 Kanye West Touch The Sky Tour - M.E.N. Arena, Manchester
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21.01.06 words:
Tony Camara pictures: Skittles
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QED
One thing is certain, what ever you think about Kanye West, and even at risk of sounding like Westwood. Kanye West has crazy CRAZY mass appeal!! There was easily 12/13 thousand plus people packing out the M.E.N. Arena. Toddlers draggin' their dads, teenage boys and the lads dem, teenage girls, 20 to 30 year old couples and middle aged adults. It was an ad/marketing mans wet dream! No joke! He has tunes for everyone, with record sales and packed out arenas to prove it. He brings the classic hip hop set up of an MC and his DJ, A-Track, with the backing of two singers and a 12 piece string section. A special mention has to be made for the homegirl lead violinist in the white dress. She was rockin' hard all night, respect sista! His lighting was understated by highly effective. On certain tracks he had a massive arena feelin' like a club, then lights up for that full blown arena effect.
“...Kanye West has crazy CRAZY mass appeal!!...”
Manchester was the first stop on his UK 'Touch The Sky' tour and his show is designed to run super super slick. First off was Touch The Sky played on the video screen, which intro'd him nicely before Kanye appeared live and direct for Diamonds are Forever. He came out dressed causal but classy. Even his
jewellery, which was absent of rocks and rings, was proper nice but without the bling. To the critical, it was a show of two halves. The first half being characterised by Kanye sounding just like does on radio or cd. He looked at home on the stage and had the air of a man who was conducting his own show.
“...Like his tunes, Kanye's concert had a little of everything for
everybody bar a freestyle and maybe a beat boxer...”
He worked the crowd in a professional, if in a 'by numbers' kinda way. It was the strength of his music that carried it through with A-Track flashin' some skills. Kanye impressed on us that this was Hip Hop, not pop or political but Hip Hop. A pertinent point in the UK's climate of Grime and Urban. Amongst the performance he was callin' for lighting changes like he had his stage mangers hat on first, then his MC hat. Then A-Track got to show some of his silky skills developed under Q-Berts tutelage, beat jugglin', cuttin' and pitchin' up and down his scratchin', A-Track shined in his spot. Kanye has pure tracks to rinse from his back catalogue before we were treated to his probable new single 'Impossible'. It has that trade mark Kanye West sound with the bassline hiding a ragga movement in there.
“...The crowd burst into spontaneous chants of "Kanye, Kanye"...... Manchester showing him much love...”
Then the video glitches got to Kanye as he stopped the show dead. The crowd burst into spontaneous chants of "Kanye, Kanye" whilst he waited for his vid screen guy to sort out the glitch, Manchester showing him much love. He started then stopped the show again, his frustration showing through. At this point I personally thought he should of busted a freestyle or two and buzzed the crowd. Instead we waited a little minute, then he got A-Track to play a medley of his past production credits and appearances before the show started again. Then stopped! Now Kanye was pissed right off as the atmosphere went flat, people started whistling and for a couple of minutes it was like Kanye forgot he was the MC and the person everyone came to see, while the vid guy cue'd up up the images. Kanye wanted it right and he got it as it was supposed to be.
“...Now Kanye was pissed right off as the atmosphere went flat, people started whistling .... it was like Kanye forgot he was the MC...”
The first half so to speak, ended with 'Hey Moma' which brought the crowd back to almost on side before Kanye blew it up as he dropped 'All Fall Down'. It was like BLAM! It went from listening to a studio performance to a live performance in an instant. The crowd was singing again and Kanye was all of a sudden injecting energy into his performance, vibing the crowd up and biggin' up his stage presence. Then he dropped the full introduction to 'Gold Digger'! Everyone was singing and when the beat dropped, 13,000 people went NUTS. The whole concert lifted up another level, with A-Track especially steppin' up on the 1's and 2's, hypin' it up. One of my favourite 'aspects' of his show was the random but not so random tunes that were dropped in during the first 'half', the Eurythmics and Damien Marley is all I'm gonna say.
“...It was like BLAM! It went from listening to a studio performance to a live performance in an instant...”
Then A-Track played a medley of tunes that inspired Kanye back in the day. Most were like fair do's, but I burst out laughin' at A-Ha, man's brave and he's got no shame. Maybe I should check for Duran Duran again (IOI all you 80's heads). He blew up again with 'Through The Wire' and an excuse for yet another accapella crowd singing moment and to end it off before the official interval, was one of my fave's, 'Jesus Walks'. To see 13,000+ people rocking to this track brought home to me that hip hop is music, still; for a new generation. Even Kanye was feelin' it, shockin' out to A-Tracks' cuts over Kanye's (or not if rumours are to be believed) ruffest beat.
“...Everyone was singing and when the beat dropped, 13,000 people went NUTS...”
The finally as it turned out was started with 'They Try To Bring Me Down', with his critics disses quoted on the video screen before ending with Kanyes' quote on the matter of awards. It all got a bit melodramatic for my taste but most TV makes me cynical on the general. The strings did come into their own on this track and added to the 'drama'. Then it was 'Celebrate Bitches' before the live rendition of 'Touch The Sky'. Even then he had to stop the show, get the lights turned up and start the track from the top. He was still on it though, vibing the crowd up but with hindsight he might of been redirecting his anger because when the tune stopped. That was it, Kanye got off, no encore, no nuttin'. It was a proper flat finish and I can only conclude that he was well pissed off that his show didn't run right.
“...Jesus Walks - To see 13,000+ people rocking to this track brought home to me that Hip Hop is music, still; for a new generation...”
Even if you only like a couple of his tracks he is still worth a watch, if you're a fan you're there anyway. Without being a "Fan" it was good concert purely on the strength of his tunes, when it all came correct it was a wicked concert, which I'm betting it surely will be for the rest of the tour. He has that professional thing going on, plus that I'm a producer/director in control of my show thing, and I wouldn't like to be the vid screen/lights guy. The average Joe Bloggs wouldn't of noticed the light problems and not so much the video screen problems as the quality and quantity of his music carried the show when it was alright and shone through when Kanye lit it up. Like his tunes, Kanye's concert had a little of everything for everybody bar a freestyle and maybe a beat boxer. Everyone left pleased and it was job, just about, well done
Kanye.
“...the quality and quantity of his music carried the show when it was alright and shone through when Kanye lit it up...”
-
Tony Camara
- Photo Credit:
Shirlaine Forrest
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