On the 23rd and 24th February 2013, the hip-hop legend, Kanye West, came to the Hammersmith Apollo in London. The show was thoroughly enjoyable, pleasing on the eye, at times mysterious and breathtakingly energetic. Now that he has got past the phase of wearing all black with fellow rapper Jay-Z during their Watch the Throne tour, Kanye ‘came up in the spot looking extra fly’, entering the wintery, desolate set, complete with enormous iceberg images, dressed in a spotless white outfit and box-fresh trainers. At this point, we felt we were in for something special and we were not disappointed. Throughout the concert, the images projected on to four screens changed fittingly according to each song. The ambience was completed with artificial snow falling on to the audience. He has of course told us ‘it was more than the music’.
There was an impressive collection of hit singles to enjoy. His ability to omit hits such as ‘Through the Wire’ and ‘Monster’ and still give a crowd of five thousand the night of their lives demonstrates the scope of his portfolio. To compliment the theme of Winter, he kicked off the show with ‘Cold’ from his latest collaborative album ‘Cruel Summer’, injecting tremendous energy into the intimate venue. Crowd favourites ‘Stronger’, ‘Homecoming’, ‘All of the Lights’ and ‘Power’ confirmed that he has indeed got ‘the power to make your life so exciting’. It certainly was exciting, we were all overwhelmed.
Kanye is an enigma, perhaps 'lost in translation with a whole f***ing nation', he is in a constant battle with the media against being pigeon-holed and criticised for his every move. He used Saturday’s concert as an opportunity to ‘just say how he feels’. He expressed his dislike for the money-driven motives people have for going into music, criticising business minded attitudes to hip-hop by posing the question ‘Since when was making music about getting rich?’. He attacked the concept of ‘celebrity’ with the ironic question ‘How much shampoo can you sell with your face on it?’ Obviously, we cannot deny the hypocrisy of his attack on capitalist values when the tickets for his concert sold at £75 each. Although, to give him the benefit of the doubt, the message that comes across to me is that one shouldn't enter the music industry with the sole intention of making money, but to make a statement. His lyrics have messages behind them and he believes all music and in fact art forms should have something to communicate. Let’s remember that he’s not a philosopher, he’s a musician. He’s often accused of being arrogant, well he is. But so is Prince, so is Terence Trent Darby. They are arrogant and they are brilliant. I forgive Kanye West for his arrogance because I think he is electrifying on stage and consistently produces excellent albums. “I’m going to make my music from my heart and live by everything that I say and do. And everything I make is what I believe to be true.” – Kanye West 23/2/13.
The extensive set-list built to a bizarre climax: He put on two different masks for renditions of Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ and iconic single ‘Runaway’ during which he was absorbed in the moment almost to a hypnotic state, creating an eerie atmosphere of sampled sounds from an MPC. A period of distorted, auto-tuned singing was ended by Kanye leaving the stage. His encore of ‘Touch the Sky’ seemed to be the icing on the cake before he began screaming repeatedly into the microphone, throwing it to the floor and making an abrupt exit without even a ‘thanks for coming out’, leaving his fans bemused.
In all, an unforgettable experience worth every penny.
