions from a pair of vocalists and a second MC — didn’t detract from the strength of numbers such as “Go Go Gadget Flow,”"Superstar” and “Hip Hop Saved My Life,” although some over-singing robbed “Paris, Tokyo” of its lazy sensuality.
N.E.R.D. positively burned through its set, bringing audience members onstage to dance and building anticipation for the group’s third album, out June 10. The group’s rock and hip-hop hybrid gets the balance right in a way the nu-metal crowd never could.
In contrast, Rihanna seemed subdued by comparison during her 35-minute set. The set ended, not surprisingly, with her biggest hit, “Umbrella,” featuring her dancers twirling the titular objects. An earlier song may have overshadowed West’s concept with Rihanna’s dancers swinging light sabers.
The crowd was reported at about 9,500.
Reporter Curtis Ross can be reached at cross@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7568.
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